School Work Reflection: Interesting

I have a strong belief online communities are our educational future. Its convenient, effective, affordable, and part of the “technological global straight-jacket.” When I began my online Master’s aspirations, being in Charleston, SC, I felt like my program choice was judged, and dis-credited by some people, who are used to traditional classrooms. Because my mother is an IT maverick, she gave me the encouragement and motivation to pursue women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) career path. The USFCA, MA, TESOL program is cutting edge, because we are emphasizing digital media, and IT systems to educate students. This is also, congruent to the rapid globalization of communication, collaboration, and diversity in education.

Through this course, we have discussed so many methods of education, ethics and ideals, that I have noticed throughout my online course, but did not, really, recognize until our discussions; for instance, netiquette policies, online equity, online community building practices, syllabus and module building. This course, has given me more awareness, as to what principals and policies our instructors use, in approaching online education. These are all areas I want to strategically share with my students, when I am a teacher.

I think the name of this course, “Cybercuture, Online Community Building,” is a cutting edge course, and depicts a main goal of mine, as a perspective educator, which is simply, create a community for collaboration and diversity in knowledge. I encourage you to visit my website, which I have been working on since the start of this class, CY&E, which I am stoked, I have claimed this Google domain.

I guess the question that I have, at this point in time, is in regards to the future of online language education. Since the beginning of this course, I have struggled to actually create activities and ways to “teach” ELL, probably because I have no experience in TESOL. I feel like, as of now, I can teach a teacher to setup an online communities, and show them the multi-media possibilities…but, I am not sure, how exactly, I am going to put this education to practice. This is not a question, I expect anyone to answer for me, but I would like to hear feedback on where my peers look to apply USFCA, MA-EDU to their career path? J Thanks guys.

Cyberbullying: Lets Fight it Together

Lets Fight it Together

The video, Lets Fight it Together, shows a teenager, Joe, who is experiencing cyberbullying, and depicts how this vicious cycle occurs. The video does addresses many key aspects of the bullying cycle; how it begins, and spirals out of control, the various outlets for bullying, and gives a deeper look into the emotional intensity of it all, even though the only words spoken, are in Joe’s video.

We also see the different aspects, of everyone, involved in Joe’s bully situation; the victim, the bully, peers, parent, and teachers. This gave more insight into what each person is experiencing, which I thought was a lot of denial. This stood out most, to me, because the boy was noticeably affected by the bullying. I could tell by his lack of confidence in class, which changed from the beginning. The boy was not laughing and socializing anymore, and he stayed in his room.  He also did not hangout with friends; he was alone, most of the time.

The parent had to know something was wrong because she kept asking. Even though he said nothing, and deleted his text messages, I feel like the parent could have investigated the Joe’s phone and Internet use better. I definitely would not let a teenager have a computer in their room. The instant messages, and “Joe wants to shag the teacher,” website where over the top. This is where you see that the bullying had spiraled, out –of-control. Joe’s peers were joining in, posting “loser,” remarks, which negatively effected Joe to a breaking point, where he had to tell someone.

I understand why Joe decided to hide being bullied; fear of creating more bullying, and to avoid upsetting his mother. The video was a result of Joe reaching his breaking point. I think he did the right thing, by taken action himself, to get a contract with the school to prevent further bullying.

The most upsetting part about this video is that cyberbullying occurs so often, with all generations, specifically Generation Y. I have worked with teenagers who were suicidal from being bullied. Bullying distracts students from learning, which is the whole point of going to school.

I guess, with technology, we must remember, as parents and teachers, that our children are still vulnerable to Internet dangers. Cyberbullying is one of them, that we should be aware of, for our own children and for others. Internet should be limited, and protected. As a teacher, I would try to shut bullying down before it gets out-of-control. For example, the girl mocking Joe, in class. I would not allow it. I would call her out, at that moment, to see what she was saying. I will note cyberbullying and its effects in my netiquette policy. I would really try to raise awareness as a preventative measure and empower students to stand up for one another. This was emotionally packed video, and a great PSA, for raising cyberbully awareness.