Tonight I drove a for a little over an hour to spend around an hour listening to Michael Carr-Gregg’s take on Cyberbullying. There was nothing really new there for me but he did mention a few interesting resources at the end of his talk that I will follow up.
He mentioned a new novel ‘Destroying Avalon’ by Kate McCaffrey, which sounds like a must read for me. Kate McCaffrey’s blog: Musings from the West has also been added to my feed as she sounds like an interesting author.
He spoke about his source of information Tommy Wood, the young man who made news by hacking an internet filter the government had spent a lot (vague I know, but too tired to check facts right now!) of money on. Wood Verdict is Tommy’s blog and if you aren’t surrounded by young people everyday to keep the reality of teen onlife life real for you, it may pay you to take a look at it. Actually his most recent post just about covers all the information I’ve ever heard about dealing with Cyberbullying, so if you need to get up to speed on this topic read it.
I don’t want to sound cynical or jaded, but I was hoping for more. I want to go to a speaker with a bigger agenda for change than just informing the ‘grown ups’ about what’s going on. I want to hear someone address the real life circumstances and consequences for the people involved. On each occassion that I have had this issue come up with youth, I feel a bit left out in the cold and without guidance. I want a discussion about schools and parents engaging with their young people online. I want to hear more about those who successfully channel the new tools in schools to a more purposeful and constructive result. Here endeth the rant. Maybe another day, when it’s not so late, I too can be more constructive.
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It’s good to see you’re at least taking an interest in this, Joh. If you ever wanted to know more about Cyber-Bullying from someone who has experienced it, or want some suggestions on how school’s can incorporate it into their curriculum’s, just send an email;)
Thanks for that Tom. I am currently showing all my students and as many parents as I can the NetAlert ‘Wise up to IT’ clips. I’ll be in touch about your kind offer.
Hi Joh,
I helped to present at one of his presentations in Brisbane. Unfortunately the topic is still being investigated and therefore no interventions have properly been developed yet, and even if they have, there hasn’t been enough time to deem them successful. Any advice would only be speculatory until we know more about cyerbullying. I’m actually investigating whether girls/boys bully differently online. The results of this I feel will have a big impact on how we intervene when it comes to cyerbullying.
Thanks Tamara,
I agree that more investigations are required. Raising awareness is probably the best we can do right now:-)
I think there’s already enough evidence of effectiveness and ignorance of certain preventative and responsive strategies that there should be education and at least discussions in classroom curriculum’s.
Our school has began having speakers to address the school community, students, teachers and parents. I frequently raise or respond to discussion in my classes about what’s happening online. Interestingly our school completes a ‘safe schoool survey’ a couple of times a year and the most recent results reported an extremely low level of bullying both in the school ground and online. When I say low, I am talking 1 student reporting cyberbullying out of two year levels. I would love to believe the increased awareness has resulted in better online behaviour.