Supporting Professional Development in Special Education with Web-Based Professional Learning Communities: New Possibilities with Web 2.0

Abstract

This article describes the challenges in organizing professional learning communities (PLCs) in special education, identifies the teacher and student benefits of using a PLC approach to professional development, and discusses the promise and pitfalls of organizing web-based PLCs to engage distributed stakeholders in the practice of special education. The author used two Web 2.0 applications, a wiki and a Ning, to provide the infrastructure and support community-building efforts. Although the PLC membership has grown to about 200 members during the past four years, data collected via Web 2.0 show that most of the members participate as observers only, relying almost entirely on the network administrator to direct and manage all facets of community work. The development of web-based PLCs to support the practice of special education may be dependent upon the building of school-based leadership in addition to the meaningful participation of school administrators and teacher educators in community work.