Analysis – Cyber Bullying

With all the new technologies emerging being used in schools and at home by children there are many advantages that come with these technologies. However there is one Negative consequence to these new technologies. Some students are using these new mediums to bully and attack other students.

Cyber bullying or bullying on the internet and through text is a growing problem in schools around the world. Cyber bullying can be described as: ‘teasing, spreading rumours, sending unwanted or threatening materials or the displaying of defamatory material’ (Shariff & Strong-Wilson. 2005). Currently cyber bullying is most commonly being achieved through: email, chat rooms, instant messaging, social networking sites, websites or text messaging (Shariff & Strong-Wilson. 2005).

In general ‘cyber bullying has similar impacts factors to traditional bullying’ (Smith et al, 2008), however in a study conducted in the UK there were certain aspects of cyber-bullying which students pointed out as being more harmful than traditional bullying. Those rated as more damaging than traditional bullying were picture and video posting (Smith et al. 2008). This is because these images are hard to delete and can be displayed to an endless audience. According to Drogin & Young, 2008, long term effects of cyber bullying can include: attention deficit disorder, personality disorders, anxieties and conduct disorders. It has also shown to increase adult suicide rates (Drogin & Young, 2008). Some of these symptoms have been uncovered in Australian courts with one Victorian school student seeking compensation from school bullies after fearing for her safety at school and developing anxiety due to continued cyber-bullying (Carrick, 2010).

In order to assess cyber-bullying behaviour there are a number of questionnaires or scales that have been identified: bullying behaviour scale, name calling survey, Olweus’ bully/victim questionnaire, ‘Life in Schools’ booklet, peer belief inventory, peer nomination inventory and the peer victimisation scale. (Crothers & Levinson 2004 as cited by Drogin & Young 2008) These help identify the type and extent of cyber-bullying.

Counteracting cyber bullying in schools is becoming increasingly hard. Each state has policies in schools about cyber bullying. However it is hard to have up to date, effective policies as ICT is constantly evolving and changing. (http://www.cybersmart.gov.au). Schools are commonly using tools like acceptable use forms to help manage cyber bullying. Students and parents are made to sign internet acceptable use forms which include policies on use of social networking sites, emails and appropriate communication as well as consequences. Filtering and blocking software is also used in ACT schools to block sites such as facebook and private email addresses. (cyber smart guide for families, Australian communication and media authority)

There are many things parent can advise their children on or do themselves to keep children safe from online bullying in the home. The Australian Government’s Cyber Smart Guide for Families 2009 (www.cybersmart.gov.au) outlines some of these strategies.

Over all it can be shown that there is a direct link between the rise of cyber bullying and the development and use of ICT in schools. Cyber bullying can occur virtually anywhere now with the development of new technologies, however cyber attacks most commonly occur in school or at home. There are many ways students, parents and teachers can do to prevent or counteract cyber bullying and prevent problems that can occur immediately as well as long term problems or effects from being cyber bullying.

Resources:

Carrick, D (presenter). (2010, May 4) ABC Radio National. Podcast. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lawreport/stories/2010/2888868.htm

Cyber Smart Guide for Families, Australian Communication and Media Authority www.cybersmart.gov.au

Drogin, E., Young, K. (2008). Forensic Mental Health Aspects of Adolescent ‘Cyber Bullying’: A Jurisprudent Perspective. The Journal of Psychiatry and Law, 36.

P. Smith., J. Mahdavi., M. Carvalho., S. Fisher., S. Russell., & N. Tippett. (2008). Cyberbullying: Its nature and impact in secondary school pupils. The Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology, 49:4, 376-385.

S.Shariff and T. Strong-Wilson 2005 chapter 14, Bullying and New Technologies,  Classroom Teaching.

Analysis: Impacts of ICT on Education

Analysis: Impacts of ICT (Information Communication Technology) on Education.

Over the last two decades as ICT developed it began to gradually be integrated in education with the view it would enhance learning, which it does. However ICT has many impacts on education both positive and negative. The impacts on education can be split into two main groups, the tools used in an educational setting and the ways in which ICT is taught or integrated.

