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We are seeing an old phenomena take a new form during this crisis: #trolls. Also known as #zoombombers these last few weeks. In this thread I will share some history & research and some prevention tips. #connectuniversitiesNL #remoteteaching @UniLeiden @C4Innovation (1/n)
My own background is in history, but also community management, a skill I developed in online roleplaying gaming. This experience helped me to develop community guidelines & troll control for Leiden MOOCs in 2013 and train people in Emoderation. #connectuniversitiesNL (2/n)
Older forms of Trolling, well researched by pscychologists, include flaming in bulletin boards and wikipedia vandalism. Look at references here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaming_(Internet) #remoteteaching #connectuniversitiesNL (3/n)
And a good analysis here: Erin E. Buckles, Paul D. Trapnell, Delroy L. Paulhuys “Trolls just want to have fun” in Personality and Individual Differences (september 2014) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886914000324 #remoteteaching #connectuniversitiesNL (4/n)
Trolling (or plain negativity by haters) is very disruptive in a learning environment. That is because, as neuropsychology teaches us, it triggers our reptilian brain, the survival mechanism of fight or flight (already a problem during a crisis) #connectuniversitiesNL (5/n)
While you are in survival mode, you are not open for learning. That btw goes for teachers as well, something which education support has to keep reminding ourselves of as we push out helpful pedagogy advice. Be kind and generous. #remoteteaching #connectuniversitiesNL (6/n)
In fact, a professor of neuropschology, prof Boyatzis, once told me that a negative message sticks with you 5x stronger than any positive message. Think of how an online community can swirl out of control by just one troll. #remoteteaching #connectuniversitiesNL (7/n)
Do not despair however, the solutions are rather simple. #1 rule of Emoderation is to react with calm rationality. If you get angry, step away from the screen. Keep Calm and drink a cup of tea while you reflect on this. #remoteteaching #connectuniversitiesNL (8/n)
Restore the social contract in your classroom by making the normal rules & mores very explicite in some guidelines beforehand, including prevention against logical fallacies and desinformation. Gently remind students when necessary. #remoteteaching #connectuniversitiesNL (9/n)
Prevent strangers from party crashing your classroom. Check the settings of your tool. Use webinar mode so everybody is automatically muted upon entry and cannot share desktop. Do not share out your link in public, and use a password. #remoteteaching #connectuniversitiesNL (10/n)
You can read why this is important in this recent article in the Guardian on zoombombers. Remember strangers will go quickly from pranking to really vile stuff. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/mar/27/trolls-zoom-privacy-settings-covid-19-lockdown?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard #remoteteaching #connectuniversitiesNL (11/n)
I wrote a toolkit for academics in 2018 on Dealing with Trolling & Hating in social media that still has some use https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/118AhtJxiEu4yvZVtHXqcxmDPswfDBcxAnnuIF8v_DvQ/edit?usp=sharing #remoteteaching #connectuniversitiesNL (12/n)
There is of course more to say about how to create a socially well adapted online community for your students. We will deal with that in our webinar on Onboarding your students which will be online next week. #remoteteaching #connectuniversitiesNL @C4Innovation (13/n)
We will also publish more on Troll Control plans in the coming week. Meanwhile here is the playlist from our YouTube channel from the Emoderation training for volunteers in 2016. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzugOrS2Z8orfJlzUuyE_8hnA4ztRcA9y #remoteteaching #connectuniversitiesNL @C4Innovation (14/n)
