Introduction
The teacher’s guide is designed to equip educators with the necessary tools to use the materials effectively. It is recommended to read the guide before using the material.
The complete educational material comprises dilemmas and a series of challenges that can be supplemented as needed. The dilemmas are executed through a digital toolbox, while the challenges, due to their more comprehensive nature, are carried out using physical means.
The ambition has been to create a resource that is easily accessible and flexible, so it can be used both as a quick plug-and-play element if you only have 30 minutes, or expanded over several hours to provide structure for an entire theme day.
It is important to talk about gender-based violence online because gender is a topic that generally interests young people, and many young people experience discrimination based on gender. “Gender-based violence (GBV) online is a type of GBV that happens through technology and the Internet. People or groups use digital communication to harm others based on their gender or other characteristics, such as sexual orientation, appearance etc.
GBV mostly affects females, transgender, and gender non-conforming people, and to some extent, men and boys. This online harm can take many different forms, can connect with other discriminations, and can affect many aspects of the victim’s life.”
The Toolbox has been developed throughout 2024 in close collaboration between the Center for Digital Youth Care (Denmark), Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (Greece), Child Focus (Belgium), and European Schoolnet (Belgium) as part of menABLE – Empower Manpower against gender-based violence online, a twenty-four-month project (February 2023 – January 2025) co-funded by the European Commission, whose primary objective is to combat gender-based violence online by fostering mutual awareness, tolerance, and respect.
Benefits and Learning Outcomes
The aim of the material is to enhance students’ understanding of the unfortunate, difficult, and unpleasant experiences one can have online, and to increase their reflection on how they can act to protect themselves and each other. Additionally, the ambition is for students to become more aware of their own biases when discussing gender. Specifically, the material is designed to build:
- A nuanced understanding of how different expectations and prejudices are associated with different genders.
- A nuanced understanding of how gender-based violence online manifests and affects young people’s lives differently.
- Reflective skills regarding how to avoid expressing gender discrimination.
- Actionable skills for analysing potential gender-discriminatory online situations and making an informed decision on how to react.
Structure of the Teaching Material
The material broadly comprises two types of content:
Dilemmas
These are presented as first-person case studies where the class or group acts as an advice “board”, discussing and providing guidance on how the young person could act. Accompanying these dilemmas are some guiding questions designed to initiate discussion and address relevant aspects.
All dilemmas in this material are fictional but are inspired to varying degrees by real queries from children and young people. The dilemmas are crafted and selected to ensure a wide variation in the profile, age, and themes of the sender.
You will find a comprehensive guide to all dilemmas in Educator’s Guide to Dilemmas.
Challenges
These are interactive tasks that students can work on in groups. While the dilemmas have a uniform structure, the challenges are more diverse and require more preparation from the teacher and time for the students to complete. Therefore, the specific teacher guides for the challenges are more detailed.
Each challenge will have a specific “one-pager” containing relevant aspects, questions, and considerations linked specifically to the challenge. These can be found in the section titled “Getting started” under the four main themes. The material is designed to be used in various ways and does not require significant preparation or time to implement in its simplest form. However, there is ample opportunity to expand the material over several lessons.
Basic Usage of the Material
- Short version: If you have 30-60 minutes, the simplest way to use the material is to play the online dilemma game. Alternatively, you could spend the time on a single challenge, although challenges require more preparation from you as the teacher.
- Extended version: If you have at least 60 minutes – preferably longer – you can benefit from both types of material. For example, students could first spend 30-45 minutes on the online dilemma game and then spend 30-60 minutes on one or two challenges.
Dilemmas as a Foundation
Dilemmas have great didactic value because they invite discussion about different ways to act in a given situation. A dilemma forces students to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and consider how that person can most appropriately resolve the dilemma they are facing. Dilemmas can be conducted with adult supervision or by the students themselves.
Use of Images
The images associated with the dilemmas are generated by AI using the platform Gencraft and do not depict real people. The style is chosen because it is realistic enough to add an element of visual information to the dilemma (e.g., expressive facial expressions) without using images or elements of real people.
Reading Guide for Dilemmas
Each dilemma will be presented with the following information:
- Theme: Indicates the theme associated with the dilemma.
- Title: Each dilemma has a title that describes its content. Additionally, age and gender of the main character will be provided.
- Dilemma: The dilemma as it will be presented to the students.
- Discussion Prompts: Each dilemma features questions intended as a guide for both teachers and students on how to approach the dilemma.
In the digital version of the dilemmas, some will have a supplementary element that pops up automatically when participants move to the next dilemma. These can include:
- A quiz question aimed at providing students with factual knowledge about unpleasant online experiences and how peers typically handle them.
- A poll that students can conduct after discussing the dilemma. The poll collects answers from all who have played the game, highlighting broader trends and opinions among young people across the country, not just within the individual class or group.
