Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D. is the director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use. She has degrees in special education and law, taught “at risk” children, practiced computer law, and was an educational technology consultant before focusing her professional attention on issues of youth risk online and management of student Internet use.
Nancy is author of: Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social Cruelty, Threats, and Distress (2007, Research Press) and Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens, Helping Young People Use the Internet Safety and Responsibly (2007, Jossey Bass). Cyber Savvy: Embracing Digital Safety and Civility (2011, Corwin Press). She has also created two online courses that are presented by Knowledge Delivery Systems, Cyber Savvy: Promoting Students’ Safe and Civil Internet Practice and Empowering Students Against Digital Aggression, Abuse, and Exploitation.
Nancy has been on the cutting-edge in addressing issues related to the impact of digital technologies on youth risk, starting her work in in this area in 1995. In 2000, she testified before the Children’s Online Protection Commission urging an educational approach to address the concerns of youth access to pornography. Her book on cyberbullying was the first book published in the world addressing this critical issue. Several years ago, she initiated ongoing communications between this nation’s leading proponents of a research-grounded, effective, multidisciplinary approach to address youth risk around issues of digital technologies.
To address these concerns, Nancy’s approach places a strong focus on reinforcing positive social norms, strengthening effective skills, empowering helpful allies, and fostering restorative interventions.