PAGE 4 // WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2011
NEWS
THE PENDULUM
Linkedin helps students network to make
the post-graduation job search easier
Lindsay Kimble
Copy Editor
Linkedin is an effective
way for students to market
themselves and network with
future employers, according
to Elon alumni. The website, a
social network for the corporate
world, helps connect businesses
with potential employees and
vice-versa.
Linkedin users create a
profile and can then connect
with other users. Connections
are like friend requests on
Facebook, and users are
prompted to indicate how they
know the person they wish to
connect with. Linkedin also
offers the opportunity for u.sers
to sync their Twitter account
to their profile. Users can also
upload their resumes.
Many Elon students are
unaware of the benefits Linkedin
offers.
“I was encouraged to make
a profile by an organization 1
was in," said Jen Cox, an Elon
junior majoring in psychology.
“1 realized that my parents had
accounts and that they felt it
was a great way to network with
friends and other students."
Cox said her actual usage of
Linkedin is minimal.
“Once I get a job, 1 don’t know
if I’ll need it," she said.
Crystal Grandison, Class of
2008, strongly suggests Linkedin
to students. She still maintains
the Linkedin profile she created
while at Elon. Grandison said
Linkedin helped her get her
current job as a community
manager for Schoology.com, a
social networking website for
teachers and students.
“While interning in NYC with
another education technology
company, I did a search on
Linkedin for similar companies
hiring in the New York City
area, since Linkedin also has
job postings,” Grandison said.
“After applying to a few jobs
via Linkedin, I came across
Schoology."
Grandison said the
networking site gave her
background information about
the company and linked her to
the company website. She said
there were no available positions
at the time on Linkedin, but
she still sent in her resume
and a month later was given a
position.
“If it wasn’t for Linkedin,
I may have never discovered
this company,” Grandison said.
“Since Schoology is a growing
company, I have used Linkedin
to post our job openings.”
Megan Schneider, Class of
2010, is a current graduate
student at James Madison
University serving as a graduate
assistant in Judicial Affairs
for Civic Learning Programs.
Schneider first created a
Linkedin profile while at Elon
and still maintains her page.
“I do not find myself actively
searching, since I am in graduate
school,” Schneider said. “But I
do keep my information up-to-
date. Also, every few months I
will add new trainings that I may
have completed, or presentation
information and conference
attendance.”
While Schneider did not use
the website while applying for
graduate school, she said she
expects to utilize it more during
her second year in order to look
for a job.
Grandison said Elon should
Old verbal agreement
complicates towing from
local church parking lot
Anna Johnson
Editor-In-Chief
An outdated verbal
agreement may have caused
Elon University students to be
illegally towed from the Elon
Community Church parking lot
in recent years.
Alamance Towing, the towing
company contracted through
ECC, has towed students from
the church parking lot based
off a verbal agreement between
the former owner of Alamance
Towing and the former pastor
of ECC, said Mark Kapler, the
current owner of Alamance
Towing.
But, it wasn’t until mid-
January that the current church
administration heard about
the agreement said Monica
Nicholson, an administrative
assistant at ECC.
Elon senior Alex Moss
complained to Nicholson after
she was repeatedly hung up on
and rudely spoken to on the
phone by an Alamance Towing
employee. Moss said.
“I called the church to
let them know the towing
company they are working
with was disrespectful," Moss
said. “(Nicholson) said they
would never tow people and the
minster wanted people to park
(in the parking lot)."
When Nicholson contacted
Kapler, Moss was refunded her
$80 for parking and Alamance
Towing was asked not to tow
in the church parking lot
anymore.
Written documents
regarding the agreement
riT - -
STUART JONES | Photographer
Cars parked in the Elon Community Church
lot may have been wrongfully towed.
could not be produced by
Kapler or Nicholson.
Kapler said he wasn’t aware
the pastor who made the
agreement, David Kuhn, had
retired. .And he didn’t have any
information on the agreement
other than what he was told by
the former Alamance Towing
owner, Keith Norris.
Multiple attempts to contact
Norris and Kuhn to verify this
agreement were unsuccessful.
Not many cars were towed
from that lot, Kapler said. The
cost to be towed from the lot is
$80.
When a vehicle was towed
from the church lot, Nicholson
said, she assumed Elon
University Campus Safety and
Police had made the call.
