Announcements by Web Feed

Your course announcements are available by web feed. This means that besides viewing announcements in your course environment, you can also be notified of new announcements through e-mail or on your mobile phone.

What Is a Web Feed?

Specialized technologies called feed readers or aggregators search for information on websites that are of interest to you and then collect this information in a single location called a web feed or Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed. For example, you may use a web feed to keep up with the latest world news from all of your favorite news sites while also staying current with journals related to your academic area of study. The new announcements format will allow you to add the latest course-related news to your web feed.

How Do I Subscribe?

You can subscribe to course announcements via a stand-alone feed reader or by adding the feed to one of the many e-mail clients that support web feeds. Stand-alone feed readers include desktop applications, such as FeedReader for the PC and NetNewsWire for the Mac. Web-based and mobile clients are also available, such as Feedly. You may find other desktop and mobile solutions that work for you.

Apple Mail, Microsoft Outlook, and the Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail clients all offer RSS support capabilities. At the following external sites, you can read more about subscribing to feeds using your favorite e-mail client:

• Apple Mail: How to Add an RSS Feed
• Microsoft Outlook: Add an RSS Feed
• Mozilla Thunderbird: RSS Basics

In all cases, the URL (or web page address) to use when setting up a subscription to course announcements is obtainable by hovering over or clicking on the Subscribe to the Course Announcements Feed link available on the home page of your course.

Please keep in mind that subscribing to course feeds does not absolve you of the requirement of logging into the course on a regular basis. The course feeds are an optional, value-add service. We hope that they enhance your learning experience!