- Information about legislation relevant to the specific theme of the dilemma, or a reference pointing students to where they can find help for specific issues.
Getting started
Necessary Equipment
The only equipment you need to utilise the menABLE Toolbox is a computer with internet access and a projector or smartboard. The classroom presentation does not require the installation of specific programs. With a computer or phone, you can open the presentation anywhere. Individual parts of the materials work best if you can print them for analogue use in the classroom.
Specific Thematic Paths
It is not necessary to go through all the dilemmas in order. You can approach the material with the desire to delve into more specific themes, as exemplified in the following four paths:
- Stereotypes
Dilemmas 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, and 15 all focus on situations where stereotypes about gender, identity, and sexuality are significant and affect relationships and online interactions. If you want to work further with stereotypes, you can supplement these dilemmas with the challenge “Who Said What,” which focuses on how we often judge experiences, statements, and relationships based on specific values, norms, and traits we attribute to a certain gender, or the challenge “Stereotypes,” which emphasises how we all, to varying degrees, assess ourselves and each other based on different stereotypes. - Sharing of content
Dilemmas 7, 9, 14, 16, 18, 21, 27 and 29 revolve around situations where content sharing is central. In these eight dilemmas, students work from the perspectives of the victim, the perpetrator, and the bystander. This can be supplemented with the challenge “Options for Action and Consequences,” where students explore the possible actions one can take as a bystander to online gender-based violence and examine the effects of these actions. - Gaming
Dilemmas 4, 10, 11, 12, 28 and 30 are all based on situations where gaming and gaming culture are essential parts of the dilemma. These dilemmas can be supplemented with the challenge “The Art of the Hate-Free Insult,” where students work on alternative ways to express frustration or anger, for example, in a gaming context, without targeting gender, identity, sexuality, ethnicity, etc. - Debate Culture
Dilemmas 2, 13, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26 all focus on how we talk to and with each other online, especially when we disagree. These dilemmas can be supplemented with the challenge “Moderator Team,” where students take on the role of moderators in a comment thread, or “Make your own meme” where participants create their own meme that can be used as a counter narrative when someone attacks another person on the basis of their gender.
Respectful Discussion – with the Right to Different Opinions
Discussions about gender and gender identity can quickly become polarised, which can make teaching very sensitive and difficult to manage. The material strives for an open pedagogical approach, where it is okay to have different opinions. The material aims to show that there are both legal and moral boundaries, but it is also important to create room for the emotions that can cause strong opinions.
At the same time, the material intentionally emphasises grey areas rather than examples that unequivocally illustrate online gender-based violence. This way, it is largely up to the students to discuss the considerations involved in the specific dilemmas and how to balance them meaningfully.
Creating a safe space
In the classroom, there will often be references to internet personalities or events that can support and explain why the debate about gender-based violence can be very polarised. As a teacher, you do not need to know all the examples of influencers with opinions on gender and equality, but you should facilitate discussions to create a safe atmosphere. Read through the dilemmas so you can identify which ones have the potential to evoke the most feelings and debate, allowing you to prepare for how you will handle the discussion.
- Be conscious of individual students or groups at particular risk during discussions of gender-based violence so you can prepare to ensure their safety.
- Be very clear that agreement is not a goal in itself. On the contrary, one of the main objectives is to make room for diversity and disagreement.
- Define the boundaries of what can and cannot be discussed, and collectively set boundaries for how you think it is okay to react to each other’s statements and opinions.
- Introduce the students to online gender-based violence and the purpose of working with the topic. It can be helpful to explain the key concepts and definitions. Suggestions for warm-up challenges follow in the next section.
- It is important to conclude the work and the potentially sensitive conversations on a positive note. Acknowledge the students’ courage to participate in the discussions and share one or two positive experiences you take away from the work. Invite the students to share their positive takeaways as well.
Warm-up challenges
To establish a common starting point, a warm-up challenge can be used to focus on what online gender-based violence can be. The material includes two different warm-up challenges, each of which can help participants tune into the overall theme.
In the challenge “What is Gender-Based Violence?” students reflect on what online gender-based violence is and how it differs from other forms of hate speech, based on a series of fictional statements. The challenge takes 15-30 minutes.
An alternative challenge, based on the participants’ own experiences, is “Gender-Based Violence Online Bingo,” which increases students’ awareness of how often, in what contexts, and in which ways they experience online gender-based violence in their daily lives. The challenge takes 15-30 minutes.
Educator’s Guide to Dilemmas
This document is a support for you as an educator when preparing or working with the individual dilemma, with the reason behind the individual dilemma and any special points to be aware of when going through them. Special attention points include terminology you might be unfamiliar with or any legal intricacies relevant to the question at hand.