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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Bill Belsey was a tech teacher before there were tech teachers. And earlier this month he gave some Yellowknife high school students a presentation that was, as usual, ahead of the game.

Belsey kicked off St. Pat's Wellness Conference as a keynote speaker on the topic of cyber-bullying and netiquette.

Bill Belsey, who taught technology in Nunavut, speaks to high school students in Yellowknife about cyber-bullying. - photo courtesy of Gerard Landry

"People experiment with their personalities online and a lot of people are starting to get that, including the police," Belsey told students.

Belsey gave many tips to St. Patrick students. Firstly, he warned them not to share password/PIN numbers.

"It's like giving away the keys to your car or house," he said.

He advised students to follow online etiquette, or "netiquette," when exchanging messages. Never send messages when you are angry, he said - and just because you can send messages, it "doesn't mean you should."

Students should have a list of people on Instant Messenger that they really, truly know.

"Only include real friends in social networking sites," Belsey said.

In 1987, Belsey said, he brought the first computer to what is now Nunavut and created the territory's first community access centre a few years later. He made Leo Ussak Elementary school one of the first ever to have its own website. Belsey also taught at Qitiqliq School in Arviat and then Maani Ulujuk high school in Rankin Inlet in the 20 years he lived in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Belsey helped to raise $150,000 and created a state of the art Macintosh computer lab. Belsey also won the privilege of attending the Global Knowledge Conference in 1997 in Toronto with one of his students.

"I use technology endlessly in my teaching and personal life, but it's like the Trojan horse," he said. "Most cyber-bullying happens away from school."

Belsey said he tells his classes and his family that being online is a privilege, not a right.

Belsey said one-third of teens between the ages of 11 and 18 experience cyber-bullying. He gave students these tips: Don't reply to messages from cyber bullies; don't erase messages from cyber bullies; if you are a victim of cyber-bullying, do not keep it to yourself, and speak up if you see friends cyber bullying others; remember that you are not completely anonymous when you are online; and remember that you leave a digital footprint.

"Future employers, colleges and universities are looking at your online profile," Belsey said. "One quarter of colleges, employers and universities preview you online."

Belsey, who now teaches a Grade 5 class at Springbank Middle School in Springbank, near Cochrane, Alta., has its own website, www.coolclass.ca. His students create widgets, have their own television studio, and post their creative writing online.

Aside from teaching, Belsey has spearheaded online projects to inform on and counteract bullying, including bullyingcourse.com, Canada's first online course about bullying for parents and teachers. "Most teachers never really had proper training in bullying," Belsey said.