Taking a Stand against Cyberbullying in Higher Education

As a result of the rapid online expansion of digital learnscapes, resulting in university students regularly engaging in online learning communities, cyberbullying has increasing potential to become a serious issue for higher education institutions. The effectiveness of educating students and staff in higher education on the elements and impacts of cyberbullying has driven this innovative study, which involves the development of an action research-led and student-directed interactive educational website to inform higher education students and staff about the consequences of cyberbullying. In describing the ongoing development and generalisation of the site, this chapter highlights the third cycle of an action research inquiry, and more generally the need for such resources to support higher education so that users understand what constitutes cybersafety and cyberbullying. As such, the research is directed toward understanding, sharing, participation, reflection, and change. Findings are discussed in relation to the information on the site for users in higher education.

Developing an Understanding of Cyberbullying

When considering ethical practice for educators in the 21st Century it is imperative that teacher educators, school counselors, and administration are knowledgeable in all aspects of bullying via technology that youth and young adults are experiencing on school campuses throughout the country. The exponential proliferation of technology and social media has brought traditional bullying into cyberspace. The purpose of this chapter is to enhance the reader's understanding of the incidents of cyberbullying, to provide knowledge of the challenges researchers face in operationalizing cyberbullying that will enable all professionals to assist victims, and to proffer techniques that may be implemented in the ethical practice of primary, secondary, or college educators as they work with Millennials and Neo-millennials in the 21st Century classroom.

Providing Early Childhood Education Teacher Candidates Diverse Clinical Understandings through Professional Development School Experiences

Teacher education programs serving early childhood education teacher candidates have unique challenges and need to work to ensure that each future educator be exposed to a variety of settings and practices throughout their preparation in order to best prepare them to serve the needs of their future young students. A solid background in human development, a well-rounded complement of methods courses grounded in developmentally appropriate practice and experience in a diverse variety of Professional Development Schools (PDS) will go far in meeting this goal. In Pre-K through 3rd grade classrooms early childhood teacher educators can significantly shape these competencies through their choice of, support for, and use of PDSs.

Educating Pre-Service and Novice Teachers on the Best Practices for Curriculum Integration of Web 2.0 Tools and Instructional Technology

This chapter explores the use of Web 2.0 technology by pre-service and novice teachers. It explores in particular the use of Blogs, Social Media Networks, and Wikis. For each Web 2.0 technology tool, a discussion about the appropriate use and potential problems ensues. The focus of the chapter is to present the potential ethical concerns for pre-service and novice teachers in the use of Web 2.0 technologies. Additionally, some frameworks are suggested in helping teacher preparation programs educate their candidates on the use of Web 2.0 technologies. A resource of possible Web 2.0 technologies is included at the end of the chapter.

Consider Four Types of Online Identities for Teaching and Modeling Online Behavior

The purpose of this chapter is to provide data and suggestions to educators for teaching and modeling concepts and practices related to online identity. The capabilities introduced by Web 2.0 have changed the potential benefits and liabilities of using online identities. Because online identities can be different from a person's real, offline self, approaches for teaching online self-presentation will differ from the traditional methods of teaching about social interaction. The authors present two theoretical foundations to frame the concept of online self. After a discussion of issues and problems associated with online identities, the authors apply the findings from a recent study to help educators model and teach about online identities. The primary findings are the identification of four types of online identities that include real, desired, enhanced, and deceptive. The chapter concludes with recommendations for future studies to further this topic and extend the current research.

In Search of Elements to Organize Assessments Remotely in Distance Learning

The focus in this contribution is the challenge to develop an efficient and effective learning environment for student teachers, especially with respect to the remote organization of assessment and the remote support of internship for students who follow a distance education program. For both aspects it is examined whether the used methodologies/approaches are in line with the perceptions of different stakeholders (students/lecturers/supervisors). The results reveal that 1) the methodology/approach used to take an exam remotely is in line with perceptions of students, but 2) not all lecturers seem to be convinced about the necessity to give students in distance education control on time, pace and place to take their exams; and they have worries about the workload. Further, the participants perceive a highly led anticipatory reflection assignment as a good instrument to support internship remotely and it seems to be an efficient instrument to support remotely an internship of student teachers. Recommendations are restricted to some suggestions for further research on both aspects.

Design Thinking and Immersive Professional Learning in Teacher Education

Through their personalized practices, experienced educators develop two professional acts: knowing-in-action and reflecting-in-action. Novice educators grapple to understand these actions when witnessing experienced educators choose to adopt/adapt new technologies, differentiate instructional strategies, or promote new educational reforms into their classrooms. Using a design-based research approach, the authors' work suggests novice educators may require immersive professional learning opportunities to develop pedagogical empathy. Pedagogical empathy means fostering a receptiveness of other educators' professional choices (empathy) based on known theories, methods and practices of teaching and learning (pedagogy). The authors discuss their findings when introducing a human-centered design thinking process using a design challenge, collaborative prototyping, and multiple levels of reflection with experienced and novice educators. This chapter shares two years of research informed experience with educators at various stages of their careers in both western Canada and Tanzania.

Preparing Pre-Service Teachers to Meet the Unique Academic Needs of 21st Century Learners

This chapter provides an overview of current demographic and technology trends found in educational contexts. Particularly, this chapter highlights the obstacles that teacher preparation programs may face in regards to the changing student demographics and ever evolving technological components found in classrooms settings. This chapter provides examples of technological resources that can be utilized in teacher preparation programs to enhance pre-service teachers' content knowledge and afford them opportunities to discuss topics focused on cultural diversity. Specifically, this chapter will provide strategies on how educators in K-12 settings and institutions of higher education can integrate technology-enhanced tools such as Web 2.0 applications, social learning platforms, gaming, and virtual fieldtrips into their curriculum to improve students' learning gains. Suggestions at the end of the chapter call for pre-service and in-service teachers to collaborate through cross-training in order to effectively provide students meaningful academic experiences.

Case Analysis

This chapter describes an ongoing evaluation of Second Life (SL) virtual reality as a pedagogical tool in theory anchored undergraduate education. SL has been found to advance learning, collaboration, engagement, and critical thinking among students. This chapter presents a process for evaluating, documenting and analyzing the development and implementation of virtual learning environments at institutions of higher education using case examples to establish output measures. Important to successful incorporation of SL in undergraduate instruction is ensuring that the training students receive in SL align with the assignments they are expected to complete. Alignment of SL activities and the course curriculum into a workable sequence is an essential aspect of a “plan, implement, evaluate, refine” rotation for creating learning strategies within the virtual environment that meets learner styles. Since incorporating SL, the authors have found evidence that virtual reality enhances student engagement and learning outcomes are comparable to improved to those from a traditional classroom.

Developing Professional Ethics

In this chapter, the development of the Educator Ethics and Conduct Toolkit (EECT) will be examined. The EECT was created as part of a comprehensive initiative for developing Professional Ethics for preservice and new teachers across the state. Rather than examine educator ethics from a philosophical point of view, the EECT is a practical, scenario-based curriculum which helps beginning teachers examine their fiduciary responsibilities and analyze ethical decision-making in authentic contexts. Utilizing a case study approach, the chapter examines the overall instructional design, development and implementation of the curricular materials.