The main goal of the CyberBuddy project was to create conditions for combating cyberbullying among teenaged students by equipping secondary school students and their teachers with relevant digital tools to raise their awareness of and response to various forms of inappropriate behaviour in online environment. The specific objectives of the project were the following: SO1: To create conditions for digital empowerment of secondary school students by developing and disseminating interactive digital and social media literacy training tools for students, their parents and teachers for recognizing and combating different forms and components of cyber bullying. SO2: To enhance digital empathy in students by triggering their self-reflection and raising awareness among them of the impact of aggressive and abusive behaviour in online environment. SO3: To encourage active behaviour and response to cyberbullying by equipping students, their parents, and teachers with the know-how, tools and methods for preventing cyberbullying, as well as for recognizing signs of cyberbullying and for offering support.
Our project addressed the following needs: Need for taking an active stand against cyberbullying: the project was initiated in response to the growing prevalence of cyberbullying and the observation that students often remain passive bystanders due to uncertainty or lack of confidence in how to act. CyberBuddy addressed this need by creating interactive digital tools that place students in realistic online situations and encourage active decision-making. Need for enhancing the digital empathy of students: a key challenge we identified was the lack of digital empathy among young people, who may underestimate the emotional impact of online behaviour on others. The project addressed this need by designing learning experiences that explore cyberbullying from multiple perspectives: victim, bystander and bully. This encouraged digital empathy and a deeper understanding of the consequences of online actions. Need to equip teachers and parents with tools to fight cyberbullying: teachers and parents often lack practical guidance and confidence to identify early signs of cyberbullying and respond effectively. CyberBuddy addressed this need by developing guidelines that provide concrete strategies & examples for prevention, early detection.