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Two Rivers Mix: RSS and e-Portfolios

I do not want to go out on a limb, but I think we have done something for the first time- a combination of two technologiies I have had my paws in this year, electronic portfolios and RSS.

It reminds me of a trip to the Lee's Ferry crossing of the Grand Canyon, when the muddy waters of the Paria River mixed turbulently with the green flow of the main Colorado River (see 2 rivers mixing).

Please do not give me an credit, this is all the creative programming of Audree Thurman, who was developed the Chandler-Gilbert MyEport tool that she has also installed on our server as the Maricopa eP. She had already combined two other streams of technology into this system, an electronic portfolio with a weblog capability. But now another tributary joins the mix.

See the details in Aud's own eP weblog.

This syndication publishes updates from two different areas of an e-portfolio, from the weblog entries (that makes sense), but also updates any document or link added to what is called a "collection" page (a group of linked media, web sites, and descriptions). But what is really cool is that there are two views of any RSS feed- one is regular old, easily read in any capable RSS reader, RSS 2.0, but there is also a web page view of the same content.

So for example, here is the RSS feed for all recent updates on the Maricopa eP site:
http://eport.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/cgi-bin/syndicateXML.cgi

and the same feed as a web page view:
http://eport.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/cgi-bin/syndicate.cgi

But you can also publish feeds for individual portfolios, such as my skimpy eport, RSS view:
http://eport.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/cgi-bin/syndicateXML.cgi?eportID=alan

or web view:
http://eport.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/cgi-bin/syndicate.cgi?eportID=alan

And for a different view, see that scoundrel Biff Cantrell's feeds, RSS view:
http://eport.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/cgi-bin/syndicateXML.cgi?eportID=biff

or web view:
http://eport.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/cgi-bin/syndicate.cgi?eportID=biff

And there are more options to limit the number of entries, and to see a feed of a collection of ePortfolios associated as a "group" on the site (sorry, no examples yet).

This is just out of the chute, and there are soem more features coming iin the next few weeks. But consider what a tool RSS can provide to teachers, advisors, etc to be able to use a RSS reader to check on the status of a group of students' portfolios.

The rivers are coming together, full speed!