ISCI 761 M9: Cyberbullying

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Cyberbullying Image
Image Credit: Webpurify

A comment that was made to be about modern day bullying is that it is worse than the bullying of 20 or even 30 years ago because it can go beyond the schoolyard. Now that students as young as elementary school have access to their peers through the internet, there is no barrier that makes a student safe from the cruel intent of a peer. There's also the phrase that "the internet is forever" - once a cruel post is made, it can spread beyond the conflicting students to the whole school, community, state, nation, etc. Anyone with access will be able to engage with the bullying and deleting is sometimes impossible. The background information and research outlined in "From the Sandbox to the Inbox: Comparing the Acts, Impacts, and Solutions of Bullying in K-12, Higher Education, and the Workplace" supports this - and there have been many more cases that have been covered in the media since.

With this in mind, what can be done? The article from the Cyberbullying Research Center, "Cyberbullying Videos to Use in Presentations," makes a great point about not beginning a digital citizenship lesson in a "scared straight" mindset. This means to not present the worst case scenario about cyberbullying as the first or only emphasis in a lesson about cyberbullying. The article points out that this is often counterproductive. This article also emphasizes the push in education to used diverse materials and collaborative discussion as a means to achieve an educational end. Students engage in a lesson, watch a video, and respond to discussion questions in order to learn about digital citizenship and the effects of cyberbullying. The Seven Deadly Sins interactive is also effective as it provides stories and videos to engage with, learn from, and discuss. 

I would take guidance from the materials shared in this module in planning for presenting information on digital citizenship with students. I think from an early point in children's lives it is important to teach them responsibility for their actions and the proper ways to conduct themselves with people they interact with. A lot of these characteristics will also have to be practiced in the home so making sure that information about digital citizenship also goes to parents so it can be discussed and practiced will be important. School staff should be good models for behavior online and in-person so the ability for them to have resources to share and discuss with students should be easily accessible. I think for my practice website assignment I will try to build in a space for positive digital citizenship that can be used for students, guardians, and teachers.

References

Cassidy, W., Faucher, C. & Jackson, M. (2015). "From the Sandbox to the Inbox: Comparing the Acts, Impacts, and Solutions of Bullying in K-12, Higher Education, and the Workplace." Journal of Education and Training Studies, Vol. 3, No. 6, https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1078204.pdf.

Cyberbullying Research Center. (n.d.). "Cyberbullying Videos to Use in Presentations." https://cyberbullying.org/videos.

Jam3, NFB Digital Studio Vancouver, & The Guardian. (n.d.) "Seven Digital Deadly Sins." National Film Board of Canada, http://sins.nfb.ca/#/Grid.

Sanger-Katz, M. (2014). "The Science Behind Suicide Contagion." The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/14/upshot/the-science-behind-suicide-contagion.html


Comments

  1. Heather CalvertOctober 23, 2022 at 1:05 PM

    Hi Carson,
    I agree that social media has made it nearly impossible for victims to hide. When I was a kid, if you were being bullied, you avoided them in person and were free once you left school. Now, the bully is literally in your pocket everywhere you go. We are waging war against an invisitble, highly portable bully. Connection with our students is key - they need to know they have an ally and bullies need to know we are here, watching, and ready to stop them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Shelf lifeOctober 23, 2022 at 5:48 PM

    Hi Carson! The internet is such a strange thing for me to comprehend fully. When it began, people engaged with it like a hobby but now it has really become a second existence, and you're right, that the things that are posted can follow you forever, influencing your first life as well. I don't think that the population fully understands the ramifications of that either and for that reason, digital citizenship lessons are very important. I'm looking forward to seeing your take on it with your website! Thanks for your post!-Meg

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