The first and most obvious impact on education is the physical. The physical tools used as well as the structure of classrooms are all changing. It is now not uncommon to see students engaged with their iPods listening to a podcast while they follow along with a text book, huddled around a laptop or exploring a web page with a teacher on and Interactive White Board (IWB). IWBs are providing audio and visual as well as aesthetic mediums to help motivate and engage students. ‘Students can come and interact with the surface [of an IWB] and actually create opportunities to learn’ (Andy Penman, Teamboard Australia, 2010, ABC Radio National podcast). IWBs also give teachers access to current issues and web pages as well as allowing them to revisit previous saved lessons or even email saved lessons to students.

New technologies like IWBs and laptops are being used and explored currently in Australia. Looking into the future there are a number of new technologies that will impact on education just over the horizon.

Future technologies heading our way include things like:

Mobile learning where students have devices on them at all times. This has been trailed in Clementi Town secondary School where, ‘Upon arrival at the field site, instructions appear on the [students’] mobiles, and the students work collaboratively to carry out experiments, take notes, analyse and synthesise data and submit their results’ (K-12 Horizons Report, 2010, p. 23). This technology engages students with learning, allows them portable, in the field resources and gives them the opportunity to submit work electronically.

The second impact on education resulting from these new technologies is the way in which they are used in the classroom. An example of where new pedagogies are needed is in situations where teachers and students can become ‘dictated by technologies’ and when ‘the world of teaching and learning, in some measure, becomes reduced to a 1024 x 768 pixel presentation display’ (Reedy, 2008). This is because teachers and students are becoming too reliant on ICT and therefore reduce the quality of their work by simple using technology because it is there, not because it will enhance their teaching and learning.

One example of this is the Microsoft program, PowerPoint.  Teachers often become trapped by power point using it as the sole way to present information. American author Edward R. Tufte argues that the ‘relatively content-free cognitive style – short sentences with no punctuation, bulleted and nested lists, low visual and display resolution, and the chunking of narrative into slide sized portions is fundamentally incompatible  with learning and information transfer’ (Edward R. Tufte as quoted by Reedy, 2008).

Because of these new technologies there has a push for pedagogies and teaching styles to be changed to keep up with the advancing technology.  In his article E-Pedagogy, does e-learning require a new approach to teaching and learning, Bobby Elliot suggests there are two main reasons pedagogies have not already changed, ‘Firstly [it is believed] there is no need to change the tried-and-tested pedagogies and; secondly, there are no alternative methods’ over the last 20 years tools for teaching have changed, however methods for teaching and learning have not.  Garrison and Anderson, 2003, write, ‘To realise the potential of e-learning it is essential that we rethink our pedagogy. Education is about ideas, not facts. Moreover, students in higher education are not receiving the educational experiences they need to develop the critical and self directed high education skills required for lifelong learning. The current passive-information-transfer approaches to higher education are contrasted with the interactive and constructive potential of e-learning’.

From examples like this, new pedagogies have been suggested. One of these is Connectivism. Connectivism ‘conceptualises knowledge and learning as a network’ (B. Elliot, 2009). It focuses on learning being about networking and creation. This theory differentiates between data, information, knowledge and meaning.

Data – raw elements

Information- data with intelligence applied

Knowledge- Information in context and internalised

Meaning-comprehension of the nuances, value and implications of knowledge

(B. Elliot, 2009)

Taking this one step further is TPACK where teachers need to have a grasp of content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and technological knowledge (Roblyer M. D, Doering A. H, 2010) in order to use ICT beneficially in education.

It can be concluded that ICT has two main impacts affecting education today. The first being the tools which we use to teach, e.g, IWBs or mobiles, and the way in which we teach with these new tools or the pedagogies we choose to employ. These new technologies have huge implications for education, they allow students new and exciting ways to learn, however if pedagogical styles are not adapted to suit these new technologies, ICT in education may not be used to its full potential to enhance education.

References:

E-Pedagogy, Does e-learning require a new approach to teaching and learning?

G. B Reedy, Scottish Qualifications Authority, Jan. 2009

Funnell. A. (Presenter). (2010 May, 13^th) ABC Radio National – Audio Podcast, retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/rn/futuretense/stories/2010/2885066.htm

Roblyer M. D, Doering A. H, 2010, Integrating Educational Technology in Teaching.

5^th ed. Pearson Publishing 2010

Technology, Pedagogy and Education, Gabriel B. Reedy, 2008 http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.canberra.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&hid=11&sid=6cc27d6f-800a-4f60-8785-00fccd4a930f%40sessionmgr11

The New Media Consortium, 2010 K-12 Horizons Report, (2010)

559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA.