Slides used as part of my presentation at the MassCUE/MASS 2014 Annual Conference. The highlights of the lesson plans shown come from teachers who participated in my 2014 course in Cyberethics and Policies for Technology Use

1. Sparking Cognitive Empathy in
your students when online and
with mobile devices: Strategies
and Lesson Plans.
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David B. Whittier, EdD

2. Framework for
Cyberethics
Education
Cyberspace environment as abstract,
reduced social cues inhibiting empathy;
Ethical theories applied to cyberspace
Ethics & Virtues + Character Education
Research on issues and on what matters to
teachers and students
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3. Framework for Cyberethics
Focusing Ethics &
Virtues on:
Respect
Responsibility
Honesty
Empathy
Trust
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Lesson Plans
for
Developing
Cyberethics

4. Three Lesson Plans to
Develop Cyberethics
Topic
Grade Level
Procedures
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5. High School 9-12
Course: Anthropology/ Human Behavior
Topics: Cognitive Empathy; Anonymity; Invisibility.
Grade level: 4-6
Course: Homeroom
Topics: Statistics and Percentages; Reflecting on
Cognitive Empathy.
Grade & Course: 7th Grade Math
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6. Topic: “Tunnel Vision:”
Experience and explore
the trend of “tunnel
vision” in social media
exchanges
Grade level: High School 9-12
Course: Anthropology/ Human Behavior
Procedure: Colleen Coburn
http://www.3rdcoa
stimages.com/
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7. Teacher found humorous yet
mean “tweets,” directed at
teachers, transcribed and
printed text only (no context),
and placed sheets before each
student.
Students read and discuss
meanings.
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8. “The goal here is for
students to find the mean
tweets humorous, because
the Tweets are detached
from the victims they poke
fun at.
This will simulate ‘tunnel
vision.’ ” Colleen Coburn
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9. “Tunnel Vision” in social media
exchanges:
“Teachers Reading Tweets”
Produced by the Los Alamitos, CA
High School Video Production Club.
Play at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b
7nPUfalZWs (2:51)
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10. Think about whether all of the Tweets
seem as funny as they appeared in
writing.
Do any of them seem rude, mean,
inappropriate, or awkward?
Record your feelings and observations
on the back of your worksheet.
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10 Reflection Prompts

11. Small Group Discussion
Framework
Empathy is the ability to understand or
share the feelings of another person. This
is a trait that allows us to relate to one
another as human beings and exhibit
compassion and courtesy when
interacting with one another in a social
sphere.
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11Small Group

12. Do you think communicating through
social media outlets, such as Twitter,
impacts our level of empathy? If so,
how?
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Small Group Discussion
Prompts

13. Discussion Prompts - Continued
Did your feelings about the Tweets
or the people they poked fun at
change when the teachers read the
Tweets aloud in the video?
Do you think you felt more or less
empathetic?
Did your outlook change?
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14. Also - SWBAT
Work in a small group to develop an
artistic visual or poster designed to
spark empathy amongst social media
users in the student body or curb the
tunnel vision phenomenon.
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15. Me, Myself and the Internet:
Sparking Cognitive Empathy
with M & Ms
Topics: Cognitive Empathy; Anonymity;
Invisibility.
Grade level: 4-6
Course: Homeroom
Procedure:
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Arkie Tassew

16. Elementary school with a house
system by color. There is a Green
House and a Blue House.
Blue House students go first.
Green House students are NOT
present.
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17. A box for each house contains bags of
M&Ms. Each bag has a number on it.
One for each student.
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821
5
24

18. Students get numbers
corresponding to a bag
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3
4
5
6
724
9
10
21

19. Important Instruction!
Students will get an opportunity to claim
the bag with their number on it.
But, Do Not Show your number to anyone
or you forfeit the opportunity to take your
bag!
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8
3
9
6
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20. Introducing an ethical dilemma to the
Blue House students
Teacher draws a number from a
hat.
Whoever has that number can
claim their own bag.
However, s/he also may take as
many M & Ms as they want
from another bag in Green
House’s box – or even take
another person’s entire bag!
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21. Dilemma Two
After drawing about 10 numbers and those
10 students claim their own bags (and most
probably the bags of other students in green
house ) they have one more opportunity.
Teacher will tell those 10 students it’s their
lucky day and now they have one more
opportunity to claim more M&Ms.
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22. Take your classmate’s M&Ms?
This time they can claim one bag from
the Blue box (meaning one of their own
classmates’ bags).
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23. Luck is . . .
Tell the other students that if their bag is
claimed there is nothing I can do
because those students just happened
to have their number drawn and that is
how games of luck work.
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24. Ethics of Anonymity &
Invisibility
Will students be more reluctant to claim
a bag of one of their classmates who is
present than they were to claim a bag
from a classmate not present?
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25. Post M&M bags activity
discussion
Was there a difference between picking
the bags from blue house students
(present) and picking the bags from
green house students (not present)?
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26. The essential M&Ms activity
reflection/discussion
To those who took the bags – if your
number hadn’t been drawn and someone
had taken your bag how did you feel?
Was it easier to take the bags of the
students that were not present? If so, Why
do you think that is?
Even if the students are not in the room is it
right or fair to take something that belongs
to someone else even if we can?
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27. Connections
Can you see a connection between this
activity and what is available to us on the
Internet – photos, pictures, information, data,
music?
Should you make ethical decisions even if the
chances of getting caught are slim?
Just because we don’t know from who we are
taking stuff when online does it make it okay
to take it without giving credit where it’s due
or paying for it?
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28. Discussion Connections
How would you feel if someone took
something that belonged to you? –
teacher will refer to the students who had
their bag taken.
Was their a difference in how you felt
when they took someone else’s stuff and
when they took your stuff? Did you think it
was okay to take the other students stuff
until you knew what it felt like to have your
M&Ms taken?
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29. Discussion Connections
What do we call it when you take the
perspective of someone else and try to
imagine how that person would feel?
NOTE: The teacher will give every student
their own bag and explain that it was only for
the sake of the activity. No one will get more
or less than one bag of M&Ms.
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30. Analyzing and Reflecting on
Cyberbullying Data
Topics: Statistics and Percentages;
Reflecting on Cognitive Empathy.
Grade level: 7
Course: Math
Procedure:
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Jennifer Paik

