Students entering sexually charged phrase in Menti exercise

[aridapricot]

This is a first-year module where I am teaching two guest lectures only this semester. In the second lecture, I gave the students a Mentimeter Wordcloud to see how much they remembered from the first one. The third-largest word ended up being a short phrase that I'd never heard about. I assumed it would be some kind of Internet or regional slang (I am a non-native English speaker, teaching in a region with a strong dialect and regularly encounter phrases I don't understand) entered as a prank. I just said, in a light tone, something like some words didn't seem relevant to the task (there were a couple others which were irrelevant and obviously a prank) and I was therefore not going to comment on them.
Back in the office, I checked the phrase online - turns out it is indeed recent Internet slang, which attempts to mimic the sound that someone would make when spitting on their partner's p*nis during oral sex.
I contacted the module convenor, my line manager and a couple of key L&T contacts about this immediately, they were supportive and confirmed that these kinds of behavioural issues are getting worse and the university is tightening up the behavioural policy and code of conduct.
I have had people playing pranks on Menti in the past, and really I think it's their prerogative as adults to not engage with course content if they don't want to (all is ask is that they aren't disruptive and that they don't expect me to spoon-fed them content they've chosen to miss). I hesitate between thinking this is such a prank gone wrong, from obviously immature individuals, and that me going to my line manager is overkill, and thinking that this is inacceptable in a university context and that everyone at university should have the right to teach and learn without being faced with gratuitous and uncalled for sexual content. Making sexual comments to others is also regarded as sexual harrassment by my university.
I am in the position that apart from being a contributor to this module I am also HoD. Initially I thought of issuing a very generic message to the whole department, reminding them of behavioural expectations and keeping it low key, but now I think that I need to address the issue directly and firmly, and making it clear to students that such behaviour is completely inappropriate and I am not minded to tolerate it in my department (obviously the culprits cannot really be punished or identified as Menti is anonymous).
What would you do?

making it clear to students that such behaviour is completely inappropriate and I am not minded to tolerate it in my department

This.

For additional context, to decide your response this isn't well-established sexual slang, it's a very recent viral joke. The fact that it's sexual in origin is probably secondary to the fact that it's this season's comedy phrase. Next month it might be "very demure". A few years ago it would have been "wordy mcword face".

Scumbags.

I would tell them that if you trace any individuals making inappropriate content and it may result in suspension as the university has zero tolerance for it. I would also say that making contributions designed to intimidate or harass a lecturer is pretty base behaviour and they might need to reflect on what kind of character they want to be in the world.

It might make them think twice.

We don’t use this technology in undergrad classes for this reason.

I assume it's Hawk Tuah, they probably don't even realise it's sexual in origin it's just the newest viral joke. Same as "Whatta those" a few years ago, "Very demure" over the next few months, "skibidi toilet" in Primary schools.

Just assert your boundaries again. If you know who did it a quiet word in their ear so that they know it isn't as anonymous as they thought. Anonymity gives me false bravado they would never usually have

I had this a week or two ago. Final year undergrads, and I teach in a business school where it's drummed into them that they are expected to behave as if they're in the workplace in terms of professionalism. Multiple slightly risque terms and then one that I had to google afterwards and was flat out disgusting.

I stopped the lecture and told them it was inappropriate, and that we expect them to behave like the adults they are. If I had understood the worst term I would have explained that in in the workplace if could be considered a disciplinary issue. The following week I removed the word cloud slide I'd intended to use and forced them to actually answer out loud and explained why.

No more word clouds, I'll stick with MCQs.

Another cohort answered the same question without incident a few days later, and unsurprisingly with better answers too.

Absolute children.

Last year I had a few answers along the lines of "This is boring" and they got a similar lecture about how they were there by choice and if they weren't enjoying the course they were welcome to leave.

Can IT not trace who said that.

And they get a specific warning message about use of x word. (Like an auto generated warning)

Our menti use just stuck to poll questions.

I wouldn't have thought so, they're answering from their personal phones without logging in or anything (we use vevox not menti, maybe it's different).

Obviously this is not acceptable behaviour.

But here's a couple of suggestions to avoid it would be to use menti for polls, multiple choice, knowledge gauge but not open ended answers such as word clouds, and don't share the results live on screen. Also you can exclude certain words and phrases but you probably had no idea this one would come up.

Menti is an excellent tool for making content more interactive and dynamic but needs to be used cautiously and guage the audience.

I’ve used Menti for years and never had any problems like this at all—across hundreds of students.

Apologies if that sounds boastful. I’m just grateful to work at a university where students are mostly hard working and responsible.

I teach two different cohorts. Like I say, very different experiences with both!

Avoid giving them the platform to post open text anonymously and explain expectations of behaviour.

You can moderate these live can't you? Although it will slow it down of course and be boring while everyone waits for you to moderate each comment.

I would just avoid using them and tell everyone why and instead you will be calling on people by name and expect them to answer. The students will all hate the perpetrator.

I have had this problem and have stopped using Menti. It feels like a form of intimidation. I'm sure the culprits are aware that it's inappropriate which is why they do it. They enjoy using that power.

I need to address the issue directly and firmly, and making it clear to students that such behaviour is completely inappropriate and I am not minded to tolerate it in my department

Absolutely. If they did this in a workplace, it would be a disciplinary matter.

But what you’re facing is the typical sexism and racism meted out to women who are identifiably not British. Remember that big meta study of students’ assessments of teaching? Researchers concluded that surveys of teaching are better indicators of students’ sexist and racist prejudices than of academics’ teaching.

Agree with this response.
It will have caused discomfort to other students in the room as well. If you have a code of professional behaviour or dignity policy, I would also cite that.

Allowing unmoderated posting of anonymous comments is not a good idea. I'm aware of a case where racist comments were posted, leading to a lengthy investigation and legal issues.

i think you are taking it too seriously. i'm guessing you are talking about the ku tah thing. 18-21 year olds are just big kids. i certainly wouldn't have approached a line manager about it

They're adults and OP is at work. It's not acceptable behaviour in the classroom.

If they had done this at school there would be consequences. If they go on to do this in the workplace there would be consequences.

There should, therefore, be consequences now.

@BarbaraHoward very young adults. We know from research that brains are not fully developed and full maturity isn't reached until much later.
I would just ignore. This viral thing was absolutely everywhere (i have teenagers at home) and got to the point where wasn't sexual anymore it was just a "cool" thing to say.

I expect my students to behave as adults In the workplace, and that is what is expected of our School in general.

At that age, plenty of young people actually are in the workplace. Their employers certainly aren't making endless excuses for them until they are 25 or so in the way that some parents seem to do.

I also wonder if this would have happened if the OP wasn't female. I doubt a male lecturer would have to deal with this. There's been a shift in beahaviour in the last couple of years where we've noticed some really vile attempts from students to undermine female lecturers.