Tips on Using Google Reader

Have you opened your Google Reader recently? It can take a little practice, but you will find it useful as more and more ELP documents go online.

When you are in Gmail, one of the links at the top of the page along with Calendar and Documents is Reader. Try clicking on that if you haven't recently.

A Reader is a tool that helps you get automatic updates from web resources such as news sites or blogs or other services like Delicious.

Here's a 1-minute video that explains the Reader.

In your Reader's lower left side under Subscriptions, you probably already have a list of ELP folders such as ARW or RCA which you installed during a C3 training session. If you click on these, you are seeing a database of online ELP resources that is constantly being updated. (Note: If you don't have these folders, please contact a C3 person to get them.)

Example Use:
Say you want to look for TW ideas. You can click on the TW folder and feed named "elptw". You'll see a bunch of links and Google Docs related to TW that have been shared by ELP members. Since there are many resources, the best way to filter through them is to use the Search box at the top. You can search through all items, or just one folder by using the pull-down menu next to the box. Try searching for "syllabus" in the TW folder to see a variety of syllabus docs other teachers have shared.

Of course you can also subscribe to other useful sites such as Academic Commons or your friend's blogs. Here's info on how to subscribe.

Also, if you want to upgrade your Google Reader, we recommend installing the Better Google Reader add-on for your Firefox browser. Just click here and install. You'll like it.

Another useful skill in Reader is being able to make folders to organize your links. For info on that see this Help blurb here.

If you have questions, just ask a C3 person like Bill, Dave, Ged, Mark or Hiroshi or others like Rab who use their Reader.