Status update comment on Facebook gets student suspended for cyberbullying
Just wanted to point out this new article sharing the story of a high-schooler who responded to a friend’s status update on Facebook, and consequently received a ridiculous sanction from his school for it. He basically stated “you’re not going to bust a grape” – indicating to his friend (who posted about fighting another girl […]
Cyberbullying Limerick
It’s important to introduce young people to issues related to cyberbullying and online safety at an early age. One way to do this is to have them participate in a fun activity that includes key concepts or practical advice. For example, we have several activities on our site, including a word find and a crossword […]
Lori Drew Officially Acquitted
Well, it’s official. On Sunday, U.S. District Judge George Wu acquitted Lori Drew of all federal criminal charges for her involvement in the suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier. As you may recall, back in November a jury initially found Drew guilty of three misdemeanor charges of illegally accessing a protected computer (in essence, she was […]
FERPA and the identity of students who cyberbully others…
I was talking to a school administrator yesterday…and she posed a question that I couldn’t clearly answer because it doesn’t seem there is a clear answer. So I wanted to see if any of our readers had some thoughts about it. If a parent comes to you (you as an educator in the school system) […]
Are teachers and parents really talking to youth about online safety?
As you know, we are endlessly working to have our finger on the pulse of how adults are educating youth about online technology. The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and Educational Technology Policy, Research, and Outreach (ETPRO) recently found that less than 25% of educators feel comfortable teaching students about Internet safety issues. You and […]
Teen Tweeting
Sysomos released a report in June describing the “explosive growth” of twitter over the past several months. We’ve certainly seen an increase in tweeting in popular culture, but are adolescents jumping on board? Our conversations with teens suggest no. And a recent account from one particular teen about his peers’ views of twitter also reaffirms […]
The sexting case in Virginia, and the need to identify and share best practices
Justin and I have both blogged about the case where an assistant principal in Virginia was charged with possession of child pornography after trying to investigate a sexting case through the collection of evidence where a student emailed the evidence (a sexually-explicit picture of a minor) to his office computer. The charges were eventually dropped, […]
Family Internet Use Contract
This is a formal agreement to be signed by both parents and children to help facilitate an open line of communication regarding the appropriate use of the Internet. Feel free to customize for your own needs. Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. W. (2009). Internet Use Contract. Bullying beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying. […]
Video recordings of student and teacher behavior in the classroom
In this recent story from the West Coast, a 15-year-old high-schooler named Arielle was suspended for two days after surreptitiously capturing video on her cell phone of her chaotic algebra class. Apparently, the situation was horrible with the teacher unable to control the students, who were participating in paper-ball fights, smoking cigarettes and marijuana, and […]
More on seizure and search of student cell phones at school…
In April, Justin briefly blogged about this article from the Washington post entitled My Students. My Cellphone. My Ordeal. I’d like to follow up by saying that more educators are contacting us with questions on what to do in cases where students have cell phones with sexually-explicit pictures of other youth on them. While the […]
