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Google Reader is an RSS aggregator collecting content from other blog and news sites. Using RSS you can pull information from just about any site where content is frequently updated. In this regard Google Reader is unremarkable. You can do this with any RSS aggregator. But what I really liked about Google Reader was what you could do with the content after it was pulled in with a feature called Clips.

Clips enable you to take the postings collected from other blogs via RSS, and make links to them available from your site. Your readers can see what you are following and, by selecting the link, follow along. What is nice is when readers select the link they are taken to the site of origin thus avoiding giving the false impression that the work is somehow yours. Additionally you can choose to show the items point of origin directly under the link.

An example of Google Clips off my personal blog. Note this is an actual RSS feed and not a static image.

Since I work a lot with instructors who use ANGEL one of my first thoughts was how can they use clips in a course. In ANGEL instructors always had the ability to add links to their course. Students click on these links to go to sites the instructor deems as important. A limitation of this feature is that links must be added one at a time. So if the instructor has a dozen sites he wants his students to visit he has to create a dozen links. And these links are not dynamic. There is no way from within the course to tell if the content on these sites has been updated. Students must go to the site to see if there is new content. Plus, there is no way for the student to tell if the content is something the instructor deems important. This was not an issue when web pages were, for the most part, static but with the rise of blogging as a way to communicate the limitations of links in ANGEL became apparent.

Using Clips instead of links in ANGEL means the instructor need only create a single page instead of creating multiple links. This page is automatically updated every time the instructor chooses to share an article using Google Reader. This means students only need come to the course page to see if any information has been updated (instead of visiting multiple websites). And they will see links to the specific information the instructor wants to review.

You can insert Google Clips into your course through the Add a Page tool.

Instructors do not need to know any coding language to use Clips; all they need to know how to do is copy and paste the JavaScript provided by Google Reader into the text box in their ANGEL page.

Paste the Java Script into the Page Text field.

How the Google Clips reader appears to your students

I checked with a fellow instructional designer who frequently uses links in the courses he builds and he agreed with me that since Clips are essentially links to other sites where information is freely being shared they are generally safe to use for aggregating content in a way that does not violate the TEACH Act or copyright laws. However, instructors should always clarify this in instances where they are unsure. Visit the TLT TEACH Act page for more information on the TEACH Act and copyright.

Google accounts are free and Clips easy to use. Clips can be a valuable tool for keeping students focused by pointing them to pertinent information as it changes through the class life-cycle. This means more time can be spent on content as opposed to finding it.

To use Clips:

1. From the Google Reader main page select the Manage Subscriptions link (located at the bottom left-hand side)
1. Go into your settings select the Tags tab.
2. Select the "add a clip to you site" link.
3a.If you want to add clips to an existing Blogger website simply select the Add to Blogger button, or
3b.to add a clip to your ANGEL course copy the JavaScript from the text box and paste it into the Page Text area of the Page settings.

Click on the link to read more about the Google Reader.

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