Development of an online social network for teachers and parents of students with multiple disabilities

Our research sets out to ascertain how Social Software tools can be used to support teachers and parents of students with multiple disabilities in order to meet their needs and difficulties. By using the NING platform, we built an online social network that was streamlined for eight months with 45 participants. We achieved many of our original goals while using design-based research and various techniques of collecting and analysing data. The results show that the creation of an informal learning context, which allowed for sharing experiences and building knowledge, was rated very positively by participants. It involved a plural reality with different participation levels: the more active members adopted more "critical" and "creative" positions while the more passive ones took on the position of "collector", "spectator" and of someone who was more "inactive". We conclude that the potential of Social Software is enabled by the use it is given by the participants and that it is an effective means of overcoming the isolation felt by parents and teachers of children and young people with multiple disabilities.