Click on the following link to access the full PDF:
http://old.digizen.org/downloads/Let'sFightItTogether-guide.pdf |
Click on the following link to access the full PDF:
http://cyberbullyingbook.com/Cyberbullying_Report_Card.pdf |
The Role-Playing Workshops intervention is recommended as an alternative method of conflict resolution for various beneficial reasons. Firstly, this exercise is particularly more effective for practicing empathic behaviours to correct the wrongdoing of the bully. Unlike suspensions and expulsions, by enrolling the student into role-playing workshops, they are able to learn the non-violent communication skills that they might not have had before the bullying incident. For example, they have the opportunity to develop skills such as listening, paraphrasing for clarity and comprehension, self-reflection, and effective self-expression by learning how to properly use “I” statements (Adler et al, 2001; Rosenberg, 2003). Learning proper communication skills is essential because in the context of cyber bullying, expression is perceived more vaguely without non-verbal cues such as tone. By having the chance to play the role of the victim, role-playing assists the bully with understanding that the predominantly textual nature of cyber communication may make it challenging for the victim to decipher between teasing or harassment. Replacing punitive frameworks with healing strategies is also a powerful example of restorative justice because the role-playing workshops will facilitate understanding of the situation, provide both the bully and victim with the opportunity to speak about their perspective and of the opposite character they play in the workshop, and will help facilitate discussions with the victim and bully about what they have learned from the situation (Rosenberg, 2003). Furthermore, the bully is able to understand the negative impact of the types of power they possess. Among the dominant powers affecting conflict resolution may be nuisance power, which is the “ability to cause discomfort”, habitual power, personal power, resource-based power, and associational power (Koch, 1996). By using Hinduja and Patchin’s (2009) Cyberbullying Report Card, the school administrator has a productive role as an active evaluator of the learning process in the role-playing workshop. A disadvantage of this alternative model for conflict resolution is that its success largely depends on all the parties’ emotional dedication in order to understand the others’ feelings, admit their wrongdoings, and come to a genuine reconciliation between the bully and victim after the role-playing workshop (Blair, 2010).