Participants must be at least 18 years old. Membership at LinkedIn is required. Capable of exhibiting consistently decent behavior and a constructive temperament.

What kind of item on your résumé carries the greatest amount of  weight? Experience, of course. Education is vital, too; but a  lot of young college grads are discovering that education, alone, does not get the  job. It's education AND experience that boosts career opportunities.

You have  probably heard this old complaint:

I can't get a job without having some experience, and I can't get experience  if I can't get a job ... because I don't have any experience ... because I can get a job... because ..."

Fortunately, that particular dilemma is quickly fading into oblivion. How so? The prevailing information-driven workplace of our time  regards "unpaid" experience as a bona-fide career asset. You can see this described on career websites and in the new breed of career guidance books. Volunteer work and internships usually appear at the top of any list of  suggestion for "unpaid experience." In any case, the experience must be verifiable to a reasonable degree--letter from  a director, for example. Tangible evidence is even  better—hardcopy reports and journals, blogs, e-mails, and so on.

Now Free-Ed.Net is offering a powerful new career asset builder that combines learning with hands-on workgroup experience. You can use this program to build your career portfolio—education and first-hand experience—through the remainder of your working life.

It's really a very simple idea, but one that could not possibly work until the technology was readily available.

Ok. Here are a couple of features that are easy to understand (because they really aren't new ideas at all).

1. It is a well-established fact that most people learn more and more effectively as members of an organized study group. Study groups are the heart of Free-Ed.Net's CSG program.
2. The GSGs are organized  by "course" titles. (I put course in quotes because they aren't really courses of study, but more like group projects that are similar to workgroup projects  in  today's workplace.) The first test groups will be built around sets of learning objectives for General Psychology.

And the next two features are also straightforward. They are navigation issues common to most online social groups.

3. The main communication portal is an online board: Core Study Groups at Free-Ed.Net
   That's where prospective group members can check out the public group action and sign up for the program.
4. Once a member arrives at the groups board, they select the study program—General Psychology, for example. This is where the members who are doing general psych projects meet up.
5. Free-Ed.Net provides the portal (described in items C and D), core objectives for the study group, and a lot of high quality learning resources.

Okay, okay ... don't leave us now. Here is were we turn the corner:

6. It is the responsibility of the members to organize themselves into functioning groups. As people join the groups and begin communicating among themselves, strategies for meeting the core objectives begin to emerge. And soon the project begins to soar, with the participants learning cooperation and people skills as well as the subject matter.
7. Free-Ed.Net acts only in an oversight capacity, making  certain the groups are not  violating legal statutes (copyright infringement, for  instance) and taking steps to council or remove troublesome members from the program.

This would have been impossible less than a decade ago. But the workplace has undergone some tsunamic shifts (as evidenced by the flotsam and jetsam of careers that have been broken and washed away). it's a whole new working world with new standards and  goals.

Anyway, it's time  to finish off this discussion.

8. Being part of a successful study group—one that strategizes, allocates tasks, and brings everything together in the end—is no small accomplishment. It clearly demonstrates the qualities that employers are so  desperately seeking these days. (Of course part of the group strategy is to devise ways to verify the role and contribution of each member).
9. Not only have you strengthened your résumé with proven workgroup experience, but have extended your education portfolio with a significant academic subject.

I forgot to mention that each group maintains a public portfolio (a blog) of its plans and progress. The portfolio also includes an open profile for every participant—you know: your  name, a thumbnail photo, a link to your LinkedIn account, and a brief description of your role in the group.

Now, why do you suppose we would ask you to do that?  (Well, we can't actually compel you do it. You can remain anonymous if you like). The purpose is to provide verification for your listing the work as legitimate career "experience" on your résumé. A recruiter or job interviewer can look up your group portfolio and immediately understand what you and your group managed to accomplish.  It can be very impressive.

I am keenly aware that this CSG program is in its infancy and, as yet, has no proven track record. But if we (and especially you) do our jobs here, there will soon be a time when recruiters are scouring our public portfolios for suitable candidates for their companies. And they can actually see what you have done.

	You can go away and think about it ... or not		You can review the short list of rules
	You can look at available groups and maybe join one		You can submit a proposal for starting a new group

By the way, this is likely the closest thing to a multiple-choice question you might ever experience here.