Chuck Gantos, director of
Campus Safety and Police, said
they never call for a vehicle to be
towed from the church parking
lot and Alamance Towing does
tow vehicles for Elon University.
“We’ve got an exclusive
contract with Alamance
Towing," Gantos said. “They’ve
been good for us and we’ve had
no complaints.”
UinRecI
TRACY RAETZ | Staff Photographer
Linkedin Is a social networ( for the business world. Elon alumni suggest Ifie site for students looking to increase ttieir marketability.
require students to create
Linkedin profiles with at least
five teacher recommendations
through senior seminar classes.
“When you are on the job
hunt, you need to try every trick
in the book,” she said. “Linkedin
is great because first off, it’s
free for basic use and there
are thousands of professionals
already there at your fingertips.
You have to start networking
somehow and Linkedin gets
your feet wet.”
Schneider, on the other hand,
said she feels that only those
that are going to actively use
Linkedin can benefit from its
features.
“I am a strong believer in
using social networks if you are
going to take the time to stay
current and watch your activity,"
she said. “Otherwise, I think I’d
say deactivate your account.
I’ve read many articles that say
being present online just to be
present can be more harmful
than not being present at all.”
Nonetheless, Grandison said
it is useful. In regard to Elon in
particular, she said she does not
remember any faculty or staff
member ever suggesting using
Linkedin.
“I sure wish 1 had something
like this during my initial job
hunt," Grandison said. “It would
have also been great to have all
my professor recommendations
right there on my Linkedin profile
for professionals to view.”
Smartpen blends old writing
with new technology, skills
Jeff Stern
Online Editor-in-Chief
While a lot of what students
write nowadays is typed, a new
pen has the potential to change
the way students learn.
The Livescribe Smartpen,
introduced in 2008, blends old-
fashioned note taking with new
technology. The pen can record
audio and then be synced with
notes and queued up just by
tapping where the user wrote
on the special Livescribe
paper.
“I originally thought it was
foolish to use a Livescribe pen
instead of using a notebook,
but then I realized you can
never actually write everything
that’s being said and the pen
will capture everything,” said
David Copeland, professor
of communications. “I could
theoretically see people using
these instead of laptops.”
Copeland said he views the
pen as a great tool for students,
as they would be able to capture
an entire lecture and not have
to worry about writing down
every detail.
The Livescribe software
allows the user to transfer
the notes from the pen to a
computer in a PDF format
and then convert the hand
written notes into text, with
the purchase of additional
software. But Copeland said
he believes a student would be
more inclined to hsten to the
audio recording than read the
notes.
As a former journalist,
Copeland said he also sees
the pen’s potential to allow
journalists to focus more on
the interviews and less on
note-taking.
“Nobody could ever tell me
that I misquoted them because
I (would) have it all right there,
right in the context of what it
was,” he said.
Academic researchers
would also benefit from using
the pen. Paula Patch, lecturer
in English, frequently studies
the way students write. Most
of what interests her, she said,
is not what students write but
how they write it.
“The pen would be more of
an extension of the student,”
Patch said.
Compared with using a
video camera or audio recorder
to capture students’ writing
methods. Patch says she sees
the pen as a noninvasive tool.
“1 think it would allow
researchers to get closer to
a more authentic writing
experience,” she said.
The Livescribe pen also
offers the simple benefit of
allowing the user to write by
hand.
“There has been research
that shows that some people
literally think better and have
a more fluent thought process
when they write by hand,”
Patch said.
Freshman Katherine Bain
agrees. She said she finds
that handwriting allows her
to focus better and remember
what she has written.
As a freshman Teaching
Fellow, Bain said she sees
how the Livescribe pen could
benefit the classroom.
While Bain said she found
the Livescribe to be a really
interesting concept, she doesn’t
think it will ever be used among
the majority of her peers.
“It is really expensive for
a pen," Bain said. “I probably
wouldn’t invest the money,
but I could theoretically see
myself using it in a lecture
class to help me remember all
I heard.”
While the Livescribe pen has
not become mainstream, those
who have written with the pen
appreciate the luxury.
“It hasn’t become a life or
death property for me yet but 1
can see the ways it can enhance
what I do,” Copeland said. “It
bridges the gap between old
school and new school.”
The least expensive
Livescribe model costs $99.95.
David Copeland,
professor of
communications, shows
the Livescribe pen in
action.
http://bit.ly/TPOiivescribe
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