Digital Citizenship and Digital Bullying

Bullying! 

1. Education! 
 Educating your students on what cyber bullying is can help prevent the start f cyber bulling. Many students feel that if they are not saying things directly to others then it is not actual bullying. As teachers we need to make sure that students understand threatening behavior regardless of if it is face-to-face or online: IT IS STILL BULLYING. A good activity that you can do with your students is have them enter into a digital citizenship contract; during this lesson you can explain why all six articles are important. 

We, The Digital Citizens, Pledge To ...

Digital citizenship involves joining an online community. Do you use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or any other social media? If so, you are a digital citizen. As a member of an online community you agree to accept a social contract. A social contract is when you give up the freedom to do whatever you want. In return, you get many benefits that ensure your safety, security, and privacy. Protect everyone’s right to a safe online experience by taking the pledge to uphold the Six Articles of Digital Citizenship.

The Six Articles of Digital Citizenship
©2013 Elastic Class 

1. Communicate politely and respectfully with other digital citizens.

2. Protect private information about others and myself.

3. Stand up to cyber-bullying and report it to teachers and/or parents.

4. Acknowledge that content posted online is permanent.

5. Be mindful of my online activity and ask myself,‘Does my digital foot print convey a positive image?

6. Exhibit academic integrity and honesty by properly citing and crediting sources.

(print student name) Digital Citizenship.

Signature:______________________

2. What is Cyber bulling?   

Cyber bulling is the act of making some feel threatened, violated, or unsafe through the use of technology. Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place using electronic technology. Electronic technology includes devices and equipment such as cell phones, computers, and tablets as well as communication tools including social media sites, text messages, chat, and websites. Examples of cyberbullying include mean text messages or emails, rumors sent by email or posted on social networking sites, and embarrassing pictures, videos, websites, or fake profiles. Cyberbullying can happen at any time of day, it can be done anonymously or a victim may know their 'attacker' and in some cases a victim may be bullied by more than one person. Cyberbullying can involve trolling or stalking thus making it hard for the victim to escape attacks on them whilst online. It some cases it can be distributed to large audiences as well severely affecting the victim as it can involve cyber public humiliation.  Cyberbullying is an important issue for all teachers to understand as they need to be able to educate their students on what constitutes as cyberbullying, how it can affect the person being targeted, how to deal with cyberbullying if a student is targeted, how to not fall into the traps of cyberbullying and what resources are available for students on cyberbullying. 

        -STATS YOU DIDN"T KNOW (Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, 2011)

Electronically Bullied 

Nationwide, 16.2% of students had been electronically bullied, including being bullied through e-mail, chat rooms, instant messaging, websites, or texting, during the 12 months before the survey (Table 16). 

Overall, the prevalence of having been electronically bullied was higher among female (22.1%) than male (10.8%) students

Overall, higher among 9th-grade female (22.6%), 10th-grade female (24.2%), 11th-grade female (19.8%), and 12th-grade female (21.5%) than 9th-grade male (8.9%), 10th-grade male (12.6%), 11th-grade male (12.4%), and 12th-grade male (8.8%) students, respectively. 

The prevalence of having been electronically bullied ranged from 12.3% to 21.6% across state surveys (median: 15.6%) and from 8.2% to 16.1% across large urban school district surveys (median: 11.0%) (Table 17). 

(Sameer Hindjua and Justin W. Patchin, 2010)

3. Prevention 

As a teacher there are many resources, lessons and information available to us that allow you to educate and prevent cyberbullying from occurring in schools. It is important that as an educator you are well informed about this topic as it is crucial when implementing technology into your classroom. Listed below are some ways in which you can start to begin promoting prevention of cyberbullying not only in the classroom but also in all technological areas of students lives. 

1. Talk about it! Let your students know who is available to them if they are being bullied. Encourage all student to speak up for themselves or on someones behalf if they know of a student being victimised in cyberspace. Tell students to do their best to ignore attackers and never to retaliate. 
2. Tel them to stop; If a student is being repeatedly bullied they should tell their attacker to stop! 
3. Save the evidence; Student should save and record all evidence of their victimisation.
4. Block access of all cyberbullies; Students should block their attacker whenever possible online. Student should be aware that they can contact service providers on websites to let them they know they are being bullied, threatened and made to feel unsafe. Students can also block calls and texts on their phone (phone companies can also help with this) 
5. Don't pass it on; (No Chinese whispers) Don't be apart of the problem, don't follow the crow or do someone else's bidding. 
6. Call the police; 911! If you are feeling unsafe or threatened tell an adult you trust and call the police. 

-Below are a list of resources with quizes, information, articles, prevention steps, lesson plans and so forth to help all educators tackling the problem that is cyberbullying. 

     -Resources 

• A Thin Line
  -MTV's A Thin Line campaign was developed to empower you to identify, respond to, and stop the spread of digital abuse in your life and amongst your peers. The campaign is built on the understanding that there's a "thin line" between what may begin as a harmless joke and something that could end up having a serious impact on you or someone else. We know no generation has ever had to deal with this, so we want to partner with you to help figure it out. On-air, online and on your cell, we hope to spark a conversation and deliver information that helps you draw your own digital line.

• Articles, powerpoints, books for teaching and learning about Digital Citizenship and Cyberbullying
• These articles and power points are an amazing recourse for teachers. They include power point, have podcasts. They include a digital citizenship contract for children and even for parents! 

• Lesson Plan/Guide for teaching Digital Citizenship 
• Lesson Plan Guide is a series of lesson plans targeted to make it easier for teachers to talk to their                students about digital citizenship. The lesson on cyberbulling consists of talking about what cyberbulling is and then thinking of ways to prevent it and use technology effectively.

• .  
• Kids Helpline for Cyberbullying

•  
• -Kids helpline for Cyberbullying is a wonderful resource for kids that are having a hard time admitting that they are being bullied. Many children fear that going to an adult will only make things worse for them. Kids helpline offers a free hotline for kids that is available 24 hours 7 days a week. For kids that feel more comfortable writing out there problems they even have email counseling sessions. 

Sasha Vincent & Veronica Ramos