LinkedIn - Your professional face for the whole world to see.

LinkedIn provides the ultimate forum for your digital resume or company profile.  The more details you provide on your LinkedIn site the more information those browsing your page can learn about you.  The more searchable options you provide for those looking for what you have to offer the better.  Provide all important details, but avoid too much personal data.  This is not personal Facebook, it’s your business image.

Show your personality on LinkedIn by discussing current events, creating or getting involved in groups and your status updates.  It is also important to include keywords related to your business and learn the basics of Search Engine Optimization.  The better your SEO and keywords the higher your profile will be ranked when others are searching for your skill set.  A great place to start learning about SEO is the article SEO: How to Increase the Visibility of Your Business Profile.

Once your LinkedIn profile is ready, start connecting all your sites together; your website, Facebook, Blog and Twitter.  If you are a business owner make sure your business website points to all your social networking sites.  Sculpt your LindeIn, as well as all social media and website, to show your business face.  Social media sites can help you or hurt you, always keep that in mind.

Comparing Popular Social Networking Sites

	Facebook	MySpace	LinkedIn	Twitter
URL	www.facebook.com	www.myspace.com	www.linkedin.com	www.twitter.com
Requirement to Join	Valid Email Address	Valid Email Address	Valid Email Address	Valid Email Address
Personal Site Formatting	Limited	Customizable	Limited	Customizable
Upload Videos	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Upload Photos	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Public Messages	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Private Message	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Instant Messaging	Yes	No	No	Yes
File Sharing	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Multi-Player Games	Yes	No	No	No
Search Suggestion	Yes	No	No	Yes
Live Search Results	Yes	No	No	Yes
Filtered Searching	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Critical Mass Coast to Coast Podcast

The third podcast I check out is Critical Mass for Business.   It can be heard as one of the many shows on www.Octalkradio.net or directly through podbean.com at http://ceopeergroups.podbean.com/?source=pb.  The host of the show is Richard Franzi and the show is designed to be a peer learning experience for those in all types of business.  Both websites are very well put together and the podcasts are very professionally produced. 

Richard Franzi is based out of Orange County, CA so many of the shows have guests from his area, but the show is certainly not exclusively for those in Southern California.  One of the shows I really enjoyed had a guest in the Commerical Real Estate field is San Antonio, TX.  Her name is Christi Griggs and she is the Principal of Peloton Commercial Real Estate, which can be found on the web at http://www.pelotoncre.com/.

If you are interested in Business in any form, Richard’s shows are worth checking out.  He does one show a week and generally has two guests per show.  His guest cover the whole spectrum of the business market, so there is something for everyone.  Please give Richard’s podcast a chance.   I really enjoyed it. 

Victoria

Too Jewish!!!

The second podcast I checked out had a title that was just irresistible, Too Jewish!  It’s hosted by Rabbi Sam Cohon and he has various guests from time to time.  In his most recent podcast Rabbi Cohon talks about the Jewish New Year and he also speaks to his guest Rabbi Alana Suskin.  Rabbi Cohon is based out of Arizona, which I once called home.  I wish I had heard his show when I still lived there. 

I do not know if you have ever visited a Jewish Temple as a non-Jew, but it is not always very welcoming.  I was told once by a Rabbi that becoming a Jew in this world is to ask for hardship.  He said he feels it is duty to discourage outsiders from trying to convert and will tell them no three or four times before agreeing to teach them.  He then went on to explain, really the reason he tries to put people off is not just because the persecution that has come with being Jewish of the centuries.  Part of it is because the importance of the decision to covert.  If someone can be easily turned away, then this hard path is not for them.  If they persist long enough maybe it is.

From listening to Rabbi Cohon, I do not think he feels this way.  He seems to be very welcoming to all people with an interested to learn more about the Jewish faith and traditions.  I studied Hebrew for a while under a Rabbi in Texas, but things did not go well.  I have an interesting in learning more and I am so glad I found Rabbi Cohon’s podcast.  I look forward to listening to it in the future and learning whatever he has to teach.

Too Jewish can be found at the following link.   http://toojewishradio.podbean.com/?source=pb

Victoria

Andy Dell's Podcast - Isamic woman who converted to Christianity.

This lesson was not an easy one.  I thought it would be because I have been listening to podcasts for over a decade.  I never imagined it would be so difficult and so involved to not only create my own podcast, but find podcasts to review.

I tried podcastalley.com and did not find any good podcasts.  Most of the ones I was interested in were no longer available.  I then tried podcast.com and that domain name is up for sale so that website is completely gone.

I did some searching for some place to host my podcast and found a website to host my podcast and it also had several good podcasts to follow.  It's podbean.com check it out.

