RSS in education: U.S. Army

So after reading over this weeks assignment, I’m thinking to myself, what on earth am I going to do for a lesson plan? I mean, I’m not a teacher, so this is unknown terrain to me…or so I thought. After kicking around ideas for a couple days it dawned on me. OF COURSE! I am in the U.S. Army! In the Army, and I know the other branches as well, there is always something to be taught, something to learn. There are so many things that I can choose from in the Army to base a lesson plan on.

As most here already know, I am part of the public affairs team for 12th Combat Aviation Brigade. There are only two of us working as full-time public affairs Soldiers so it is impossible to be everywhere all of the time. Enter the U.S. Army Public Affairs Representative Program (UPAR). Yes, the Army and all military branches for that matter, like to make acronyms out of everything. It could be the easiest word in the world and the military will turn it into an acronym. =)

The purpose of a UPAR is to cover events that we are just not able to. They are Soldiers chosen, or more typically voluntold, by someone in their chain of command to take pictures and eventually write stories about what their unit is doing. Basically an extension of us. For example, if I have to go to South Germany next week for a mission and there’s also something going on in Spain, a UPAR will cover this.

With this in mind, I went ahead and set up a folder in my Digg Reader with feeds to basic journalism and photography websites. I have made a ScreenCast video, using QuickTime, on how to go about setting up a Digg account and start using it.

This new technology will be introduced as the first part of an established Lesson Plan for incoming UPAR Soldiers.

I know we have just started this class but this assignment was by far the most challenging for me. Fortunately I learned a LOT and look forward to using what I learned here, in the near future. =)