Summary 2: Preventing and Reacting to Cyber-Bullying

Introduction
Cyber-bullying is a dark side of living in a virtual world. Here we shall consider the preventative strategies and reactive measures that can be taken to minimise the effects of cyber-bullying, linking to the resources that are available.

What is Cyber-bullying?
Cyber-bullying is best defined by the quote by Bill Belsey, it is bullying which “involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others” (as cited in “Cyberbullying”, n.d.). It is bullying which occurs over mobile phones, instant messaging services, social networks, blogs, wikis, online games, the whole smorgasbord of online services which exist today and can be in the form of text, pictures, video or a combination thereof (Bamford, 2004).

The acts of cyber-bullying can include teasing, flaming (sending messages intended to provoke a heated emotional response), defamation, exclusion, sending unwanted messages and masquerading (where the bully acts like the target) (Bamford, 2004; Reach Out Australia, 2009). All of these acts have equivalents which can occur in the real world. The anonymity of internet communication could lead a person to think that anything is possible and will not be reflected onto their non-virtual lives (Bullying. No Way!, 2009b). Additionally, the loss of body language in online communication reduces the level of feedback that can be provided, creating an avenue for continual miscommunication to occur if the loss is not replaced by other means of communication (Bamford, 2004).

The effects of cyber-bullying on the victim include lowering self-esteem, frustration, feeling scared or angry, stress, anxiety, unhappiness, depression, suicidal thoughts and may make the victim become a cyber-bully (Beyond Blue, 2009; “Cyberbullying, n.d.).

Incidences of cyber-bullying are actually quite common. The Wikipedia article “cyberbullying” (n.d.) reports on several, USA based statistics and the largest proportion of survey participants that had experienced cyber-bullying was 43%. In a different survey 58% of children stated that something mean or hurtful had been said to them and the same proportion had not told their parents about that something mean had been said. This survey could be easily be misconstrued, as “something hurtful” could, in some cases, been unintentional harm. That children are not reporting cyber-bullying is a cause for concern. Reach Out Australia (2009) states that reports of cyber-bullying in Australia have been increasing since 2006 and that “56 per cent [of survey respondents] thought it was easy to get bullied online”.

Preventative Strategies
Giving the perception that its easy to be cyber-bullied, the main tool to prevent cyber-bullying is education. Education about the technologies and what should be placed on it. Also, its not just educating children, educators and parents need to know about the technologies for their own use as well as for monitoring children.

The ThinkUKnow websites for Australia (http://www.thinkuknow.org.au/) and the United Kingdom (http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/) provide excellent, concise summaries of the different types of online interactive technologies that are available and information on how to keep control of the information that is placed there. One of the best pieces of advice they have on the Australian site (ThinkUKnow, n.d. a) is

If you aren't happy for the photo to be passed around your dinner table, or shown at your school assembly, it shouldn't be posted online.

If they place that inappropriate school assembly photo online they unintentionally provide material for cyber-bullying to occur. Education of appropriate use and behaviour is a key preventative strategy.

Parents can help prevent cyber-bullying if they "cultivate and maintain an open, candid line of communication with your children" and "establish that all rules for interacting with people in real life also apply for interacting online" (Hinduja & Patchin, 2009). Restricting internet access or using external filtering is detrimental to the child's willingness to communicate. Instead parents should work with the child in self-filtering content and role-modelling appropriate behaviours (Bamford, 2004; Bullying. No Way!, 2009a).

Reactive Measures
When someone is being cyber-bullied, the following is best course of action in the order the steps should be taken.

1. Take evidence of the bullying action as it occurs. This will help with the other steps.
2. Do not respond to the bully. Without a response, they will not know if their action had the desired effect.
3. Block the bully from that communication system.
4. Talk to a trusted adult– a parent, a teacher, the school counsellor.

Remember that if the cyber-bullying involves threats, it should be reported to the police immediately.

Taking evidence of cyber-bullying is important as it creates a record of the bullying as it occurs (Reach Out, 2009). For most internet services a screen shot is best as it records the incident as it appeared when it happened. As most operating system desktops display the time in one corner of the screen, the time of the incident is recorded, however the date will need to be recorded separately. If the cyber-bullying occurred by email, making a record of the full email headers will help the appropriate authorities track the source of the email. The headers will need to be copied separately from the body of an email, they are email specific and will be lost upon forwarding. The Cyberbullying Research Centre (http://www.cyberbullying.us/resources.php) provides instruction sheets on how to take screen shots in Windows and Apple (without specifying which Apple version) and how to retrieve email header information in a wide range of email programs.

