Bullying 101: Beyond common sense (iversity)

This MOOC aims to provide students with a critical knowledge concerning the phenomenon of youth bullying. The course focuses on both traditional bullying that usually takes place on school premises and cyberbullying, which occurs via information and communication technologies. With a social-ecological perspective, the first part of the MOOC explores the boundaries of these phenomena, and analyzes the characteristics of youth involved and the social-psychological processes that underlie the different roles youth play in bully-victim-bystander dynamics. The second part of this MOOC covers the prevention and intervention strategies available at the international level.

Our MOOC will help you answer the following questions:

1. What is bullying? How can I recognize it?

2. How do new information and communication technologies modify traditional bullying behavior? Is ‘virtual’ bullying less ‘real’ than face-to-face bullying?

3. What are the risk factors for (cyber)bullying? And its consequences for youth?

4. What role do the family, school and peers play?

5. How can bullying and cyberbullying be prevented? What can schools, parents, and the society do about them? What really works?

Course Schedule:

Chapter 1: Introducing peer bullying In this chapter, you will learn what bullying is and how it differs from other types of aggression. Moreover, you will get an overview of the different forms that bullying can take in face-to-face and online interactions.

Chapter 2: A global health perspective Bullying is recognized as a serious problem worldwide. Gain an overview of what International organizations say about it. You will also learn about how it changes during children’s development and about its consequences on youth’s life.

Chapter 3: Individual risk and protective factors Complexity of bullying behavior requires a multidimensional explanation of why it occurs. Gain an overview of the cognitive, emotional, motivational, and moral factors that contribute to explain why some kids bully other kids.

Chapter 4: Bullying as a group phenomenon Bullying dynamics are not limited to the bully-victim dyad. Learn to change your perspective to recognize the role of the whole peer group. You will gain some insight into the different roles peers can play in bullying situations and how the peer group can influence individual behavior.

Chapter 5: How other contexts influence bullying Go even further and learn how bullying is influenced by other social environmental characteristics that lie in different contexts, including classrooms, schools, family, and culture.

Chapters 6 and 7: Preventing and tackling bullying In these two final chapters you will learn what can be done to prevent and tackle bullying. You will learn what an evidence-based intervention is and you will gain an overview of the intervention strategies that can be implemented at different levels, from the broad community to the single individual student. Moreover, some experts from around the world.