A Comparative Study of Cyber bullying among Online and Conventional Students of Higher Education Institutions in Pakistan

Author(s) : Munawar S. Mirza1, Sameen Azmat2 & Sania Zahra Malik3

Abstract:

Information and communication technologies (ICT) have become a part of daily activities in the higher education institutions. The use of these technologies has become not only a necessity for students and other people, its use is growing at a rapid pace. The academic use of ICT is the necessity for online students. The students of conventional universities are also using these technologies for various purposes. These digital modes are also being used for bullying known as cyber bullying which is making its way into the higher education institutions as well. The purpose of this survey research was to compare the cyberbullying experiences of online and conventional universities’ students, and to explore gender differences in such experiences. A self-developed questionnaire was used to collect data. The population of the study consisted of all students (1809) enrolled in Spring Semester 2019 at the Institute of Education and Research, University of the Punjab as conventional participants whereas, all students (1139) enrolled in the Department of Education, Virtual University of Pakistan as online participants. Sample was selected using random sampling technique. It was found that more than 58.7% of the students had experienced cyber bullying in different forms. Exclusion and Flaming were the two topmost forms of cyberbullying. It was more common among the students of conventional university as compared with their counterparts in the virtual university. Impersonation was the least prevalent form of cyberbullying. No significant differences were observed between the experiences of male and female students.

Key words: Cyber bullying, Online learning, Conventional learning, Internet, Technology