“TOP 10 REASONS YOU SHOULD NOT JOIN LinkedIn PROFESSIONAL NETWORK!”

At present, LinkedIn is the largest professional network with 80 million members (compared to Facebook’s 500 million).

So, now let’s consider 10 reasons why you should NOT join LinkedIn:

TOP 10 REASONS

You have NO need to:

10. consolidate resources 1–8 and your institutional Website profile into 1 location (see previous blog for 1-8)

9. build a network of like-minded (teaching, research, writing, clinical) colleagues

8. contact colleagues and students in your field easily and quickly

7. market your expertise and build credibility with colleagues

6. share your writing or research with colleagues

5. consult, speak, or provide other professional services

4. hunt for another job in or out of your field

3. search for the best candidates for job openings you're trying to fill

2. be part of multiple communities of scholars other than your association

And the NUMBER ONE REASON:

1. have important questions answered promptly by experts you don’t even know who are all over the world (beyond your association listserv)

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
If you are convinced that you have no need for any item on that list, then get back to work. Stop fooling around with my blog. If, however, there is at least one reason you might benefit from LinkedIn, then stay with me.

This blog series will describe how you can use LinkedIn with minimal time investment, but with the possibility of a worthwhile ROI. Future blogs will describe how to prepare your professional profile and other critical elements.

COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC

“DOES ‘THE SOCIAL NETWORK’ HAVE IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING?” Part 3

WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT TSN?

Writing & Directing. Scalpel-sharp, machine-gun fire dialogue from The West Wing scribe Aaron Sorkin coupled with David Fincher’s thriller-paced direction turns the typically tedious, mundane, boring world of Website construction into a gripping, exhilarating, mesmerizing adventure, consistent with the Net Gener’s “twitch speed” of playing video games. It’s like a 2-hour sprint. You won’t fall asleep.

Transition to Web 2.0. The activities chronicled as Facebook was being built represent the quintessential 2003 example of the transition from Web 1.0 to 2.0, from “read-only,” passive viewing Websites to “read-write” participatory sites. Facebook ushered in a new generation of sites that required user interaction, active participation, and content creation. Users contributed content in the form of their personal profiles, pics, comments, etc.

Social Networking. TSN is a mind-blowing, once-in-a-lifetime success story that changed the world of social networking. The story is like the social network itself, still in motion and constantly being revised and rewritten. Zuckerberg started a global phenomenon he can’t figure out how to finish.

MESSAGE FOR TEACHING

Watching TSN reveals the techie potential that some of your students may possess, or not. The issue is assessing and tapping your students’ abilities and potential. Here are some thoughts:

1. Measure your students’ tech skills
2. How even or uneven are they?
3. How can you or other personnel/resources level the playing field to a certain standard of performance?
4. Consider how their skills may be applied in your course
5. Leverage the momentum of TSN while it’s hot. Explore how Facebook and other social media can be used as systematic teaching tools

GO SEE IT!

As a movie, TSN received critical acclaim with 97% of the critics giving it a positive review with an average score of 9.1/10 based on 217 reviews. It has been characterized as “impeccably scripted, beautifully directed, and filled with fine performances.” If you can squeeze it into your super-busy schedule, GO, GO. Sorkin’s zingy, dazzling wordplay with his scathing wit are worth the price of admission alone.

COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC

A Generation of Students "Born with a Chip"

Despite the fact that we know more about our students’ brains and intelligences, how to teach effectively, how students learn, and the technological applications to learning than at anytime previously, about 50% of college students are unmotivated, disinterested, and disengaged from classroom instruction now more than they ever have been. While in class, they may IM or text their buddies while taking notes on their PCs, Web-surfing, scanning an iTunes playlist, and reading The Color Purple (Carlson, 2005).
Where’s the disconnect? Why are they disengaged? Is this generation of students in school right now really that different from previous generations? Today’s undergraduate and graduate students who are part of this generation comprise the majority of students in higher education.
The burgeoning technology alone has had a profound effect on this generation, unlike any previous one. They were “born with a chip.” Are they significantly different? You bet! These students have grown up with Sesame Street, MTV, reality TV, the Internet, PCs/Macs, video games, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, Skype, iPods, iPhones, PDAs, and TV/DVD remotes as appendages to their bodies. How über cool is that? They carry an arsenal of electronic devices with them. They are key ingredients in their world. Their use of the technology focuses on social networking, music, videos, TV programs, and games. They live in a world of media overstimulation and absolutely love it. As the lyrics to the Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle hit song from Aladdin tell us, we are entering "A Whole New World."
The technologies provide a window into this world. The students’ world is not better than or inferior to ours; it’s just different. When the students cross the threshold of the classroom door, they enter culture shock. They’re numb with understimulation. How can any professor possibly compete with their world? They can’t. Therein lies the disconnect and it will worsen as there stimulation accelerates with the cultural manifestations of the technology in the future. That’s the problem. How do we address it? Future blogs will address this issue and whether all Net Geners are tech savvy.

COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC