TPC-Journal-V2-Issue2

The Professional Counselor \Volume 2, Issue 2 174 so quickly.” Lastly, we asked Rick his opinion regarding our choice to use Facebook in the scenario versus other social networking sites. Rick emphatically agreed that Facebook was the right choice. He stated, “…no one uses MySpace anymore.” Bridget, also in 8th grade, watched most of the video without conversation. She had one comment while viewing the “Aisha and LaTosha on Facebook” video, but waited until viewing the video completely before making additional comments. Her initial comment concerned a portion of the script in which one of the girls threatened to get some people together to “jump you.” Bridget laughed quietly as she viewed that portion of the video and remarked, “I’ve heard people say that.” Bridget focused less on the technology in her analysis; however, she did comment that at times the video was “a little blurry” and that the avatars’ movements were “a little fakish .” She also put forth the idea that the video needed a transition at the end (i.e., the first version of the video ended abruptly). Bridget inquired about how we came up with the idea and thought it was “neat.” Similar to Rick, Bridget also struggled to answer the question: “What was the message in this video?” Once more, we asked a series of questions before an answer was given. After several prompts, Bridget stated, “…students should not accuse people of stuff.” We also asked, would this scenario prompt you to discuss cyberbullying? She noted “maybe.” We asked, “Can teachers and/or counselors successfully use this scenario in a group setting with middle school students to discuss cyberbullying?” She answered “yes” and that the scenario seemed “realistic.” Bridget believed the scenario would be very helpful in education because acting it out in person “would be awkward.” She stated that this video “… has elements in it that kids see all the time.” When asked about technological distractions in the video, Bridget indicated that the television in the video needed a better screen, (i.e., “something natural on it”) and it would be nice to have some music in the background for the two girls. The two students had some level of disagreement in their critiques. Unlike Rick, who indicated that the scenario was more appropriate for 6th grade, Bridget believed that it “sounded like an 8th grade conversation and would probably be good for 7th graders, but “6th graders talk differently.” Bridget also liked the wall-to-wall design in Facebook and did not agree with Rick that the girls’ conversation should occur, instead, through the Facebook chat tool. The way the text was typed was also okay with Bridget; although she noted how she “typed nicely.” Further, the appearance of Facebook was fine with her, and she believed that the attire on the girls was appropriate. She was in agreement with Rick about removing the girl, Sierra, from the video. Both saw her presence as confusing. She also aligned with Rick on the view that “all students used Facebook instead of MySpace.” From this session, it was apparent that revisions were necessary with the “Aisha and LaTosha on Facebook” scenario. While Rick and Bridget affirmed that the scenario was realistic, when the video ended both were unclear of the overall message of the video (i.e., they needed prompting twice to articulate the message of the video). The interactions with the two middle school students made it clear that some questions added to the video would facilitate interactive discussions among youth. We discussed potential questions with both students. By incorporating the language from the data and student input after watching the videos, we developed the following questions: (1) Whose fault was this fight? (2) If someone is mean to you and spreading rumors, what could you do instead of doing what Aisha and LaTosha did? (3) How would you respond to Aisha? (4) When should you get an adult involved? Who can you turn to for help? And, (5) What are some other steps you could take to make sure this type of situation doesn’t happen to you? After Rick and Bridget reviewed the video, a list of technical changes for the developers to make on the “Aisha and LaTosha on Facebook” scenario was assembled. They included: 1. Review the punctuation and grammar; make some modifications to better fit with punctuation and grammar that teens do and do not use. (Although the script was initially written using actual statements from adolescents who participated in our focus groups, we realized additional modifications could be made, such as using “w/” instead of with and “u” for you). 2. Revise the first part of the script, eliminating the character, Sierra. 3. The avatars frequently correct typing errors; change this to ensure that the typing text is more “teen-like” and less concerned with spelling errors. 4. Add questions at the end of the video for class or one-on-one discussions (i.e., an educational component for teachers and counselors).