1.  LinkedIn

LinkedIn, a professional social network website, is one of the top results in Google searches for people.

A. LinkedIn last year opened itself to students and launched a resource page to help students connect with colleges and alumni, www.linkedin.com/edu. This will help you research colleges you’re interested in and will help you make connections with current students and alumni.  LinkedIn also recently released a list of top schools graduating students into certain career fields.

B. Why should you have a LinkedIn account? First, it will establish a professional, positive presence online for yourself that you completely control. It is one of the first thing that will come up when people Google you and it’s your opportunity to DEFINE what they see! College admissions officers, potential employers, and others will be impressed that you not only have a LinkedIn profile, but that you have a good profile! This site is not just for trying to find a job!

C. What is LinkedIn, really?

LinkedIn is not just for getting jobs. It’s important for managing your social contacts, making connections with people, and maintaining a positive and effective presence online.

As you learn new things this year- HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, etc.- you will continually update your LinkedIn profile with these skills.

Let’s check out the LinkedIn for students page to learn more.

Also, feel free to check out my page, and if you look at my connections, you will find some students from last year.  Look at their pages to see what they put on their profiles.

D. How do I get started?

Go to http://www.linkedin.com/ to register. LinkedIn is free and does also offer a more “premium” service for money. The free account is very useful and that’s what you will set up today.

Once you register, it’s time to build your profile!

Things to include:
– High school name
– Relevant courses (like web design!)
– Any jobs you have and/or have had
– Any internships you have and/or have had
– Languages spoken other than English
– Computer skills (you will be able to update this and be more specific as the year goes on and you learn more skills in this class)
– Clubs, activities, and sports you participate in

Finally, don’t forget a picture!  Grab one from online that you use for another account or take one in class.

2.  Group brainstorm of ways news can be used in the classroom, especially with technology.  Document with Post-it’s and use new app to digitize them.