It has been stated that the teacher’s duty is to the student. The teacher must ensure their students’ safety and well-being, particularly inside the classroom but extends to the home in the case of assignments and projects. When dealing with the internet, there are all sorts of possible dangers that students are exposed and vulnerable to. These dangers include financial scams, online predators, cyberbullying and many more. As technology gets more developed, the dangers also increase. Yet along the brighter side of this same line of technological advancement, there are ways for the teacher to protect themselves and their students from those threats. Protection and prevention are key skillsets that are increasingly necessary, and this assignment certainly highlighted topics I was both familiar with and knew nothing about. Of the topics discussed, I think all are necessary so I would not take any of the chosen topics away.
Everyone knows about bullying, and now everyone should know about cyberbullying. Bullying exists for many reasons, partly bc of heightened insecurities combined with the need to feel superior to another person. Muthler (2015) stated that “social media and text messages are vital to many students’ social lives.” Technology and socializing go hand in hand in the digital age. Since young teenagers are at the age where they typically begin to branch out according to their individual interests, their social lives are an especially fragile concern. A student who is a victim of cyberbullying is usually characterized to be socially isolated. Teachers should know how to identify signs of possible cyberbullying towards a student. The teacher should also be someone the possible victim could trust and talk to. From there on, they can develop solutions.
However, the responsibility should not only be placed on the teacher. When utilizing technology in the classroom, one of the very first lessons should be to address the issue of cyberbullying. The teacher should explain clearly what cyberbullying is and provide examples. To lessen and ideally prevent cyberbullying from ever occurring, rules and regulations are set in school handbooks. The teacher should ensure that students understand that cyberbullying is a serious, intolerable, and punishable offense. Of course, talking about the issue can only do so much. Enjoyable visuals are a tremendous help to get the message across. The Youtube video How to Beat Cyberbullies illustrates method and solutions if one is ever a victim of cyberbullying, which includes blocking the cyber bully or even, if worse come to worst, deactivation one’s account. I believe that one of the most important aspects of this issue is to remind students that, in most cases, they have control over their accounts and they can choose who can access it. However, I am aware that, for young adolescents who are vulnerable to criticism and mean judgement from peers, it is difficult to stop using their accounts. This is where parents, teachers, and perhaps counselors should come in to to talk to victims of cyber-bullying.
My group used the website Emaze to create our online presentation. It was our first time using this technology tool. It was very easy to use and its functions were simple to understand. Emaze has a very eye-catching and attractive appeal to it. Most of the graphics were automatically added and we only had to input our information accordingly. Personally, the main downside to the website is the fact that the website is best for individual works. Emaze does not allow multiple people to log into the same account and make edits in one simultaneous session.
References
Muthler, S. (2015, April 4). Online safety: A teacher’s guide to dealing with cyberbullying, sexting, and student privacy. Retrieved from http://www.edudemic.com/the-teachers-guide-to-keeping-students-safe-online/
[watchwellcast]. (2013, February 7). How to beat cyberbullies [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwu_7IqWh8Y
Hi:
ReplyDeleteVery nicely done
-j-