31. Cyberbullying as Behavior
and Data
Today we will be using percentages and
statistics to learn more about the issue
of cyberbullying in students
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32. As they walk in, each student
will get:
A “Do Now” with colors and symbols
Scenario worksheets for group work
Exit ticket reflection assessment
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33. Raise your hand if you have any kind of
social networking account, like
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine…
take count.
Okay so about _X_% of our class of 24
students participates in social
networking.
In the US, 85% of parents of kids ages
13 to 17 report that their kids have a
social networking account.
Calculate what 85% of 24 would be.
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34. Do Now:
Can I have everyone with red Do Nows
stand up (3 of 24 students). If our class
represented the national average, that
would mean these three students would
be the only ones without social networking
accounts.
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35. 43% of teens aged 13 to 17 report that
they have experienced some sort of
cyberbullying in the past year.
Calculate 43% of 24. Be precise!
Can I have all students with “Blue Do
Nows” stand up (11 students).
Compare that to 27.8% of students who
report being bullied in person.
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36. Issues of anonymity
Feel more able to be confrontational
Removal of social/contextual cues—
attention to the task, not the recipient
Easier to get away with
80% think it is easier to hide online
bullying from parents than in-person
bullying
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36 Why do you think more students are
bullied online?

37. 66% of teens who have witnessed online
cruelty have also witnessed others joining in
on it.
What is 66% of 24?
Can I have all students with a heart symbol
printed on their “Do Nows” stand up? (16
students)
If our class represented the national
average, these 16 students would have
seen someone else get bullied online and
saw others joining in on the bullying as a
result.
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38. Why do you think people join in when
someone else bullies someone online?
De-individuation
Crowd mentality
Wanting to seem cool
How do you think that makes the targeted
student feel?
Like a lot of people dislike/have bad
feelings towards them
Angry
Sad
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39. 90% of social media-using teens who
have witnessed online cruelty say they
have ignored mean behavior on social
media;
What is 90% of 24?
Can I have all students with a smiley face
on their Do Nows stand up? (2 students) If
our class represented the national
average, these 2 students would have
been the only ones who saw someone get
bullied online and did something about it.
The rest of us ignored it.
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40. Why do you think so many people
ignore online cruelty?
What can you do? Unsure of who the
authority is
Easy to ignore
Doesn’t seem “real”
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41. Identify the Motive. why did the student
participate in online cruelty?
Empathize with the targeted student. What
feeling(s) may he or she have had? Be
specific and avoid vague answers, such as
she or he is sad.
Cite one Action that you could take as a
supportive bystander.
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In your groups, work through a series of
hypothetical situations to:

42. Exit Ticket – Respond to:
When I was in middle school, MySpace was just
getting really big. One day, my best friend was at my
house after school, and we were on the computer
checking out our friends’ MySpace pages. While we
were surfing the web, we were also instant
messaging our friends.
We learned that a girl in my grade who was dating
one of our best guy friends was only dating him to
make another boy jealous! We were so angry. I
decided to get back at her by leaving anonymous
comments on her MySpace page calling her names.
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43. Exit Ticket
What might be 1 motive for my actions?
(5 points)
How might have the targeted student
felt as a result of my actions? (10
points)
What is one action my best friend could
have taken to stand up against online
cruelty? (10 points)
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44. References
Cyberbullying Statistics (2013).
Retrieved from
http://www.internetsafety101.org/cyber
bullyingstatistics.htm.
Bullying Statistics (2013). Retrieved
from
http://www.pacer.org/bullying/about/m
edia-kit/stats.asp.
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45. Your Scenarios?
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46. Q&A?
Cyberethics Contact:
David Whittier, EdD
dbwhittier@gmail.com
http://www.slideshare.net/dbwhittier
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