As a college student, you should intern with an organization while you work towards a degree. Managing an internship on top of your studies can be challenging; however, you will benefit significantly from it--if you know how to proactively manage it.

Whether your internship is onsite or remote, internships offer many opportunities to expand your network, learn valuable life skills, and gain experience in a professional environment. In spring 2021, I completed a paid internship for credit with Communication@Work LLC, a consulting company that Dr. Craig Engstrom owns and operates. Craig, as he prefers, was my supervisor. 

Canva is a graphic design platform, used to create social media graphics, presentations, posters, documents, and other visual content. It is one of my favorite tools as a creator, educator, and learner, and I think you'll love it too.

​In this post, I share what I like most about Canva as an educator and how it can be used in education.

Because I've been curating useful tips, tricks, and hacks on my YouTube channel, I have embedded five of my favorite or popular videos as well. So pop some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy.

LinkedIn Learning, which is owned by Microsoft, purchased Lynda.com for $1.5 billion dollars (U.S.) in 2015. Online learning continues to grow in popularity and will continue to do so in the future. According to LinkedIn's press release for 2020 Q4 profits:

LinkedIn Learning has over 5,000 courses to choose among. A subscription costs $29.99 when paid monthly or $19.99 when paid annually. It is bundled with the Job Seeker and Business Premium subscriptions, which deliver a much higher ROI. Therefore, if you're looking for more LinkedIn features, consider the LinkedIn Learning a bonus with those subscriptions. While many of the courses are formatted into lectures, they demonstrate high-quality production. I have yet to find a course that hasn't provided me new insights and starting points for new skills. I have completed over 15 courses and I am working sporadically on 30 others.

Some organizations, businesses, and universities have contracts with LinkedIn, so you may have free access to the content. As an instructor, the value of your university having LinkedIn Learning is immeasurable. I teach an Advanced Business Communication course every two years at Elmhurst University. EU has a subscription to LinkedIn learning, which links directly to the learning management system (LMS).

I use the LinkedIn Learning courses like I would books or other course materials. I guide students through the main points, offer summary lectures and additional materials, and so on. In short, you still have to teach. Two of the courses I include in this course are listed below: UX Foundations and Information Management. If you have questions about this, just ask. You can access the course outline on this page.

When I originally set out to write this post, the title I was kicking around was College Professor: Reasons Why You Should Be ACTIVE On LinkedIn​. The main idea was to impress the importance of being active. However, the current title has a higher search engine ranking score. The tactics of titling posts for search engine ranking will be a point I return to later; however, being active on LinkedIn remains the central thesis of this post. It's not just enough to have a profile on LinkedIn; the best way to approach LinkedIn is to engage.
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LinkedIn has more than 740 million users and is a growing social media powerhouse. It is not just for networking among professionals. It is now an influential content platform, powerful search engine, and marketing gold mine. In Q1 of 2021, LinkedIn's revenue increased by 21% year-over-year and the amount of content shared on LinkedIn increased by 50%.

You're on LinkedIn, but are you ACTIVE on LinkedIn? If you're not engaging the platform, you're missing opportunities. If you're not feeding the beast (aka algorithm), you're not being found. In this post, I hope to convince colleagues of the value -- financial, social, education, professional -- that LinkedIn can provide faculty who are active on the platform.

Source: ​31 LinkedIn Stats That Marketers Need to Know in 2021 (hubspot.com)

Admittedly, the list of courses feels incomplete to me. How can I narrow a list of recommended courses to just three? When it comes to educating oneself, more learning is usually better. However, after reflecting on this post during 100+ miles of cycling (follow me on Strava), I have homed in on three courses that I'd recommend based on the following praxeological criteria: 1. practical and  2. universal utility value. I mean practical in the most definitional sense: "... of or concerned with the actual doing or use of something rather than with theory and ideas." By universal utility value, I mean it provides a positive, useful outcome for most people.

I could list 50+ college or non-college courses with a good ROI. But by solely choosing three, I'm more likely to retain readers. Feel free, though, to tell me why I am wrong in the comments and name your top three course recommendations. Or, tell me how right I am and how you've used one of the courses in your personal or professional life. Let's start a conversation.

The fall term is about to begin at colleges and universities. Take a moment to envision your professors submitting final grades at the end of the term. As they move down the list of students, they're thinking about whether to upgrade a student's grade from an A- to an A or another student's grade from a C+ to a B. Because they don't know anything about one student, they log the C+ as a C+. The student obviously did what was required but the professor only recognizes their name. They think: Who the hell is this learner?

However, you heeded the advice in this blog, you get bumped from a B+ to an A. How the hell did you influence your miserly professor in this way? The answer: Application of exchange relations theory, which is a fancy-pants understanding of the timeless art of interpersonal influence.

If you're an instructor who finds it hard to remember names. If you teach in a large lecture hall (not too large). Or, have student wearing masks (thanks to C-19), then you may benefit from this handy tool. 

Download template below video.

Although a time-consuming process, I frequently make video testimonials for students. Why? Because it is far more meaningful than a letter of recommendation. The following version of the video is the long-form video I made for Maggie Burke, class of 2019. It also functions as a promotional video and testimonial for me. If you prefer to watch Maggie's version that she can share on her social media and LinkedIn, go here >> youtu.be/xjTlKEStxvA

If for some reason the embedded video below is not working, you can watch it here: ​vizia.co/videos/2db4849c20ea0282f7f3f3/share

Note: Her version does not have my promotional lead-in. ​

I do these videos for a variety of students >> See more testimonials.

If you're an instructor, what do you do to show support of unique students?

The job market is tightening in higher education. It is increasingly harder for those graduating with PhDs to procure permanent, tenure-track teaching positions. This is a reality for those currently in the field of communication as explained by Dr. Carole Blair in her article "The Deprofessionalization of the Faculty," which was published in the May 2019 issue of Spectra. What is more, there is plenty of evidence that several institutions of higher education are likely to downsize, fail, or merge over the next decade. Current faculty are aware of the situation: