Social Netwroking & Cyber-Bullying

Social Networking is the new “cell phone” of the last century. As networking sites become more popular (facebook, twitter, on line blogs, as well as the old school email) educators will/have started to use them to engage students in class. As such it is quickly becoming our responsibility to educate young people about safety while online.
What are we doing and is it enough?
The answer to that question depends on who you ask. Certainly some boards have strong initiatives to educate young people proactively about online acceptable use and safety whether at school or at home. Likewise some schools have their own agendas and implement them accordingly. My point of reference is from the school at which I work and from that I can say, no, we are not doing enough. What we are doing at my school is including one and a half pages entitled Acceptable Use of Computer Network and Internet on pages 23-24 of the student agenda along with a quick mention under the Bullying Prevention Plan found on pages 26-31 of the same agenda. As a school we expect that each student reads the 32 page forward at the beginning of their yearly organizer and understands and implements the lessons when needed. This certainly is not enough. I had to inquire as to where this information could be found, I can almost guarantee that there are not too many students who would be able to say what we have done for them (which is put it in print in their organizer). My school unfortunately has a very reactive plan in place.
What should we be doing?
As I indicated above, my school an board seem to be operating in a reactive mode. We need to get proactive and address these issues for every student before they arise. I found the site http://www.netsmartz.org/index.htm interactive and informative both for teachers, parents and educators. My school could easily create a web quest activity suitable for all students to do, which could be either done at school through assigned classes or completed at home the first week of school and returned along with a signed consent form from parents indicating they have read and understood the schools policy on safe computer use. Finally, I believe that there should be a zero tolerance policy in effect. Students found to be bullying others online, regardless of if they are using school computers, should be reprimanded and the offense being recorded in their OSR.