TPC-Journal-V2-Issue2

The Professional Counselor \Volume 2, Issue 2 172 For the focus group stage, facilitators generated discussions between the participants about how they recognized, defined and responded to cyberbullying. For example, questions included: “If you or someone you know have been cyberbullied, how have you/they been cyberbullied?” “What did you/they do immediately after you/they were cyberbullied?” “Did you/they tell someone? Retaliate online?” After this stage, cyberbullying scenarios were developed based on the data gathered from this aspect of the study. Following the development of the cyberbullying scenarios, the researchers sought to record participants’ reactions and comments as they watched the two video scenarios created as a result of data collected in the first two stages of data collection. Following the participants’ individual viewing of the scenarios, the researchers also asked specific questions (e.g., scenarios’ clarity, misinterpretations experienced, the setting of the scenarios, and perceived value of the scenarios in cyberbullying education for middle school students). Procedure The researchers worked at a major university in the southeastern U.S. where an effort to develop a teaching and research presence within SL was ongoing. The College of Education at the institution had “land” within SL and developed teaching and research spaces within the virtual environment. Several of the university’s computer-based honors students were involved in this development and partnered with university professors to conduct research while simultaneously receiving college credit. The researchers were assigned two honor students who were asked to develop counseling-related scenarios in SL. To ensure cultural sensitivity, the researchers also consulted with an African-American colleague who works with high- poverty schools. Feedback from the colleague was sought to determine whether or not the language and scenarios were realistic and applicable. In addition, after the SL developers rendered the videos, two additional colleagues (a counselor with expertise in multicultural education and an instructional technology expert) reviewed the videos. These discussions helped to validate the scripting choices and ensure appropriateness and cultural sensitivity for use with middle school students. The researchers triangulated the focus group and survey data (Stages I and II) to inform the development of the cyberbullying scenarios and to script the two scenarios. In order to achieve meaningful scenarios that reflected the educational needs of the adolescents, we drew heavily upon data from the focus groups to ensure that the scenarios reflected the students’ voices (e.g., language use), their actions (e.g., reactions to cyberbullying situations, linguistics), and the technologies they most used (e.g., social networking) while also providing the needed educational messages. The data revealed a need for two separate scenarios (i.e., one with a behaviorally-based concept and one with an educational concept). Informed through the focus group data, the behaviorally-based scenario focused on “how gossip escalated into cyberbullying” as two girls wrote on each other’s “wall” on Facebook. Data from the first two stages of data collection indicated a need for adults and educators to better understand how to educate and raise awareness of cyberbullying prevention; therefore, the educationally-based scenario focused on a discussion between a school counselor and a middle school-aged boy who sought advice on how to cope with an online joke that “got out of hand” or escalated. Once the two scenarios were completed and the videos rendered, we recruited two 8th Grade participants (one male, one female) from the pool of middle school students to participate in the current study. The participants viewed the videos in the presence of two faculty members and one graduate student. The researchers examined the students’ reactions and nonverbal behaviors as they viewed the scenarios. Following each student’s viewing, they were asked specific questions regarding the scenario’s clarity, its setting, the length, and any misinterpretations the students might have about each scenario.