When can you attend a customized PD course in your pj’s?

When can you get 24-7 professional advice from peers around the globe?

When can you discuss common problems with colleagues without worrying about time?

When you’re part of LinkedIn!

Although I use Twitter and Facebook daily, 140 characters at a time and multiple links to places unknown aren’t the most efficient methods of keeping up with what’s going on in education (or in any field). But sometimes I get blank, or even desperate looks from teachers who like the concept of LinkedIn, but have no clue where to start.

Thus I give you five tips on setting up and using your LinkedIn network!

• Set up a quality profile listing your experience, your current position, and your professional interests. To be honest, you’re simply joining a giant database, so the key words in your profile will lead you to people with similar concerns … and will lead them to you. SEO isn’t only for Websites!

I confess that I updated my profile today because I realized that I could use some better key words. And I am totally embarrassed that I have no recommendations in my profile because I haven’t solicited them. (Be aware, Connections, that I am going to ask you to “recommend” me!)

• Include a quality picture so that people will feel a real connection to you. You are not a logo; you are not a cartoon; you are not a flowering hibiscus … you are a professional. Facebook can show the informal you; LinkedIn should show the professional you.

• Search for quality groups that will benefit you, and where you will learn from the members. A good profile with keywords is the secret to your selection; when you click on Groups/Groups You May Like LinkedIn will send you in the right direction. Because of the descriptions in my profile, I was pointed to 45 education and technology groups that I might want to join!

You can also do a keyword search.  When I put “hot air ballooning” into the keyword search, I found two groups.  Not that I have any reason to know anything about ballooning right now, but I might want some advice some day!

• Join the conversation in the groups. When I first started on LinkedIn, I was afraid to contribute. I didn’t want people to think I was ignorant or out on a limb or just plain nuts. But after reading the group discussions, I realized that people on LinkedIn are civilized, may politely disagree or could even support my ideas. They are … professionals!

I try not to express the obvious and try to offer quality input; I save my flippant and clever remarks for Twitter and Facebook.

• Start a discussion to help you do your job better or to broaden your outlook. What do you want to know more about? Do you know what TPACK is?  Will the common core standards affect your teaching? How will the iPad and eReader change the delivery of education?

I have been totally shameless in using my groups’ expertise. When I had to know more about the CBSE standards of India, I asked a question on LinkedIn – in less than 24-hours I had input and offers to help from around the globe! When I needed to mentor a school writing a technology plan, I started a discussion on LinkedIn; yes, I already knew a lot of the material, but I was able to add to my own list, synthesize the information and post the ideas on my blog.

Just as students are using technology to collaborate with their peers, so can we teachers.  Here’s your summer homework: join LinkedIn and learn from the best around the world!