CYBERBULLYING AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES AN EDUCATIONAL PROJECT FOR EMOTIONAL ORIENTATION AND CYBERBULLYING PREVENTION

Cyberbullying as a new form of bullying demands new coping strategies. As a result of new technology there has been a constant growth in the spread of harmful online behavior. The instant project “Cyberbullying and new technology”, which started from cooperation between school and university, was planned for pupils in the third year at “Leonardo Da Vinci” secondary school in Palermo. The project was started and carried out within the school setting with a focus on students, parents and teachers. Objectives: the main aim was to identify useful actions and precautions to help face cyberbullying (on smartphone and mobile applications) using technology to create a campaign of peer to peer sensitization. Methods: the methods applied in the classroom have been drawn from community pedagogy and psychology, as well as through direct teaching that allowed students to be participant and protagonist in this process of providing information and training in prevention. In the first phase the use of role-play, groupe parole and focus groups facilitated a rethinking of new technology, which was then used in the second phase when the pupils independently produced multimedia material aimed at dealing cyberbullying. Results: the brief project permitted the creation of significant educational products for the school (a pictorial/graphic exhibition by the pupils, sensitizing advertisements and videos shared among students and teachers) and the publication of an information brochure developed from cooperation between the school, the Sicilian Regional Government, the Centro Siciliano Sturzo and the department of Community Psychology at the University of Palermo. Conclusion: “Cyberbullying and new technology” is aimed at the caring professions. It is justified, in theory and practice by elements of community pedagogy and psychology for didactic experimentation with new strategies and methods, to counter the risks associated with the complicated problem of cyberbullying. The description of this field experience is aimed at prevention and comparison of this phenomenon.