EdConnect, empowering support teams to share knowledge and collaborate

The world of special education is complex. Families and general education teachers struggle to understand the characteristics of a student’s specific disability as well as how to implement the recommended supports that can positively impact the student’s learning. Stakeholders on the support team for students such as the special education teacher and intervention specialists are experts in implementing effective support for students with special needs. But other stakeholders such as general education teachers or families may lack knowledge needed to ensure the student is receiving consistent support in and outside of the classroom.

To address this knowledge gap and better ensure that students are getting adequate services, we are creating a centralized digital platform for a community of learners (the support team) engaged in collective knowledge exchange. Research from the learning sciences undergirds each core feature of our platform, EdConnect.Through these selected features, teachers can leverage the expertise of the specialists and families on the support team to customize and implement student supports, while engaging within a community of learners focused around the issue of best supporting learners with special needs. Preliminary user studies indicate that users perceive the application to be helpful and value the affordances of the platform in various contexts.