Sameer HindujaSchool Climate 2.0: Preventing Cyberbullying and Sexting One Classroom at a Time

Hinduja and Patchin have produced a rare book that manages to be both true to relevant research and usable by practitioners. The authors have worked extensively in research, law enforcement and educational fields, which supports the quality of this work. They clearly approach the subject of Cyberbullying with energy, but their wisdom takes over when they carefully address legal issues and discuss how effective handling of this issue in a school needs to fit the school's culture. I would recommend this book not only for educators needing an effective tool for understanding and confronting problems with student misuses of technology, but for professionals seeking a good example of dealing with a school problem through the lens of organizational culture. I will refer to this again and will recommend it highly.

I also bought this book for my class last semester. Very good explanation on "Cyberbullying". I knew kids picked on kids, that there were bullies and victims, etc. But this book really hit home the fact that physical bullying ends the moment the Bully and Victim are separated. Cyberbullying, however, is 24/7. There is no escaping it and it spreads faster than wildfire.It actually made me think twice about reposting pictures and stories on Facebook that I once found funny. Now I tend to put myself in the shoes of the person in the picture and I realize that a lot of what we share is pretty cruel in actuality.

When dealing with technologically influenced issues in an academic setting, it's fairly common for texts to fall behind the power curve. That's luckily not the case with this book. As of early 2013, everything in this book is entirely relavent to current issues regarding teen technolog misuse and bullying. It's refreshing to have a textbook and teacher actually staying current while still teaching the fundamentals.

I read this book for one of my classes in college. It is an easy read with alot of information that students can relate to. I find myself referring back to what I read in this book in my other classes. I would definitely recommend it.

I consider School Climate 2.0, to be a respectable and interesting read. This book is not filled with continuous words to either fill up the pages or to make a point that the authors are intelligent. It is straight to the point, easy read, and is filled with interesting information and facts. It also includes good ideas and strategies that can benefit all schools.

*In the spirit of full disclosure, I was honored to have been asked by the authors to provide a small "breakout box" segment, providing insight into the Canadian initiatives being introduced by students who are working to raise awareness of cyberbullying. Truth be told, this is a book I would have gotten no matter what, as you'll see from my review*I first became familiar with the topic of cyberbullying in doing research for my Masters thesis. In doing so, I referred often to the authors' first book  Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying . Reading it from cover to cover, I not only learned about cyberbullying in as comprehensible a fashion as possible, I also learned how to cope with incidents, as well as how to TEACH the subject. Then came  Cyberbullying Prevention and Response: Expert Perspectives  and once again, from the authors themselves as well as other experts, I learned even more about the topic, why it's important, and how to deal with the behavior.Having graduated now, I am a Cyberbullying Educator, and more than ever, the topic is crucial to the well-being of our society. This book addresses the link between the school environment and cyberbullying/sexting. That is vital, because with the nature of cyberbullying (more often than not, taking place off school grounds, and not during school hours), many educators ask, "why is this my problem? Why is this an educational problem?" "School Climate 2.0" answers those questions, and more. The book provides educators with the needed questions they should be asking of themselves, their schools, and their students. Many educators - already overtasked with curricular responsibilities - may feel the challenge of recognizing cyberbullying and its effects a daunting one. There's no question it is. But Drs. Hinduja and Patchin address those concerns with clear, organized, and research-based chapters that include concrete examples, actual cases, illustrations of the behaviors being discussed and practical steps to take to prevent, respond, and understand what is going on with youth and technology-based communication.The book delves deeply into adolescent behavior, providing valuable insight into how kids are using technology and how technology is abused. So often, I hear asked (or am asked myself), "why is cyberbullying such a problem today? What is different?" The authors answer those questions in such sections as "Why do teens engage in sexting?" and "whom do targets tell about their experiences with cyberbullying?"Besides practical information, this book thoroughly deals with the rights of the school and personnel on a legal, and ethical level. With laws being tabled that are designed to prevent bullying and cyberbullying, this aspect of the field is in the spotlight. With jargon-free chapters, the authors walk us through effective prevention, responses, and policies every educational institution should know and uphold.Many reference books are useful only when needed, i.e. keep it on the shelf and refer to it when you need to know about some specific aspect of your topic. This one - as with its predecessors - is a book one can read, all the way through, and come out at the other end knowing there has been a profound knowledge base achieved. The writing is accessible, the information is imperative for every stakeholder, and the beneficiaries are our children because we are better armed with knowledge on how to best help them when cyberbullying becomes a problem; as you'll learn from this book, and its predecessors, cyberbullying is likely to become a problem for mostly every kid at some point. If it is their problem, it is ours. And it is our responsibility to know how to be there for them with the appropriate answers when we're needed.I recommend this book to everyone - parents, educators (from the support staff, to teachers, principals and guidance counselors), and students. In fact, anyone who cares about the future of our society, who recognizes that technology is here to stay but must be re-examined in terms of how it can be misused, must read "School Climate 2.0"

I really enjoyed School Climate 2.0 by Hinduja and Patchin. I never realized that school climate could so radically change student inclinations to make bad decisions on social media. I enjoyed how the authors paced the book to make the concepts easier to understand. The sections on cyberbullying and sexting were really eye opening. It's hard to believe that teenagers are being labeled sexual predators by sending personal and explicit material to their love interests. However, as the book points out, “How do you distinguish harm that is willful from that which is not willful?”. It's an important principal that does need continued research, as the book advises. This book should be read by every education administrator to help increase the school climate levels in their schools. They will find extremely helpful information on strengthening school climate in the later chapters of the book that can be shared with their teachers, students and parents. Thanks for the important research and great read!