I found Jesus Christ is here now! by Andy Dell.  There was a wonderful podcast of a woman who grow up Muslim in the middle east who converted to Christianity.  The sound quality was wonderful, her testimony was amazing, and I was very moved by her words.

Here is a link to Andy's website so you check it out for yourself. 
http://andydell.podbean.com/?source=pb

ShiftHappens - Did you know videos - Did You Know? 3.0

ShiftHappens - Did you know videos - Did You Know? 4.0

ShiftHappens - Did you know videos - Iowa, Did You Know?

shifthappens

The ShiftHappens wiki pages are insightful, and they are thinking and talking about subjects that are important.  I tried to join, and got an email telling me that I did not need to join to use the resources.  I am not sure which resource they were specifically referring to because my access seems limited. 

I then followed the link to join and was prompted to send an email to two of the administrators.  I did that because I was interested in contributing and starting my own wiki related to the subject of preparing future generations for the unknown future to come.  I have yet to hear back about my pending membership, and was unable to find three wiki's to review on the site with my limited access.  I found some good information, but author information was missing so I was not sure how to go about citing a post without knowing who wrote it.

I think this maybe part of the problem with wiki's in general.  The source can be questionable, and therefore, not creditable enough for academic research.  Wiki's are far to often opinion stated as fact without anything solid to back them up.  They are good starting points for getting ideas, but they generally would not be considered scholarly creditable.

The ShiftHappens is something that everyone should view, and by going to there website listed below, you can always find their latest video for the most up to date information.


http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/

Victoria

The 6 C’s: Co-Creating Competencies for 21st Century Citizenship

On the shifthappens.wikispaces.com I discovered The 6C’s for 21 Century Comptency wiki article “The 6 C’s: Co-Creating Competencies for 21st Century Citizenship”.  This article was written by Cynthia Drew Barnes, Ph.D, who is the CEO of Learning4Change.  However, the E does not stand for Executive, in her case she is the Chief Empowerment Officer.

From reading Dr. Barnes article it is very clear that she has a real grasp on the current state of education in America.  In this article, Dr. Barnes states, “We must move into a new model that clearly adopts the strategy that ‘one size does not fit all.’” (Drew Barnes, 2008) Not only does she clearly see the current situation, but she has some brilliant ideas for the change that is needed.

Her article clearly calls for change and her 6C’s are a good starting point that anyone could adopt.  She is not just talking about education reform; she uses words like “citizenship” and “global village” (Drew Barnes, 2008).  It is clear that preparing the future generation for a productive life in the 21^st Century is a real passion for Dr.  Barnes.

 

Dr. Barnes insight for the future can be summed up as follows:

In the 21st Century, the “3 R’s” must give way to the “6 C’s,” competencies each person must master for effective functioning and:

The 6 C’s for 21st Century Citizenship

1. Connect

2. Create

3. Collaborate

4. Communicate

5. Compute

6. Think Critically

 

I found this wiki very inspiring and Dr. Barnes passion very moving.  I definitely recommend others read her work.  This is one of the best wiki’s I have found on wikispaces and it clearly and simply address the issues brought up in the Did You Know video.

 

Victoria

 

Works Cited

Drew Barnes, C. (2008, Jan 29). The 6c's for 21st century competency. Retrieved from http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/The 6C's for 21st Century Competency

21st Century Skills

The first shifthappens wiki I checked out was 21^st Century Skills.  Part of their Mission Statement really struck me, “The skill sets necessary in an industrial nation are not adequate in 21^st century America.” (Ablett, Bellizzi, Byers, Cove, Dobrusin, Frey & Hanke) This is completely 100% on the mark for the kids who will be working in what we think of as the professional and technological fields.  I was once one of those kids.  I had my technology career.  However, now I am the grandmother to two boys who are growing up on a farm.  If they turn out anything like their father, they will love the land, growing things, and raising animals.

American students definitely need 21^st century skills, but the industrial society that this technological society grew out could not do without the agrarian society upon which it was built.  Neither can the technological society.  Someone will always need to grow the food and raise the animals we eat.  It may not look like it did 100 years ago or like it does today.  GMO’s are not going to make it, we have real bodies that need real food not genetically-modified, chemically-enhanced, disease-feeding foods.

We need to prepare our future professionals, blue collar workers, and even farmers for the technological age, but let’s not make the mistake of thinking blue collar jobs and farming are going away.   

 

Works Cited

Ablett, E., Bellizzi, D., Byers, J., Cove, S., Dobrusin, M., Frey, A., & Hanke, J. (n.d.). 21st century skills. Retrieved from http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/21st Century Skills