Blocking the cyber-bully is an action which is specific to the communication system in use. All instant message and social networking technologies have the option to remove and block people from their contact list (ThinkUKnow, n.d. b). If the bullying occurred by email, the victim's internet service provider has mechanisms to block email from certain addresses and should be contacted regarding who to forward the email to with header information. Mobile phone service providers have similar options for blocking message and calls from particular phone numbers (Reach Out, 2009). Online forums and blog post comments allow users to flag posts or comments as inappropriate, altering the owner of the site that material needs to be check and removed. Other online services have different mechanisms for dealing with cyber-bullying and other unwanted content which are site specific, but can be easily dealt with by contacting the site owners (ThinkUKnow, n.d. b). It should be remembered that the anonymity which cyber-bullies use to hide themselves can easily be used by a victim to protect themselves.

Most importantly, the victim of cyber-bullying must talk to someone. Parents (and teachers) who have established that they are open to discussion are excellent in this role (Bamford, 2004). If parents are not an option, there are a range of counselling services available in Australia. These include the telephone services Lifeline and the Kid's Help Line, or face to face services at headspace Centres (http://www.headspace.org.au) or the counselling officer in most schools. Talking about incidences of bullying is important as provides an outside view to dealing with the problem (Beyond Blue, 2009).

Conclusion
Cyber-bullying on the internet is an unfortunate occurrence, however there are steps people can take to minimise their exposure and chances of being bullied. Additionally, incidences of cyber-bullying can be reported, whether to the online service provider or to the police and should always be talked about.


References

Bamford, A (2004) Cyber-bullying. AHISA Pastoral Care National Conference 2004. Retrieved from http://www.coc.edu.au/site/_documents/ahisaconference-bamfordcyberbullying.pdf

Beyond Blue (2009) Information about cyberbullying webiste http://www.youthbeyondblue.com/2009/07/23/information-about-cyberbullying/

Bullying. No Way! (2009a) Do you think parents could help? webpage http://www.bullyingnoway.com.au/talkout/spotlight/cyberBullyingParents.shtml

Bulling. No Way! (2009b) Man .. I never realised webpage http://www.bullyingnoway.com.au/talkout/spotlight/cyberBullyingConsequences.shtml

Cyberbullying (n.d.) In Wikipedia. Retrieved March 16, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber-bullying

Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. (2009). Preventing cyberbullying: Top ten tips for parents. Cyberbullying Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.cyberbullying.us/Top_Ten_Tips_Parents_Cyberbullying_Prevention.pdf

Reach Out Australia (2009) Cyberbullying: What is it and how to get help website http://au.reachout.com/find/articles/cyberbullying

ThinkUKnow (n.d. a) How to Stay in Control – Social Networking webpage accessed March 28, 2010 at http://www.thinkuknow.org.au/site/control_sn.asp

ThinkUKnow (n.d. b) Stop Cyber-bullying webpage accessed March 28, 210 at http://thinkuknow.org.au/site/stop.asp

Beyond Cyberspace Headspaces

Headspace
This site is run by the National Youth Mental Health Foundation about national youth mental health. They have two interesting pages on cyber bullying, which I only found by using the search feature. The first is their generic cyber bullying page on which they give the generic information on cyber bullying. The statistics that they give are

Approximately 10% of Australian students in years 4-9 have experienced cyber bullying.
...more than a quarter of Year 8 students know someone who’s been cyber bullied.

What the aim of Headspace is regarding cyber bullying is different; they want to collect stories from Australian youth which gives their experiences with being cyber bullied or identified as a cyber bully. When these stories exist and are accessible, they would be a wonderful resource.

The other cyber bullying page of interest is a summary of an ask the experts session. Whilst the information they present for dealing with cyber bullying is the standard (record and talk), they do bring up the topic of social exclusion, which one of the experts says is the "worst most hurtful form of bullying and it always feels that the world is leaving you out". The expert comments it in terms of real world interactions and says that the solution is to make yourself less vulnerable by widening your circle of friends. But I do wonder what could be done about it in the virtual world. It would be easy to identify, but what could be done about? I can see Facebook closing down a group if its content is hurtful towards a child, but what would they do if the group is not letting that child be part of it?

Youth BeyondBlue: Information about cyberbullying
This page contains the usual definition of cyber-bullying and talks about the effects of it on children. The effects it gives are stress, feelings of intimidation, anxiety, unhappiness, distress and even depression. These I have read in previous articles (but might not have commented on), but the one I hadn't read, or maybe just not noticed was:

Dr Baigent says that self-harm or suicide should never be an option, no matter how bad things seem.

Its a great statement, but part of me is filled with disbelief that it could go that far; the web has so many avenues that its possible to just disappear if someone on a particular site was bullying you. Or there are people in real life for you to talk to long before this point. Maybe I'm just sheltered.


Bullying. No Way!
Spotlight on ... Cyber bullying
Over a series of pages this site gives an overview of cyber-bullying, how it can occur and what children can do when it does happen. Telling an adult and taking a stand against it when it occurs are featured. There's also a page of things schools should be doing to prevent cyber-bullying. On the Do you think parents can help page, it gives this interesting

Many young people say that they wouldn't report cyber bullying because most adults don’t know that they have a cyber life - and if they report, then the technology will be taken away from them.They are also likely to take the position that their online activities are their business.

but doesn't provide anything to back it up. It then follows with the usual guide to parents about education, observing and reporting.

