[LM_NET] New Cyberbullying Curriculum

[Nancy Willard <nwillard@CSRIU.ORG>]

I would like to pass on this announcement of new cyberbullying curriculum.

From the Hazelden press website:
"One-third of all teenagers who use the Internet have been
cyberbullied. Dr. Agatston's long-awaited cyber bullying prevention
curriculum for grades 6-12 is coming this fall. With co-authors Dr. Robin
Kowalski and Dr. Susan P. Limber, Dr. Agatston has produced a relevant,
real-world program that engages students in learning how to protect
themselves and their friends from cyber bullying.

Along with all the materials you'll need for eight interactive sessions,
you'll receive a CD-ROM with

     * materials for training peer leaders
     * reproducible guides for parent/student interaction
     * posters, policies and a teacher's guide

Cyber bullying: A Prevention Curriculum for Grades 6-12 is $99.00.
Pre-order it by August 30th and you'll receive a 30% discount. Use
Promotion Code CYBPS to receive your discount. "
http://www.hazelden.org/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?item=12188


I know and thoroughly respect Patty's expertise in this area. She has a PhD
with a focus on bullying prevention and works in the Cobb County School
District in risk prevention.  She and I were both at a panel discussion
sponsored by the Center for Disease Control in 2006, along with other
research professionals, addressing the issue of cyberbullying.

I currently urge caution in the field of Internet safety. Cyberbullying has
become the "hot new topic" and some folks are jumping into this arena who do
not have a sufficient background of expertise in youth risk and bullying
prevention to have the capability to address the situation effectively. The
more serious incidents of cyberbullying are almost always an extension of or
in retaliation for in-school bullying. To effectively develop comprehensive
strategies to address these concerns requires a professional background in
these youth risk. 

For the record, my Master's Degree is in special education with a focus on
children with emotional and behavioral problems from the UO which is a
recognized leader in risk prevention. In addition I am a former attorney and
have been an educational technology consultant, both of which are relevant
to this concern. When I started developing resources to address
cyberbullying I took the time to come up-to-date on all of the bullying
prevention research and ground my guidance in this insight.

Within the Internet safety field there are a number of things happening. In
some states there are initiatives that are primarily law enforcement based -
setting up law officers to go into the classrooms with messages that are
grounded in fear and offer only simplistic rules like "don't talk to online
strangers" and don't post your picture online." These program are built on
the DARE model and like the early stage DARE will be entirely ineffective.

There are a number of organizations that are specifically addressing
Internet safety. My concern with many of these organizations is that,
despite very good intentions, they are not paying sufficient attention to
the emerging research on youth risk online or effective research-based risk
prevention approaches. For many young people, the messages from these
organizations will be sufficient - because these young people are not "at
risk" to begin with.

But the young people who are most "at risk" online are also the ones who are
most "at risk" in the Real World. We are not going to effectively address
these concerns until these initiatives are developed by people with
expertise in youth risk and effective prevention. It is in this light that
Parry Agatston's curriculum materials are a very welcome addition.

Nancy

-- 
Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D.
Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
http://csriu.org
http://cyberbully.org
http://cyber-safe-kids.com
http://csriu.wordpress.com
nwillard@csriu.org

Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social
Aggression, Threats, and Distress (Research Press)

Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Learn to Use the
Internet Safely and Responsibly (Jossey-Bass)

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