3.

7 Communication & Collaboration

Candidates utilize digital communication and collaboration tools to communicate locally and
globally with students, parents, peers, and the larger community. (PSC 3.7/ISTE 3g)

ARTIFACT: Twitter Feed

The communication and collaboration artifact is my professional Twitter Feed. Although I have
several Twitter accounts, I am referencing @TeamBorders, which is the account that I use to
connect with my professional learning network (PLN). This PLN includes other educators,
schools, districts, educational tools (software and hardware) - locally, nationally, and globally.
This artifact has continuously grown over the last six years shifting from a space that showcased
the work that I did with my students to connecting with large educational companies to build
partnerships. Although my account was started through my own independent interests,
interacting with others daily makes my Twitter feed a collaborative space. This artifact also acts
as an excellent form of professional development through the direct connections it provides. .

As @TeamBorders has grown in its followers, using it has enhanced my ability to utilize digital
communication and collaboration tools to communicate locally and globally with student,
parents, peers, and the larger community. For example, the act of retweets is an immediate
way to connect with others. Sharing the work that I do as an instructional technology coach has
connected me with people throughout the world who have asked questions or shared tweets with
their PLN. Participating in Twitter chats as a leader or contributor illustrates my ability to
facilitate professional discourse among diverse groups of people. Sifting through my Twitter
showcases the connections that I have made with FlipGrid, SeeSaw, and the Google Certified
Innovators of the world.

With sensitivity around what is deemed as shareable in this era of social media, Twitter is often
seen a taboo amongst educators. After absolving the apprehensions I had about using Twitter as a
professional learning tool, I have watched my digital presence grow tremendously over the years.
@Teamborders is used daily, but one thing that I have in mind for future use is connecting with
more parents of the students that I support and supporting other educators in understanding the
significance in building their professional learning network. As I continue to build, I would also
like to include more thought-provoking original content and how-tos that compliment the
thoughts/works of others that I consistently support.

As my @Teamborders account has grown to 1,071 followers and there have been a plethora of
exchanges between other educators and I where I’ve expounded on something that I posted, my
feed is definitely impacting school improvement, faculty development, or student learning in
some capacity. With the diverse demographics within Twitter, there is, often, not a direct link to
this impact. As a huge supporter of using Twitter as a PLN, I plan to continue using this platform
as a tool to model connecting with others to exchange ideas.