It also gives a view of cyber-bullying from a bullies perspective, about how anonymity of internet communication could make them think anything is possible. It has some self direction questions for changing away from bullying behaviour.

Cybersmart
The Australian Governments little website on cyber security aimed at everyone. They have information pages for kids and teens which have exactly the same content, and say the same things I've commented on before. The interesting pages are in the schools section, Responding to incidents of cyberbullying and The role of schools in addressing cyberbullying. The first contains the usual response methods, but written from an educators perspective. It could be good to use as a check sheet if cyber bullying occurs in the classroom. The second gives an outline of the structures which should be established/existing within a school to deal with cyber bullying and emphasises the importance of teaching teachers, parents and students in what is appropriate interactions online. The page also gives links to the resources section on state and territory school cybersafety policies, but I couldn't work out how to get to them :(


Kids Help Line
It turns out that the Kids Help Line also does councilling via web and email. That't great news.

Thinking U Know in two countries

ThinkUKnow
The ThinkUKnow website is a partnership between the Federal Police and Microsoft Australia - who do actually do good deeds if its not about a Microsoft product. Overall, this is a really good site. Its split into sections, with the good ones being "How do kids have fun?", "How to stay in control" and "How to report". The first section is aimed at parents and it explains several different types of online communication technologies where children can interact with each other - and mobile phones.

"How to stay in control" is about proactive prevention of incidents (bullying, stalking or otherwise) for the technologies identified. Its aimed at children and parents (and educators) and briefly discusses the risk and preventative measures that can be taken for "staying in control". The advice given for the latter is useful, such as

Think before you post pictures or videos on your profile.  If you aren't happy for the photo to be passed around your dinner table, or shown at your school assembly, it shouldn't be posted online.

You should only add people to your buddy list if you know them in the real world - forget the popularity contest, your safety is more important!

Do not post cruel or threatening messages on your blog or someone else's.  Cyber-bullying is never acceptable.

There are more, but these are the ones that I personally found interesting. The last ties in nicely with this topic. The first one is interesting as it ties in with this article I read this morning (that unfortunately is only marginally related to cyber bullying) about young people not knowing how much damage online activities could do to them in the future. Of course, a bad photo in the short term could lead to teasing or bullying either online or at school, or be an act of bullying. The middle on is about safety in general, but its also about bullying. If someone is bullying you, why are they on your buddy list?

The "How to Report" section gives details on what to do for inappropriate internet content, scams, spam, viruses, child sexual exploitation (which tells you to contact the police) and cyber-bullying. After an overview of what cyber bullying is, it gives this advice

It is vital to talk to young people about behaving appropriately online and with their mobile phone.  They need to be aware that there are real world consequences for their virtual world actions.
Young people also need to know that they can tell someone if they are being cyber-bullied.  Ignoring the problem won’t make it go away, and there are steps that they can take to address the cyber-bullying.  What is most important is that they tell someone.

Both of which are very important, its good to see them specifying it like this. It gives an overview of the reaction mechanisms of investigating, communicating with your child, using filters (eww), researching school/ISP/application cyber-bullying policies, reporting it to the school and ISP and the police if you feel appropriate, with blocking communication with the bully coming in at the end. Its sums up with the phone nubmers for the Kids Help Line, Lifeline and the Reachout and Bullying No Way website. As part of the discussion of blocking bully communication, it has a page devoted to the privacy settings and contact removal for a wide range of IM and social networking sites and tells you that some phone companies can block contact from some phone numbers. It also gives the advice to contact non-mentioned sites about how to restrict access.

In other content, the site has the usual Microsoft stuff on protecting you computer, a login restricted resources page (so I haven't looked at it), a links page and a kid's corner. The kid's corner is lacking in content with the main page containing links to thinkuknow UK. The content it does have is about "protecting your reputation" - considering the purpose behind the online content you are about to create and how it may impact you in the short and long term. It then gives advice on how to protect you reputation and what do to if something does something that impinges upon it.


thinkuknow
So this page is the UK version of the previous page, and its name makes me think "think uk now". The information on the site is divided into age groups: 5-7, 8-10, 11-16, parents/carers and teachers/trainer. Its interesting that the first age group starts at 5; is it because that they think younger children are not on the internet, are not on the internet alone, or unable to make an connections about their or other peoples actions?

The 5-7 age group page is really good, its pitched at the right level and it is the first page I've found which does discuss cyber bullying with the young child age group. It discusses cyber bullying in terms of "being nice", being nice to the people you are talking to as you may say something that might upset them. It also says to talk to your parents if someone says something that makes you upset. Talking to parents is the main thrust of the Know who to talk to page, which also suggests teachers or Childline (I'm assuming a UK equivalent of Kids Help Line), ending with

The most important thing is to remember is to tell a grown up you like and trust if you are unhappy or scared about anything.

