title: An exploration of student teachers’ interaction with on-line activities, and their influence on their teaching topics such as netiquette and cyber-bullying: an Australian and Chinese study
Creators: name: Zhang, Xiao Hong
Publisher: name: Griffith University
Year: 2010
Subjects: subject: internet
subject: netiquette
subject: cyber-bullying
subject: teachers
subject: cyber-ethics

description: The Internet has undergone unprecedented development around the world in the last ten years. Increasingly, many millions of people are becoming involved in a wide variety of on-line activities. However, Internet Chat Rooms (ICRs) have become a focus for various crimes and unethical behaviour because of their anonymity and freedom, especially in activities related to sexual solicitation, violence and bullying. This study aims to investigate Australian and Chinese student teachers’ engagement in three on-line activities in Internet chat rooms, namely; playing on-line games; making friends and sexual solicitation; and cyber-bullying. This study also examines how student teachers perceive the effect of these three specific activities on themselves. In light of student teachers’ perceptions of these three activities, and their own practice of netiquette in on-line chat rooms, these student teachers’ beliefs about what should be taught to 11-year-old Primary school students are also investigated, including cyber-ethics and cyber-legal issues. Based on this broad aim, six specific research questions are posed. The sample for this study included current university second-year Bachelor of Education Primary School student teachers at a large state university in South East Queensland, Australia, and also at a large state university in East China. This study used a questionnaire that gathered both quantitative and qualitative data. The findings from this study show that these Australian and Chinese student teachers showed they did not consider that playing on-line games would affect their behaviour either in ICRs or in the real world. Australian student teachers thought that ICRs are safe places to make friends, but Chinese student teachers did not think so. Australian and Chinese student teachers predicted that when they become qualified teachers, they would like to teach upper Primary students about issues of cyber-bullying and playing on-line games. The Australian student teachers were willing to consider teaching upper Primary school students about making friends and sexual solicitation in ICRs, while Chinese student teachers were not willing to do so. Regarding netiquette, Australian student teachers indicated that they were not confident that ethical knowledge and ethical legislation can control on-line activities. However, Chinese student teachers were. The findings of the study appear to support three theories that were applied in this research to explain the reasons of youth on-line behaviour, namely, Cyber Psychological Theory, Moral Development Theory, and Space Transition Theory. The findings also recommend that teachers, parents, and Departments of Education should work together to protect youth on-line. Cyber-ethical and cyber-legal knowledge should be included in formal education curricula in Primary schools in both countries to protect young people on-line, as well as prevent young people from possible dangerous situations generated in the real off –line world resulting from participating in ICRs.