Abstract
It is indisputably true that education is invoked by researchers and practitioners as an essential element to reverse the growth of cyberbullying and to mitigate the serious negative mental and physical consequences it has on victims. The key idea emerging from expert opinion is that online safety education and anti-cyberbullying educational programs are both essential in schools. These programs should involve, at different levels, students, educators, and parents. However, designing and running effective educational programs requires not only the comprehensive knowledge of the cyberbullying phenomenon but also educational competencies. In this chapter, the leading educational approaches adopted in cyberbullying educational interventions will be introduced highlighting the underlying psychological theories on which their effectiveness has grounded. In particular, participatory approaches, as well as peer education, will be introduced and discussed since they are universally recognized to be the most fruitful in cyberbullying educational programs.
TopEducational Psychologies
All educational theories, models, and practices have an underlying psychological theory.
Figure 1 shows the learning perspective based on the psychological theories of behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, and connectivism.
Figure 1. The four learning perspectives based on behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, and Connectivism
Key Terms in this Chapter
Learning 2.0: Is a new form of e-learning that is includes Web 2.0 technologies; it is based on tools that combine content creation, web delivery, and online collaboration.
Digital Social Learning: Is based on the idea of sharing ideas, experiences, and knowledge as well as on the ability to access content from different resources available on the internet.
Differential Association Theory: Formulated by the sociologist Edwin Sutherland in 1939, this theory views criminality as social interaction and posits criminal acts as learned behaviors.
Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory: Is based on the idea that an individual learns from their interactions with other individuals in a social context.
Behaviorism: Is a psychological theory based on the assumption that human behavior is determined by the environment through association and reinforcement.
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs): Are free online courses available for anyone to enroll.
Peer Education: Is an umbrella term used to describe interventions in which trainers and trainees cooperate between themselves.
Humanistic Psychology: Is a perspective that emphasizes looking at the whole individual and underscores concepts such as free will, self-efficacy, and self-actualization.
Social Learning Theory: Is based on the principle that observation, imitation, and modeling play a primary role in the leaning process.
Social Inoculation Theory: Developed in the 1960s by the social psychologist William J. McGuire, studies means of protection against persuasive attacks and pressures.
Proactive Education: Aims at orienting one particular behavior instead of attempting to correct others.