The 8-10 age group is set out similar to ThinkUKnow and discusses cyber-bullying as cyber-bullying. The advice it gives is don't respond to the bully, record the nasty messages and emails, talk to a trusted adult and show them the messages and emails. It turns out that Childline offers email, web chat and sms as well as phone calls as counselling services - good on them for making the services available.

The 11-16 age group has a front page which made it really hard to tell where the information was, although once found they do have an interesting page on cyber-bullying. Its suggested course of action if bullying is occurring is essentially the same as that given on the 8-10 page, with the additional suggestion of blocking the bully and providing contact numbers for the anti-harassment sections at various mobile phone service providers. It also discusses where bullying actions can be breaking the law, specifying the acts. In a first, it also discusses what to do if someone you know is being bullied. Its advice is to report it, don't forward it on as that would be making it worse and don't stand back and let it happen, because that makes it worse too.

The parents page has information about various online services and internet safety stuff. The safety tips mostly fall under education of the parent and child about the internet and communication between the parent and child. The teachers page contains lots of downloads of presentations, videos and quizes about internet safety.


Both of these sites contain a lot of useful information.

Resources at the Cyberbullying Research Centre

Cyberbullying Research Center

The Cyberbullying Research Center, based in the United States, has a large page of resources (mostly in PDF form with watermarks) all with the APA citation laid out for you and advertising their book. Interesting items include:

• A list of abbreviations used for sms/IM/etc. Its not complete and quite a few of them I don't recognise, but if you are a concerned parent and you don't know it would be a good place to start.
• An instruction sheet on how to take screenshots in Windows and Apple (the sheets are copywrited 2009 so I assume it covers the most recent version). If bullying occurs, take a screenshot, save it and you then have a visual record of the incident.
• An instruction sheet on how to view email headers in a range of programs. Email headers contain the routing information of the received email and can be used to trace the source of the email. This information is not preserved if the email is forwarded. The CRC suggests sending it to the victim's ISP and keeping a record of it.
• A response sheet for educators, with "investigate thoroughly" the first item and I feel this is appropriate. All reported bullying should be investigated promptly. It also suggests talking to parents, school councilors, the internet site where it occurred, keeping all evidence and using a record sheet (which they provide). It does not suggest talking to the student about what happened, possibly because they think that has already occurred.
• On the response sheet for parents "Make sure your child feels (and is) safe and secure" is the first item, with "Talk to your child about the problem in detail" appearing later in the list. These are important steps, but this can be done by more than the parents. Most of the other items in this list appear in the educators list, however they do mention that the knee jerk reaction of restricting internet access is not applied and that consequences should be applied if your child was cyberbullying.
• Unfortunately they do not provide a response sheet for children that are being cyberbullied. The aim of the site is to provide resources for parents and teachers, but this is no reason not to provide a list of things you should do if, maybe even while, you are being bullied.
• As mentioned previously, they provide an incident report. It provides room for details of the reporter, victim, bullies, witness, a description and location of the event, what took place and the action plan to implement. This is a good sheet if all of the information for it is known, however what do you do if you do not know the identity of the bullies? There is sheet to record incidences of bullying as they occur.
• Prevention guides for parents and educators. For educators its some educational strategies to create a positive environment, though it does suggest using peer monitoring (which will only work if they are not doing it together). For parents its suggestions like usage contracts, filtering (eww), usage contracts (more on that later), educating them, watching for warning signs, "Establish that all rules for interacting with people in real life also apply for interacting online", "Cultivate and maintain an open, candid line of communication with your children" and "Teach and reinforce positive morals and values". Those last three are really important, thought the last two are something parents have been doing long before the internet was first thought up.
• Written internet/phone use contracts between parents and children. I think it would be best to say this flat out rather than obscurer it - I don't like the idea of this, they imply a level of mistrust already exists and children will pick up with that. A verbal agreement along the lines of "Can I trust you not to look up porn if I'm not watching?", "yes" would be better, along with a statement about "broken trust" if they do something wrong. It doesn't have to be porn in particular, but hey, talking about it straight out might be better.
• How to start a conversation on cyberbullying with children.
• Games (crosswords, etc) to promote discussion of cyberbullying. However, if they go like the maths word find I saw in class the other week everyone would get lost off topic.

The Urban Dictionary

On the topic of unknown abbreviations, the Urban Dictionary is a good place to go. Generally there are multiple entries for a single topic, but once you've been through most of them you have a good idea what people think an abbreviation, or word or phrase, means.

Still to look at, because Mother has called:

Wired Safety

Reading a Conference paper while effected with a lack of sleep

The paper in question is:
Cyber-Bullying by Dr Anne Bamford
AHISA Pastoral Care National Conference 2004

In the introduction of the paper it describes an incident from 2003 where a Japanese girl killed a fellow student over statements the student had made about her on the internet. I have heard about students committing suicide due to bullying (cyber or otherwise), however killing the bully is one I haven't heard.

