Course content Course content
Take your teaching online
Take your teaching online

Start this free course now. Just create an account and sign in. Enrol and complete the course for a free statement of participation or digital badge if available.

More free courses

1.8 RSS feeds and aggregators

RSS is a type of web feed that allows users to view updates to online content, such as news or blog discussions. Often this is used to receive updates from news websites of interest, but it can also have a useful purpose in online teaching. For example, RSS feeds can be used to subscribe to discussion threads, so that the learner receives an email notification every time someone responds to a particular thread. As a teacher, you could also use this kind of technology to ‘push’ messages, schedule reminders and discussion topics out to learners for them to receive in a manner that suits them. Tools that gather together in a single place the RSS feeds that you have signed up to receive are known as RSS aggregators.

Take your learning further

Making the decision to study can be a big step, which is why you'll want a trusted University. The Open University has 50 years’ experience delivering flexible learning and 170,000 students are studying with us right now. Take a look at all Open University courses.

If you are new to University-level study, we offer two introductory routes to our qualifications. You could either choose to start with an Access module, or a module which allows you to count your previous learning towards an Open University qualification. Read our guide on Where to take your learning next for more information.

Not ready for formal University study? Then browse over 1000 free courses on OpenLearn and sign up to our newsletter to hear about new free courses as they are released.

Every year, thousands of students decide to study with The Open University. With over 120 qualifications, we’ve got the right course for you.

Request an Open University prospectus371