A program effects case study of the Cybersmart! Student Curriculum in a private school in Florida

Doyle, Susan (Susan Marie) (2011) A program effects case study of the Cybersmart! Student Curriculum in a private school in Florida. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This research sought to investigate how the curricular integration of the CyberSmart! Student Curriculum (CyberSmart!, 2010) had an effect on: 1) reported cyberbullying instances by participating students as operationalized by the difference in scores in pre and post-program Olweus Bullying Questionnaire (OBQ) (Stone, 2009) administrations, and 2) changes in reported instances as accounted in pre and post-program interviews with participating students and faculty. The unit of analysis for this program effects case study was the grade six class and three faculty members in a private school in Florida that participated in the CyberSmart! Student Curriculum. The student participants consisted of grade six students (n=79) that were instructed using the program. All students filled out a pre and post-program OBQ and three students out of this sample underwent pre and post-program interviews. Faculty members were also interviewed both before and after the programs implementation and all results were compared and analyzed. -- The pre-program OBQ results revealed that 82.3% of the students were cyberbullied in the previous months prior to the prevention course. The post-program OBQ indicated a 49.4% response rate, giving an overall decrease of 32.9% after the programs conclusion. A decrease was also noted in the respondent as a cyberbully section, where the pre-program OBQ showed a report of 46.8% of cyberbullying behaviors compared to 25.3% in the post-program OBQ results signifying a decrease of 21.5%. All specific methods of cyberbullying instances in both sections verified an overall decrease as well. The student interviews noted a 100% decrease in reported instances and the faculty interviews illustrated a decrease from twenty-two reported instances to two following the programs implementation. -- The results of the study also concluded that there was a notable difference between occasional and intensive cyberbullying behaviors and that even though the program was effective in decreasing overall and occasional cyberbullying behaviors, the program did not have such a positive effect on intensive cyberbullying. The OBQ results revealed that the intensive cyberbullying only had an overall decrease of 2.5% in the cyberbully victim section and there was no change overall for the respondent as a cyberbully section. The specific methods of cyberbullying for both sections either saw a slight decrease, an increase or no change at all.

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