The Student Education Association raised awareness about cyber bullying in the 7th Street Underground in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union on Monday night.

John Bickford, an assistant professor in the middle level education department, presented a power point presentation.

Bickford’s presentation discussed not why cyber bullying takes place, but to where and how to identify cyber bullying in school.

In the presentation, Bickford discussed how unlike bullying that takes place in schools, cyber bullying is harder to stop because it is unknown by the teacher. Bickford discusses how, Facebook, can be used as a way to stop cyber bullying.

“Facebook can be a positive because a teacher can reach out to students and be open to students by creating a class Facebook page that is open to both students and parents, a teacher communicating with students makes the teacher appear more trustworthy to those students,” Bickford said.

Bickford, who is a former social studies teacher, taught ten years at an elementary school in Southeast Iowa saw many forms of bullying taking place in the school, but cyber bulling was the hardest to detect.

He created a Facebook page once he left the school and within a week 400 former students had added him as friends.

He used the Facebook profile to determine and help students that were victims of cyber bullying.

“I contacted the guidance counselor on average of once a month about a student dealing with a depression, pregnancy, or other social issues,” Bickford said.

Students in attendance, such as Ashley Jennings, a senior elementary education major, said, the information about cyber bullying could help her when she is a teacher.

“I can see where Facebook can be helpful, by creating a Facebook page for the class and for the parents to help both stay informed about what is going,” Jennings said. “Facebook can be used in an extremely good way.”

Sarah Haynes, the president of the Student Education Association, discussed other forms of cyber bulling outside of Facebook and Myspace.

“Instant messaging such as AIM can be used as form of cyber bulling, Haynbes said. “YouTube also can be used for cyber bullying if a person post a video of someone without that person’s consent.”

Calling attention to cyber bullying appears to be a big problem as Bickford said if more people came out against it could be stopped.

“It is the most common form of bullying and also the most unreported form of bullying as well,” Bickford said. “It happens to over 80 percent of students beginning in elementary school, increasing in high school. The best way of stopping cyber bullying is having the victims coming forward and identifying the problems that are taking place.”

Steven Puschmann can be reached at 581-2812 or srpuschmann@eiu.edu.

J.H. Bickford, a member of the education faculty, talks with students about cyberbullying on Monday night in Seventh Street Underground in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. (Jordan Boner

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