The research study conducted by Bamford has found that students as young as eight have reported incidents of cyber-bullying or teasing, with bullying involving "forms of multimodal communication including sound, picture, animation and photographic sources" (p2). Another interesting point she makes is:

The reduction of social and contextual cues, such as body language and tone of voice, can have a variety of impacts. These impacts include a reduction in tangible, affective feedback if an online action has caused harm to another, reduction in the influence of social norms and constraints, resulting in behaviour that is not in accord with those norms, and the reduction of social cues related to social status which leads to greater participation by those who are at a lower level in a social hierarchy. (p2)

This indicates that there could be incidences of cyber-bullying which occur through miss-communication between individuals, that someone could unintentionally harm another person because they don't receive the relevant communicative cues.

The common types of bullying Bamford has identified in her research are: masquerading, flamming (I had never thought of that as bullying before), harassment, outing and exclusion. Interestingly, all of these types are not limited to the internet.

She wisely points out that

If young people are to gain independence in their use of the Internet, they need to develop strategies that enable them to recognize potential unsafe virtual situations and gain practical skills to handle the dangerous or tempting situations that may emerge when they use virtual forms of communication. Education, supervision and monitoring are critically important in developing appropriate behaviour. (p4)

Also stating that parents and teachers should educate students in learning how to filter content rather than applying external filtering mechanisms. Of course, if the parents and teachers do not know how to filter content themselves they cannot teach it. However the solution is suggested of adults and children doing things on the internet together (at the same computer) and having the computers in visible locations. Wait, thats what I said in the tute the other day - the part I didn't mention is that if children are brought up thinking that they can look at whatever they want in the presence of mum and dad, they will be less inclined to surf in their room when they are older.

It is also recommended that helping students develop their on moral sense of right and wrong will decrease incidences of bullying, in part through "making the adolescents aware that the facelessness of virtual communication does not mean it is victimless" (p4). The importance of discussing cyber-bullying when it occurs is also mentioned.

This paper was lower on post-bullying resources than I thought from its title, however it contains good advice for long term preventative strategies.

Cyber-bullying resources

The goal of this topic is to look at cyber-bullying, but focusing on the resources available for people to identify if they are being cyber-bullied and determine what they can do about it.

Wikipedia: Cyber-bullying
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber-bullying
Should have been the first resource for the last topic, so here it is for the second topic. Interestingly, Wikipedia defines cyber-bullying by the following quote:

"involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others. -Bill Belsey"

It also mentions that in adults cyber-bullying can be referred to as cyber-stalking. It reports on a couple of surveys, with the interesting, average (of all surveys given) statistics giving that 33% of children have been bullied online and up to 85% of children have not told their parents when something hurtful has happened online. One in five workers have reported being cyber-bullied. On the internet bullies can remain anonymous, changing identities if required, and thrive with individual, personal messages (email, personal messages in forums) which cannot be monitored (such as Facebook wall posts). However, in the first instance these bullies can be avoided by no longer frequenting the same location as the bully. Victims of cyber-bullying have:

lower self-esteem, increased suicidal ideation, and a variety of emotional responses, cyberbullying back, being scared, frustrated, angry, and depressed

with at least four USA cases leading to suicide. The article lists several awareness campaigns which have occurred in the USA and some examples of community support programs. To look for are Act Against Bullying's CyberKind and the (BeatBullying) YouTube channel.

Cyberbullying : What is it and how to get help - ReachOut Australia
http://au.reachout.com/find/articles/cyberbullying
This site defines cyber-bullying as any form of bullying that occurs on or through the internet and through mobile phone technologies. The examples it gives are:

teasing and being made fun of
spreading of rumours online
sending unwanted messages
defamation.

It then gives similar information, but with more of an Australian perspective, on the prevalence and effects of cyber-bullying. The most interesting part comes at the end, which is what some of the options are when you are cyber-bullied:

Keep a record (including time and date) - This may help you (or the police) to find out who is sending the messages.
Tell someone - Talk to someone you trust, a parent, friend, school counsellor or teacher.
Contact your phone or internet service provider and report what is happening - They can help you block messages or calls from certain senders.
If messages are threatening or serious get in touch with the police - Cyberbullying, if it's threatening, is illegal. You don't need to put up with that!
Don't reply to bullying messages - It'll only get worse if you do. By replying the bully gets what he or she wants. Often if you don't reply the bully will leave you alone.
Change your contact details - Get a new user name for the internet, a new e-mail account, a new mobile phone number and only give them out to your closest friends.
Keep your username and passwords secret - Keep your personal information private so it doesn't fall into the hands of someone who'll misuse it.

 An interesting list, though I think that talking to someone should have been at the start of the list.

To be looked at next:
http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/
http://www.coc.edu.au/site/_documents/ahisaconference-bamfordcyberbullying.pdf

Summary 1: Interactive Whiteboards for an Interactive Classroom

Interactive whiteboards are a information communication technology device which many Australian states have invested heavily in for use in school classrooms (White, 2009). It is not limited to Australia, with discussion on their classroom usage coming out of the United Kingdom and the United States of America. What are interactive whiteboards and how are they interactive in the classroom?

