Teachers and administrators struggle with the prevalent issue of cyberbullying in today’s classrooms. Cyberbullying, according to Shariff (2005), is also challenging because it is often an anonymous act, the audience for cyberbullies is unlimited, and cyberbullying and sexual harassment are often interrelated.

The purposes/objectives of this study included, (a) using a survey (Li, 2006; Li, 2007) to examine cyberbullying and such variables as age, gender, race; (b) conducting focus groups to define cyberbullying from a student perspective and to use student feedback to create cyberbullying scenarios; and(c) creating scenarios within a virtual environment (Second Life [SL] that simulates authentic cyberbullying situations.

Perspective/Theoretical Framework

While bullying has been around for decades, there are disturbing differences that subsist between bullying and cyberbullying, with cyberbullying typically considered more severe. For example, cyberbullying does not end at school, but continues at home for many students because of the available technology. Kowalski and Limber (2007) noted that cyberbullying can happen at any time, and can be delivered rapidly via electronic devices, and that “the interactions that occur in virtual reality can affect the everyday reality that students experience” (p. 823). The anonymity of cyberbullying also makes this form of bullying especially hurtful (Beale & Hall, 2007; Li, 2007; Shariff, 2005).
Second Life is a virtual world environment online, and it was chosen to conduct our cyberbullying study for several reasons. First, the creation of simulations in Second Life is new. Virtual worlds are also considered safe in comparison to scenarios/simulations conducted in the real world. Yee et al (2007) found that “our social interactions in online virtual environments, such as Second Life, are governed by the same social norms as social interactions in the physical world” (p. 119). Therefore, it is possible to conduct social research within a virtual environment and to then compare it to real world situations. It may also be easier or more convenient to conduct simulations/scenarios in virtual world environments for research purposes rather than conducting them in the real world (Tettegah, 2006).

Cyberbullying increases in elementary years, peaks during the middle school years, and declines in high school years (Beale & Hall, 2007). There are also gender differences, with girls more likely to cyberbully than boys (Beale & Hall, 2007; Kowalski & Limber, 2007; Li, 2006; Li, 2007). Similar to bullying, cyberbullying bystanders typically follow the pattern often experienced in the actual world, which is remaining quiet rather than reporting the problematic issues to adults (Li, 2007; Shariff, 2005) such as a parent, teacher, or principal. There are seven ways to engage in cyberbullying (Beale & Hall, 2007; Mason, 2007), including (a) email; (b) instant messaging; (c) websites; (d) chat rooms; (e) text messaging; and, (f) virtual environments. There are also seven cyberbullying methods (Beale & Hall, 2007; Mason), including (a) flaming (angry/rude), (b) Harassment(repeated messages); (c) Denigration (posting untruths); (d) cyberstalking ( threats of harm); (e) impersonation or masquerading (pretending to be another); (f) outing or trickery(tricking another to send embarrassing information); and (g )exclusion (not including in a group).

Research Methods

After IRB approval, 250 middle school students in Grades 7-8 were selected for this study because research suggests that school age bullying/cyberbullying is the most severe/intense during the middle school years (Beale & Hall, 2007; Kowalski & Limber, 2007). The three purposes/objectives of this study supported three distinct data collection phases. The phases included (a) a quantitative exploratory phase, in which middle school students were given a cyberbullying survey (i.e., survey answered such research questions as, “Where and when cyberbullying occurs?” “Who is affected?” “What are age and gender differences?”); (b) a qualitative phase, in which signs, symptoms, and the reality of cyberbullying (i.e., “What does cyberbullying look like from student perspectives?”) based on middle school focus groups was completed; and (c) a phase that created simulations in SL and tested reactions to the sims with middle school students. During the final phase of the study, the cyberbullying scenarios/simulations (based on participant feedback from the surveys and focus groups) were created within Second Life. Following creation, the scenario was fully “acted out” and subsequently recorded using screen capturing technology; later the recorded scenario was played on a screen for viewing and student reactions to the scenarios/simulations were noted.

Results or Expectations

Results from each of the three study’s phases will be presented. Additionally, the researchers will share the scenarios, created within SL to the audience. Implications for teacher educators and K-12 teachers will also be shared. It is the researchers’ hope that educators will gain much information from the timely study and be better prepared to educate and raise awareness of the complex issues that surround cyberbullying.

Educational and/or Scientific Importance

This study is very timely in that cyberbullying has continued to "grow" as technology has continued to be more convenient and available. The use of virtual worlds in creation of the scenarios is also timely and our data can assist future researchers conducting similar simulations. It is our hope that these data will help teacher educators prepare future teachers and assist inservice teachers and current administrators in the prevention of cyberbullying by raising awareness and increasing education.

References

References

Beale, A., & Hall, K. (2007, September/October). Cyberbullying: What school administrators (and parents) can do. The Clearing House, 81, 8-12.

Kowaski, R., & Limber, S. (2007). Electronic bullying among middle school students. Journal of Adolescent Health, 41, 822-830.

Li, Q. (2006). Cyberbullying in schools: A research of gender differences. School Psychology International, 27, 157-170.

Li, Q. (2007). New bottle but old wine: A research of cyberbullying in schools. Computers in Human Behavior, 23, 1777-1791.

Mason, K. (2007). Cyberbullying: A seven step model to prevention. Presentation at the American School Counselor Association Conference, June 2007 Denver, CO.

Shariff, S. (2005). Cyber-dilemmas in the new millennium: School obligations to provide student safety in a virtual school environment, McGill Journal of Education, 40, 467-487.

Tettegah, S., Taylor, K., Whang, E. W., Meistninkas, S., and Chamot, R. (2006). Can virtual reality simulations be used as a research tool to study empathy, problems solving and perspective taking of educators?: theory, method and application. In ACM SIGGRAPH 2006 Educators Program (Boston, Massachusetts, July 30 - August 03, 2006). SIGGRAPH '06. ACM, New York, NY, 35. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1179295.1179331

Yee, N., Bailenson, J.N., Urbanek, M., Chang, F., & Merget, D. (2007). The unbearable likeness of being digital: The persistence of nonverbal social norms in online virtual environments. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10(1), 115-121.