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In the last several months, we have received more calls and emails from school administrators about issue related to cell phones than probably anything else.  The concerns about cell phones are varied.  For example, students are texting on them all hours of the school day, cell phones can be used to take pictures or video of students or staff members (in the classroom or even places where privacy is expected such as in a locker room or bathroom), and they can be used to cheat on exams.  In addition, one principal told us that her school had a problem with parents actually calling their children during the school day and expecting a response even when they knew the student was in class.

This is a complicated issue.  First of all, many parents want their kids to have a cell phone so that they can be contacted for routine or emergency purposes.  Schools that attempt to ban cell phones from classrooms have a difficult time enforcing the policy, short of searching students as they pass through the doors.  At the very least, schools need to have a conversation about this and come up with a clear policy that outlines where and when students are allowed to use/possess cell phones – and specifies the consequences for violations of the policy.

On a related note, a friend recently made me aware of ChaCha (see www.chacha.com), a cell phone service that allows anyone to send a text message to ChaCha (242242) with a question and they will receive the answer in text message.  And the service is free.  Apparently, ChaCha receives about 300,000 questions a day and utilizes around 25,000 people to research and respond to the questions.  Employees of ChaCha earn between 10-20 cents for basically Googling the question, finding the answer, and texting it back to the sender. They boast a 93% accuracy rate and state that questions are answered within three minutes.  So imagine a student texting ChaCha to ask: What is the capital of Montana?  Clear implications for schools.

Mike Donlin, Senior Program Consultant (aka Program Manager), for Seattle Public Schools (and our good friend and esteemed colleague) recently asked us a few thought-provoking questions about cyberbullying prevention and response.  They are as follows:
1. How can we consistently involve all the major stakeholders – educators, legal, the tech industry, families and youth – in sustained conversations around these critical issues?
2. Assuming that the digital immigrants all begin to get it with all the current technologies, what’s going to be the next big thing we will have to be on the lookout for, cyber-danger-wise?
3. We (Seattle Public Schools) are implementing a full cyberbullying curriculum, starting with the middle school/junior high grades. What do you see as something we absolutely should not overlook in our materials?

We thought we’d take the opportunity here to discuss these issues.  School districts should contact relevant private sector companies who may want to demonstrate that they care about the community, and have them fund/sponsor events that the school district can organize which brings together the multiple stakeholders.  Local foundations also can help – this has been successful in my school district.  Parents’ nights can be sponsored, and speakers can be brought in to administer assemblies to youth (even in elementary school).  We have found these efforts bear much fruit, and are prompting youth to go to parents and other youth-serving adults more readily with their cyberbullying problems.  These events should happen annually at worst and biannually at best – there are many issues to cover and so material needn’t be repeated.  The next big thing cyber-danger-wise in my opinion isn’t harassment on Second Life and IMVU and other 3-D virtual realms, but cyberbullying among pre-teens and even children on the new social networking sites that cater to them (e.g., Club Penguin) – even if they are somewhat “locked-down” and supervised web-based environments.  Even if certain curse words or hateful words are filtered, youth can still ostracize (through silence and passive-aggressive methods) others in these venues…and can still reveal personal information that may get them into trouble….  I should also say that we may see more picture- and video-based forms of cyberbullying, which will likely include more sexually-explicit images of teens.  Finally, cyberbullying curriculums would be remiss if they fail to include the cultivation of empathy and self-esteem among youth.  Honestly, if our kids were more naturally inclined towards the golden rule, and had internal and external buffers that provided a protective bubble from hurtful words or actions of peers, this wouldn’t be the problem that it is.

Both Sameer and I will be at the Ophelia Project National Conference in Evanston, IL, Thursday and Friday this week (Oct. 16-17) talking about cyberbullying.  We will be presenting a couple of breakout sessions covering issues related to preventing and responding to cyberbullying incidents and legal issues facing educators.  If you are there, stop by and say hi!

We will be participating in a live web chat for EdWeek today from 1-2 Eastern time.  From EdWeek:

“At its best, the Internet helps students find information and stay in touch with friends through everything from text-messages and blogs to social-networking and other video- and photo-sharing Web sites. But the Internet can also enable students to aggressively target and harm their peers. This chat will inform educators and parents on how to recognize cyberbullying and protect young people from becoming victims. Please join us to discuss cyberbullying, a problem affecting growing numbers of students, administrators, teachers, and parents.”

If you are interested in participating with us, log onto http://www.edweek-chat.org around 1pm Eastern today. We look forward to chatting with you this afternoon!

CNN posted an interesting story about teachers setting up MySpace pages and “friending” their students…and about a Missouri legislator sponsoring a bill banning elementary school teachers from doing so.  I was talking to Justin about this, and we both agree that a state bill banning this activity is completely overboard (another example of how politicians feed into the existing moral panic about these sites).  We also both agree that school districts should have their own policies about whether teachers and students can interact through social networking sites.  My personal opinion is that the vast majority of teachers and students would use the tool for beneficial and productive purposes, but that there is a slippery slope effect that would take place.  It is way too easy to move from talking about school assignments to asking more “personal” (though innocent) questions to sharing private worldviews and engaging in candid self-disclosure with another person online.  Anonymity and geographical distance while online, coupled with feelings of loneliness and the desire to connect with someone (anyone) when individuals interact through computer-mediated communication, make inappropriate messages between teachers and students a very real possibility.  I feel pretty strongly about this based on communications research done in the evolution of romantic relationships on the Internet.  Yes, I am aware of age and maturity differences between teachers and students.  Yes, I am aware that some might think I’m being a bit overprotective and old-school.  I just believe that the standard way of communication between elementary and secondary school teachers and students is perfectly fine and may not need enhancing.  Students need to learn to talk with competence and eloquence in-person with adults, rather than having the crutch of typing things out all the time.  This comes with opportunity and practice.  With post-secondary instructors and students – the potential for problems still exist, but I am much more fine with using social networking sites to connect with each other for the purposes of education and learning.  This topic is super fascinating and I would love to hear more thoughts.  Clearly I could go on, but I will leave it for now at that.