I am doing the background research necessary to update our textbook. I see a textbook for preservice and updating educators as a combination of explaining relevant research and classroom characteristics that may expand existing learner experiences and offering suggestions for how this relevant background might be applied.
When you do a review of this type certain things have a tendency of jumping out. One category of such revelations would be those things which seem to represent reversals of what you claimed earlier. If my perception of such seeming reversals is correct, I would be misleading readers if I did not make an adjustment in what I claimed in the previous edition.
Here is a description of once such inconsistency. Like so many educational issues writers have to consider the evidence carefully to sort out what the research actually says. For example, are the methodologies of the studies or the data the cause of what seem to be contradictory findings. Since a textbook is a secondary source involving a great deal of integration and summarization, what is the best way to fairly describe what is known so others can made informed decisions.
Here is an example.
The issue that concerns me concerns cyberbullying and what role schools should play in addressing this problem. When I wrote the last edition of our textbook, I used research from Wolak, Mitchell, and Finkelhor (2007) that provided data on the locations of bullies who were cyberbullying their peers. This study is somewhat dated, but the precise location from which the harassment occurred was precise and relevant. Why? Well, kids likely cyberbully kids they know though school, BUT they were rarely reported as doing so from school. Why does this matter? Issues came up when schools toke actions against the bullies with parents and lawyers claiming that this was not an issue for schools to address. As a consequence, schools could certainly have programs to discuss the general problem, but were reluctant to address specific students who were identified as being involved.
A recent study based on the observations of classroom teachers (Vega & Robb, 2019) seems to make a different claim. The teachers responding to this national survey claimed that they were aware of cyberbullying originating within the school. I quote from this study below.
Approximately one out of 10 teachers (13 percent) said that cyberbullying occurred in their classrooms “frequently” or “very frequently,” and three out of 10 (34 percent) said it occurred at least “occasionally.”
Now, the teacher responses to survey questions are a little difficult to interpret definitively. Did the teachers actually see comments on computers or phones or did they just hear about incidents from their interactions with students. Legally, it probably makes a difference. The Wolak, et. al (2007) asked precisely about location.
Is this distinction worth writing about? I am still trying to decide.
Vega, V., & Robb, M. B. (2019). THE COMMON SENSE CENSUS: INSIDE THE 21ST-CENTURY CLASSROOM. Retrieved from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/uploads/research/2019-educator-census-inside-the-21st-century-classroom_1.pdf
Wolak, J., Mitchell, K. J., & Finkelhor, D. (2007). Does online harassment constitute bullying? An exploration of online harassment by known peers and online-only contacts. Journal of adolescent health, 41(6), S51-S58.
