LinkedIn...to the classroom

Over the past few months I've gotten 7 or 8 emails asking me to join someones network on LinkedIn. I didn't really know what the site was and I ignored the emails thinking they might be SPAM or junk mail. Well, linkedIn keeps popping up in my life so today I decided to do something about it. I jumped on good ol' Google and typed it "What is LinkedIn" and of course it came up with everything I ever wanted to know.



It turns out LinkedIn is yet another social network but is geared more for professionals, business owners, and entrepreneurs.  It is most definitely not the next Facebook.  This is serious stuff.  You can post your resume, flaunt your references, display your work.  You can also use the contacts and connections that you already know and trust to meet new professionals.   Once I had a decent understand of what exactly I was dealing with the next logical question was "How could I use this?"

Initially, I thought the only way I could use the site would be fore applying for a new job but then of course I looked an little deeper and found some things that might be worth trying in my classroom.  First, I liked that you could make network groups.  If I was going to use LinkedIn in my classroom I would create a network group containing every member of the class. Second, I liked that you could pose questions to your network groups.  I could use this to ask students questions in and out of class.  Also, the students could use the network to ask me or each other questions.  If students are asking each other questions then they might be able to work through homework problems that were stumping them or even review for assessments together.  Third, I could use the resume portion of the sights to have students determine what they have mastered in the course. That way, students would know who to go to if they were struggling with specific types of problems in class.  On the other hand, I don't like that LinkedIn is still a giant networking sight full of people who may not be interested in education.  I feel like this could be distracting or even dangerous for students.  I wouldn't want outsiders trying to infiltrate my class networks or trying to network with my students.

There is definitly some potential lying just under the surface of LinkedIn but I am struggling to find a really great use for it.  I think I'll need to meditate on it for a while.  Can you think of a good classroom use for LinkedIn?  Let me know what you've seen or heard about in my comment section.