A report by the ACT Department of Education and Trainings (DET) (2005, p. 50) describes an interactive whiteboard as being a “whiteboard surface that displays digital files from a PC via a data projector”, stating that it can be used as an ordinary whiteboard with hand written content digitalised to and recorded by the attached personal computer. The report gives the interactive whiteboard the role of “facilitating the delivery of digital resources to the classroom, while providing for the maintenance of traditional board-centred classroom practice” (DET, 2005, p. 50).

The physical description given by the report is misleading, as until recently interactive whiteboards were categorised as either electromagnetic or resistive and often could not be written on with an standard whiteboard marker (“Interactive Whiteboard”, n.d.). Resistive interactive whiteboards use a pressure sensitive surface placed above a conductive backplate. When touched the surface comes into contact with the backplate and the location of the contact can be determined electronically. Electromagnetic interactive whiteboards contain a two dimensional grid of conductive wires underneath the surface of the board. To 'write' on the board, a special pen containing a coiled wire is brought close to the board, altering the current flowing through the grid of wires. This disturbance can then be detected and located electronically.

Both types of board have their advantages and disadvantages. With a resistive board any object which can cause a depression can be used as a pointing device or writing tool, however only one location can be determined at a time. Whereas electromagnetic boards can detect multiple signals at a time, however input is limited to the provided pens. The SMARTBoards from SMART Technologies (http://smarttech.com/) are an example of resistive interactive whiteboards while the interactive whiteboards from Numonics (http://www.interactivewhiteboards.com/www/) are electromagnetic boards.

New developments in interactive whiteboard technology include infrared lasers, infrared detectors, ultrasonic detectors (using ultrasonic emitting markers), or combinations of technologies (“Interactive Whiteboard”, n.d., mimio, n.d.). Some of these sensing technologies can be used to convert an existing whiteboard into an interactive whiteboard (mimio, n.d.). An interesting system uses the Wiimote, the controller for a Nintendo Wii console, as an infrared detector and tracker (Lee, n.d.). The Wiimote is directed towards the whiteboard and an infrared emitting pen is used as the marker. Using free hardware drivers the Wiimote can be connected to a PC via Bluetooth and several software packages can convert the output of the Wiimote to a location on the display (Bauer, 2009). This creates an simple interactive whiteboard if the components are available.

The interactive whiteboard is operational only when the digital projector and attached computer are running (Ryder, 2009). Within the computer's operating system the whiteboard acts as a display and the board marker can be used as an alternative to the computer mouse. The computer software provided with the interactive whiteboard is capable of displaying a range of content that can be moved about the board (Eaton, n.d.). Alternatively, the software can display a blank page which can be written on with the marker pen and recorded, with some systems providing handwriting recognition (Resources Materials and Technology Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (RMTCDHH), 2009; Ryder, 2009).

There are many suggested uses of interactive whiteboards in the classroom, with some of the suggestions from one source (RMTCDHH, 2009) as:

Use the built in maps to teach continents, oceans, countries, or states and capitals.
Brainstorming
Teaching students how to navigate the Internet
Teach editing skills using editing marks
Present presentations created by student or teacher
Save lessons to present to students who were absent

Of the suggestions given, only the last takes advantage of the unique features of an interactive whiteboard. Each of the other suggestions are ones which can be achieved by either a whiteboard or computer-digital projector combination on their own. In several articles and commentaries (Anderson, S.W., 2010; Eaton, n.d.), teachers state they initially use the interactive whiteboard the same way they taught with ordinary whiteboards and projectors. Ryder states that she first used an interactive whiteboard in her classroom as “an over-glorified whiteboard” (Ryder, 2009, para. 1). Eaton (n.d.) had similar experiences with getting students to move objects or to reveal the next display, feeling her students were not “actively learning and interacting, any more than they had done with the old style whiteboard” (Eaton, n.d., para. 4). One student interacting with the interactive whiteboard results in “an interactive kid but not an interactive classroom” (Anderson, S.W., 2010, para. 6).

Even with this style of one-on-one interaction, teachers were observing that students were interested and more motivated in the classroom (Eaton, n.d.). In the United Kingdom, the motivational increase provided by use of interactive whiteboards is one of reasons given for their widespread adoption. It is now suggested that the motivational boost only occurs while the technology is new and interesting for the students (Thornbury, 2009). Progressing from 'new' phase to one which results in an interactive classroom is imperative. Anderson (Anderson, S., 2010) suggests that teachers go through three phases when adopting the use of interactive whiteboards, being presentation style, limited interaction and classroom wide student-centred interaction. It is this third stage that is the most important, creating a classroom environment where students are engaged and interacting with each other, using the interactive whiteboard as a tool to investigate and express their ideas (Anderson, S.W., 2010; Thornbury, 2009).

