Counteracting bad behaviour online is as much about advocating good behaviour as raising awareness of the risks.
Firstly, you should emphasise positive use of digital communication tools.
Video calls with schools around the world are just one example. They give young people opportunity to adapt how they interact online according to the audience while considering global cultural values.
Secondly, if we’re going to deter high-risk, negative online behaviour learners need to be able to recognise it.
One way would be to ask them to define cyberbullying and associated behaviours.
Discuss different types of cyberbullying and get learners to evaluate their own conduct by creating a questionnaire to see what their experiences are.
Investigate the identities of people who post derogatory comments and highlight the warning signs of trolling, such a people posting without using their real names.
A class debate arguing for either criminalisation of trolling or freedom of expression would be a good way to introduce this subject.
Learners should know the importance of developing active strategies for limiting exposure to high-risk situations.
Use real-life examples of the impact of cyberbullying on young people’s health and wellbeing.
There are preventative measures that leaners can take. These include password protection and privacy settings, blocking and deleting comments, and remembering to log off.
For the internet to be a safer place, we all need to make a conscious effort to ensure that what we do online is not harmful to either ourselves or others.
In this short film for teachers Rhys ap William explains how to help students recognise negative online behaviour.
Teacher notes
We can deter poor online behaviour by encouraging good, positive interactions. An example would be to arrange video calls with schools around the world.
A good way to get students to recognise high risk behaviour is to evaluate their own online habits, e.g. by answering a questionnaire.
They also need to recognise the warning signs of trolling. Teachers could organise a class debate on this subject – is it freedom of expression or should it be illegal?
If students are affected by cyberbullying, teach them to limit their exposure to anything harmful and take preventative measures such as password protection, blocking, deleting comments and managing privacy settings.
More from this series:
Communication. video
In this short film for teachers Jennifer Jones discusses the need to encourage students to make the most of the digital communication tools available to them.
Collaboration. video
In this short film for teachers Rhys ap William explains how using digital collaboration tools enhances group learning and collaborative skills.
Storing and sharing. video
In this short film for teachers Jennifer Jones talks about the importance of encouraging students to store files in an organised manner so that they can be found easily.
