LinkedIn is the digital tool I use to maintain and add new professional connections. I have had a LinkedIn online page for years. My page contains connections from my corporate career in finance, my colleagues from education, former students I follow, and my personal friends who are are working or own their own businesses. I follow institutions as well as individuals. The affordances are many! I love that the posts are work related and avoid the kinds of posts we might see on Facebook. It is also a great recruiting site; I get any number of job notices in a months time. Many of the posts are o notices of seminars or online TED Talks that are relevant to my interests. The site will send notices of promotions or job milestones for those I am connected to so I can send a note of congratulations if I so desire.The contraints are they require a monetary committment if you want to see who is viewing your profile, they frequently ask if you want to connect to others tangentially connected to you through another connection, and random people pop up asking to connect. I also think it is a dated method of professional social networking. It was supposed to be the next big think in recruiting but it is too insular to be effective.
Classroom uses: I don’t see LinkedIn appealing to students at the high school level. Perhaps when students move into college and begin to think of their careers, a professional networking site like LinkedIn might become more appealing. What teachers could do is talk about how students can become professionally connected because networking and knowing as many people as possible in their chosen career is how they can become aware of jobs. Teachers could create practical activities in the classroom such as resume and cover letter writing. Teachers could discuss job fairs and how to search for jobs online. Most people see an education as a springboard to the workplace.
Questions for teachers: Do you have a professional network and how do you maintain it? Is it an online site like LinkedIn or do you have everyone saved on your cell phone?
Using Technology for Student Success 