Eaton (n.d.) reported she found that allowing her primary school students to work through prepared content on the interactive whiteboard as a group, rather than presenting it to them herself, has improved the collaboration between students and their understanding and retention of concepts and knowledge. Used in this manner, interactive whiteboards are facilitative tool for students social interaction, manipulation and creation of knowledge (Thornbury, 2009).

Interactive whiteboards provide a new way to display, create and interact with information in a classroom. However the technology can easily be used to continue the same pedagogical methods and will only be interactive if a classroom wide approach to using the technology is taken.


References

Anderson, S. (2010, January 8) Interactive Whiteboards-Sage On The Stage? [web log comment] Retrieved from: http://web20classroom.blogspot.com/2010/01/interactive-whiteboards-sage- on-stage.html

Anderson, S.W. (2010, January 6) Interactive Whiteboards-Sage On The Stage? [web log post] Retrieved from: http://web20classroom.blogspot.com/2010/01/interactive-whiteboards-sage- on-stage.html

Australian Capital Territory. Dept. of Education and Training. (2005) Emerging technologies [electronic resource] : a framework for thinking ACT Department of Education and Training : final report Dept. of Education and Training, Canberra. Retrieved from: http://www.det.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/74485/ACT_EmTech_Report_v1_2.pdf

Bauer, R. (2009, November 3) Affordable Wii Presentation [web log post] Retrieved from: http://flossed.org/node/92?q=node/92

Eaton (n.d.) The Changing Role of the Teacher in using the IWB. Retrieved from: http://www.durhamlea.org.uk/resources/index.html?_Action=viewrecord&_Id=1112

Interactive Whiteboard (n.d.) In Wikipedia. Retrieved March 11, 2010, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_whiteboard

Lee, J.C. (n.d.) Johnny Chung Lee > Projects > Wii. Retrieved from: http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/

mimio. (n.d.) mimio Interactive Xi Bar and Stylus Overview Retrieved from: http://www.mimio.com/global/au/products/mimio_interactive/index.asp

Resources Materials and Technology Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.(2009) Interactive Whiteboards. Retrieved from: http://www.fsdb.k12.fl.us/rmc/tutorials/whiteboards.html

Ryder, P. (2009) An interactive whiteboard ... What next? Retrieved from: http://www.eqa.edu.au/site/aninteractivewhiteboardwhatnext.html

Thornbury, S. (2009, June 7) On interactive whiteboards (again!) [web log post] Retrieved from: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/scott-thornbury/interactive-whiteboards-again

White, G. (2009) The Interactive Whiteboard Revolution, Professional Educator, 8(4), p 48

More on IWBs

The Changing Role of the Teacher in using the IWB
http://www.durhamlea.org.uk/resources/index.html?_Action=viewrecord&_Id=1112
In this article/post Miss Eaton describes her experiences using an IWB in her Years 3 and 4 classrooms. She describes how she was initially nervous, using the IWB as a fancy whiteboard with minimal student interaction (getting students to complete sentences), to using it as an interactive, class learning based tool. She describes one example where a sentence was shown and each student contributed to the best of their ability to improve the quality of the sentence. A concern in this example though is "poorer ability children simply added a full stop" and how they actually challenged themselves in doing this. She describes that the students describes themselves as learning for themselves, constructing their learning together (a constructivist teacher's dream), with the teacher's work is in the preparation of topic flipcharts. This is a positive example of the interactive classroom use of an IWB, however I wonder if the age group of the students was part of its success.

On interactive whiteboards (again!)
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/scott-thornbury/interactive-whiteboards-again
In this post by Scott Thornbury he gives an balanced view of the use of IWBs in classrooms, with a personal direction to the language classroom. He discusses how IWBs have been introduced to British schools to help with the motivation of students, and how students became less motivated once they were used to the technology. Also discussed is IWBs as a presentation tool, saying

"IWBs deliver content better, arguably, because (a) they are networked, (b) they combine multi-media functions that were once distributed across audio, video, and computer media, (c) they are visual, auditory, AND kinaesthetic and (d) they are relatively easy to use."

But brings up that the use of IWBs can easily become a teacher centric presention at the front of the classroom. I feel that the most eloquent point that Scott Thornbury makes is "if IWBs are to be truly facilitative, it is their (socially) interactional potential that needs to be optimised". That is, if IWBs are to help students learn, they need to be used for social interaction between students. This is the same point as was made in 'The Changing Role of the Teacher in using the IWB'. The comments to the post are an involved discussion about the use of IWBs and their experiences with the technology.

Non-IWB interactivity

There is more to interactivity than projectors and whiteboards.

Mobile phones: the future of classroom interactive voting?
http://olliebray.typepad.com/olliebraycom/2009/06/mobile-phones-the-future-of-classroom-interactive-voting.html
In this post Ollie Bray mentions experience with the ActivExpression classroom polling system by Promethean (that name makes me sad, I know the point they're trying to make, but still....), which will be investigated. What Bray discusses in this post is their desire for a mobile based polling system not dependent on a wired environment. They mention that there is a web based free-ish service for doing polls, which can be voted on via SMS or the web. The downside to such a system would be having mobile phones/PDAs/DSis/etc in the classroom, something I think most schools will not allow at this stage.

