With the widespread diffusion and use of new technologies, in recent years is emerging the phenomenon of cyberbullying, the bullying of others by means of new electronic technologies. The phenomenon is growing: European Parliament highlights that cyberbullying increased among children aged 11-16 from 7% in 2010 to 12% in 2014. The 2016 Fundamental Rights Report points out that children are more exposed to Internet-related risks than in previous years. European Parliament in 2008 launched a programme to protect children using Internet and instituted the Safer Internet Centers in each country, promoting educational actions for children, parents, assistants, teachers and educators to prevent and fight illegal content and harmful conducts. In Italy MIUR has published in April 2015 the "Linee di orientamento per azioni di prevenzione e contrasto al bullismo e cyberbullismo" that highlight the necessity to find new and effective strategies to contrast the phenomenon, carrying out information and training actions; in October 2016 this has been followed by the “Piano Nazionale” that foresees, among the actions, training activities for teachers and students. In order to enhance the actions to prevent and fight cyberbullying, teachers have to acquire the necessary competences to plan appropriate activities of prevention, information and training and to master the digital technologies, teaching their students the correct use of the web tools and security on the Internet. Many resources and contents about cyberbullying have been developed within projects and actions promoted by schools and other institutions; nevertheless, they remain isolated initiatives, not collected into a single web space and thus tend not to be valorized and used. The project SPACE (Skills for school professionals against cyberbullying events) intends to answer to the training needs of school teachers, making them acquire competences to prevent/contrast cyberbullying, by the development of a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) on cyberbullying and the implementation of a web space containing OER on cyberbullying. The project is addressed to school teachers (ISCED2 and ISCED3 levels). Indirect target groups: school manager and non teaching staff; students; parents; school authorities and decision makers. The activities of the project are the following: - development of an online system that host a MOOC and OER on cyberbullying; - mapping and description of the competences needed by the teachers to prevent and contrast cyberbullying; - planning, development and experimentation of a MOOC for school teachers in order to make them acquire he previously identified competences; - gathering, organization and labelling of OER about cyberbullying, that will be published in the online system; - gathering and development of information material for teachers, trainers, experts, families and students about cyberbullying; - realization of a toolkit to use the online system, the OER and the MOOC. The project SPACE has a duration of 24 months and involves 7 partners from 5 countries (Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Turkey and Portugal). The work program is developed in 4 logically and dynamically interrelated stages: 1. Management, 2. Start up, 3. Intellectual Output implementation, 4. Dissemination. The partners are actively involved in every step of the actions, implementing processes and products. Work is cooperative, using the communication and interaction tools of the project website. Four consortium operative meetings are scheduled in coincidence with the main stages of the project, and 11 multiplier events in all partners countries ensure the valorization of the produced output and the impact at all levels. Expected results and envisaged impact: - potentiate and improve in the involved teachers the digital competence, namely cybersecurity, web risk and net etiquette; - contribute to the prevention of cyberbullying, making teachers acquiring the competences to intervene in case of cyberbullying at school and to plan and realize information and training activities with their students; - develop a MOOC model for teachers on cyberbullying that can be applied and used as a course methodology in the field of education and training; - develop a system of criteria to retrieve, organize and label the resources and contents about cyberbullying, that can be transferred to other content curation topics; - valorise the OER already existing on cyberbullying, making them available in an online space to teachers, experts, families, kids; - contribute to the sharing of the OER philosophy and the diffusion of the concept of copyleft, the Creative Commons licenses and other free use licenses; - make available a virtual space for a teacher community to encourage and foster the sharing and exchange of practices, methods and solutions on cyberbullying phenomena.
BACKGROUND. The widespread diffusion and use of new technologies is connected to the phenomenon of cyberbullying. In 2009 across Europe approximately 18% of European young people aged 13-19 had been bullied/harassed/stalked via the internet and mobile phones, current rates ranged from 10% to 52%. European Parliament highlights that cyberbullying increased among children aged 11-16 from 7% in 2010 to 12% in 2014. NEEDS OF THE TARGET GROUPS. The project SPACE answers to the training needs of school teachers, in order to make them acquire competences to prevent/contrast cyberbullying. In fact, despite the EU Member States launched many initiatives and projects to prevent and combat cyberbullying, it appears growing: since it is a new phenomenon, it lacks an organic system of knowledge and skills and structured educational actions ensuring that teachers acquire the knowledge of its dynamics, the mastering of the digital technologies for a safe use of the Web, and the competences to plan action of prevention, information and training. OBJECTIVES. Many resources and contents about cyberbullying have been developed by schools and institutions; nevertheless, they were isolated initiatives, not collected into a single web space and thus were not valorized. SPACE has taken up this challenge and has developed a MOOC - free online open course - on cyberbullying for school teachers, and a multilingual Public Digital Library of Open Education Resources on cyberbullying. Project main purposes: - to map and describe the competences needed to prevent and contrast cyberbullying; - to develop a digital library of OER on cyberbullying, with advanced search features; - to develop a MOOC for school teachers on cyberbullying, using the previously retrieved and labelled OER; - to potentiate and improve in the involved teachers the digital competence, namely cybersecurity, web risk and net etiquette; - supporting teachers acquiring the competences to intervene in case of cyberbullying at school and to plan and realize information and training activities with their students. PARTICIPANTS. The main target group involved in the project is represented by school teachers (ISCED2 and ISCED3 levels). Indirect target groups were school manager and non teaching staff; students; parents; school authorities and decision makers. 139 teachers were involved in the MOOC trial and 300 participated in the Multiplier events organized in the partner countries.The Public Digital Library received over 8.000 visits during the project's lifecycle. ACTIVITIES. The project lasted 24 months, during which the following activities took place: - realization of a map of competences and a MOOC model; - design and development of an online digital library on cyberbullying; - retrieval, cataloguing and identification of OER on cyberbullying, and implementation of these resources in the digital library; - setting up and customizing a CMS platform to host the MOOC; - design, development and testing of a multilingual MOOC on cyberbullying; - creation of a Toolkit with indications, guidelines and recommendations on the SPACE system and tools; - realization of 10 Multiplier Events in the partner countries and a final conference; - realization of 4 consortium meetings; - dissemination through the creation of a website, brochures, presentations, participation as a report invited to the DIDACTA Fair in Florence, articles in magazines and newspapers. IMPACT. The project has produced a positive impact, promoting awareness of cyberbullying, greater knowledge of its dynamics and methods of prevention and contrast, and developing a multidimensional set of knowledge and skills in the group of European teachers involved. Teachers and experts of the project team have acquired strategical competences to realize a content curation activity (gathering, retrieve and label contents on the web) and to use OER, developed strategical competences to plan and realize a MOOC course, acquired awareness about cyberbullying, acquired expert skills to lead information and training actions on contrasting cyberbullying among colleagues and stakeholders. Teachers and organizations involved in the testing have acquired competences in order to prevent and contrast cyberbullying, specialist digital competences on cybersecurity, web risks and net etiquette, developed strategical skills and methodological-didactic competences improving their teaching professional, have available more effective instruments in order to carry out information and training activities for their students to prevent cyberbullying. Experts and stakeholders have available contents and resources to acquire competences on contrasting cyberbullying and improve their teaching professional, and a structured MOOC with contents on cyberbullying.