As technology has become pervasive across K-12 schools and classrooms, so too has become the cybersecurity imperative. K-12 school systems face a disproportionate impact from cybersecurity attacks. Educators are often on the front lines, often unknowingly. Bad actors are increasingly penetrating digital school systems to hack sensitive staff and student data, hold that data for ransom, and otherwise create chaos that threatens instruction and operations. In response, this course is designed to support K-12 educators in understanding and responding to those threats.

*NOTE: This course is not intended as a compliance course, or as an alternative to cybersecurity courses required by your school, district/board, or state/provincial agency. Instead, this course is designed to provide you with background knowledge enabling you to be a stronger guardian of cybersecurity in your classroom and for your students.

Course Description

This course on K-12 cybersecurity addresses a critical need for today’s educators. The increasing use of technology provides additional opportunities for bad actors to penetrate digital school systems, hack sensitive data, hold that data for ransom and otherwise threaten the ability of schools to operate.

Participants will learn about cybersecurity threats, breach mitigation practices, as well as certain underlying principles. Interactive activities will help you assess and improve your understanding. Embedded and referenced resources will support you and your school in evaluating and creating an action plan specific to your classroom needs.

The course synthesizes the extensive body of knowledge to prepare K-12 educators to respond to the most likely threats and adopt most essential practices, while curating additional practices and resources. This course will serve as an important resource to support your individual learning and your classroom’s practice enhancement to reduce the risk/impact of an attack and breach.

Audience

This course is designed specifically for K-12 classroom educators. The course provides a primer with a scaffolded learning approach and linked resources that can support deeper learning no matter your prior knowledge. Cybersecurity can be overwhelming for the uninitiated. This course highlights the most important concepts and practices for K-12 educators, while curating expert and authoritative third-party resources so you can exit the course with a plan for extended learning and classroom improvement. Whatever your technical skills and prior knowledge, this interactive and actionable course is designed to help grow both your individual and system abilities.

Course Details