Scottish Learning Festival 2008 - Its going to be hectic!
http://olliebray.typepad.com/olliebraycom/2008/04/scottish-learni.html
This is the best candidate I could find for Ollie Bray's discussion of the ActivExpression voting system, and its an advertisement for a presentation they are giving. So the distillation of what is mentioned is that it has been used in the class to help promote discussion, debate and ideas gathering and the students enjoy using it. An interesting point it makes is: "Developments of this kind have created a whole new learning environment." But what sort of development is it? And what sort of learning environment does it create?

Promethean ActivExpression : Learner Response Systems
http://www.prometheanworld.com/server.php?show=nav.15997
From Promethean's website (when unsure, go to the source) it sounds like the ActivExpression is a handheld quiz tool which connects wirelessly to a central server (the ActivHub, this is a great naming scheme). The quizes can be tailored to individual students level or used to present the same question/s class wide. The power of the tool comes from multiple response types, but why not use a laptop or tablet which can do much more?

PollEverywhere: Classroom Response System
http://www.polleverywhere.com/sms-classroom-response-system
The affore mentioned free-ish web based polling system. The system is a web based polling system where the instructor sets up the poll and makes it available for students to vote in. Each polling option gets a keyword which is required for that particular option in a particular poll. If the instructor desires, the poll can be displayed interactively, updating as votes are cast. Voting options appear to be SMS, web interface and Twitter. The free-ish part is that a class of under 32 students can use it free. It seems like something that you need to try before you can decide if its worth using.

Google Tools For The New Year
http://web20classroom.blogspot.com/2009/12/google-tools-for-new-year.html
In this blog post Steven Anderson brings up a range of tools Google has brought out in 2009. The one he brings up which is relevant here is Google Moderator. Its a tool where a question is created and a range of supporting material can be included. Participants can then respond to specific options or ask additional questions. It sounds like it is worth trying.

Interactive Whiteboards-Sage On The Stage?
http://web20classroom.blogspot.com/2010/01/interactive-whiteboards-sage-on-stage.html
I brought this blog post by Steven Anderson up yesterday. It contained a point relevant to this context:

Some even would argue for the polling devices. Honestly, can we really say that polling is interacting? Ok so a kid might care for 5 seconds to punch in an answer but then go back to non-interaction. And how many times do we give a poll in a class?

This is a negative viewpoint on polling devices, but it a valid point.

What it comes down to, I believe, is what we mean by "interactive classroom" and how we want to achieve it. Steven Anderson views the tools as "anything that gets all kids using technology and interacting with technology, together".

The "together" I feel is the most valid part.

Interactive whiteboards

So I have not dome any research lately and Megan has placed links to related resources on the ELPC blog. Part of me thinks I should feel bad as its free information when its needed, but I didn't plan it to be this way, so I won't feel bad about it.

An interactive whiteboard ... What next?
http://www.eqa.edu.au/site/aninteractivewhiteboardwhatnext.html
Penny Ryder (a local even!) gives a list of tips on using IWBs in a classroom. Amusingly "turn it on at the start of the day" is the first on the list, however I do understand that people not brought up on a diet of technology may not think about that. There is a central theme to the tips of being interactive with students, through showing them how to use pieces of software, letting them use it and using it for more than just a whiteboard. She also brings up the common theme of ICT, making sure the tool you are currently using is the right one for the task at hand.

INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARDS IN THE CLASSROOM
http://www.fsdb.k12.fl.us/rmc/tutorials/whiteboards.html
This site gives a basic overview of what IWBs can be used for. However, the entries are jobs that can be done by a whiteboard or digital projector on their own and do not require the blend of technologies. What this site does have which is useful are pictures of several different brands of IWBs. What's the technical difference between a SMARTBoard and a eBeam? I'm not sure but they sure look different in the pictures.

FlossEd.org Affordable Wii Presentation
http://flossed.org/node/92?q=node/92
An interesting IWB where the pointing detection system is a WiiMote and an infrared pen. The WiiMote is connected to a computer via Bluetooth and Open Source drivers convert the WiiMote's signal into a cursor position. The WiiMote is fixed with respect to the screen and the IR pen provides the pointing mechanism on the screen (the WiiMote determines its own location with respect to the IR dot). I had heard of the drivers two years ago, however I never thought of using them for this sort of technology.
It is a cheap and affordable option, if you already have the digital projector.

Interactive Whiteboards-Sage On The Stage?
http://web20classroom.blogspot.com/2010/01/interactive-whiteboards-sage-on-stage.html
In this blog post Steven Andersen brings up the very valid point that IWBs are "teacher-centered devices" in that the teacher develops the materials that displayed. When students are interacting with the IWB it is only one student at a time while they do what they wanted to do and then they sit down again. The IWB on its own does not make the classroom interactive. Sue Anderson comments that the IWB should not be the only instructional method used in the classroom.