Development of an online social network for teachers and parents of students with multiple disabilities Clarisse Nunes Escola Superior de Educação do IP de Lisboa Lisboa, Portugal clarisse@eselx.ipl.pt Guilhermina Lobato Miranda Instituto de Educação da Universidade de Lisboa Lisboa, Portugal gmiranda@ie.ul.pt Abstract— 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. Keywords- Informal Learning, Non-formal Learning, Multiple Disabilities, Parental Involvement, Teacher Training, Online Social Networking, Social Software I. INTRODUCTION The Education for All policy has allowed for students with severe limitations to be part of mainstream education, as is the case of those with multiple disabilities. The education of these students requires specialized materials and human resources [1]. The current laws governing special education in Portugal (DL 3/2008) believe it possible for regular school groups to create specialized support units to meet the needs of these children and youths. This has led to an increase in the number of teachers involved in the education of these students. Most teachers are not sufficiently prepared to meet the needs of such students and their families, partly due to a lack of former teacher training in multiple disabilities. In-service specialized training is also many times not provided. However the knowledge and the successful experiences among these professionals have not yet been shared, nor have they solved problems together and clarified any doubts that may have arisen. Many teachers have developed their professional activities alone, experiencing therefore numerous setbacks. We have not had access to the results of empirical studies which focus on the needs and difficulties of these teachers. Those who were part of our study (n=30) highlighted difficulties related to teaching practices, the access of resources and the training in multiple disabilities. These difficulties are extended to the families of the students. The 15 participating parents in our study showed difficulties in gaining information regarding their rights and difficulties associated with social, family, financial and emotional support. Results of other researches conducted with parents of students with multiple disabilities also indicate these same kinds of difficulties [1], [2]. Given this reality, it is important to find ways of mediating such adversities. Current technological tools, like social software, may be established as a resource to facilitate access to information and support, as well as interaction among people with similar experiences [2]. In this sense, it is important to study how these technological advances can be used towards the education of students with multiple disabilities. Specifically, in terms of how the tools of Web 2.0, Social Software in particular may be used to: (i) promote the professional development of teachers [3] who work with students with multiple disabilities, (ii) design contexts to promote communication and interaction between teachers and parents, and (iii) create online social networks [4]. Given these arguments our aim was to determine how the Social Software can help improve the practices of those responsible for the education of students with multiple disabilities (both parents and teachers). II. PROBLEM FORMULATION The research results demonstrate how Social Software and Social Networks (e.g. Facebook, Ning, Elgg) in formal education can be used to: i) improve the traditional face-to- face learning experiences; ii) help long-distance education courses [5]; iii) increase the effects of lifelong learning [4], [6], [7]; iv) promote social interaction among students [7], and provide support and collaboration [8], [9]; v) offer a means for people to participate in interactive dialogues, which may lead to learning [10]. However there is little research on the use of these tools in non-formal or informal learning. We only know of one Portuguese study that examines whether social networks can be designed as virtual spaces associated with training and teachers’ professional development [3]. The authors analysed the NING platform and observed that it constitutes a challenge