Tumultuous times
In cybersecurity education as everywhere else, nobody is having the summer they wanted this year. Summer camps have been postponed or, at best, contorted, conferences cancelled or moved online, and planning for the fall is a mess. With diminished or even no ability to gather in person, educators are scrambling to develop and deliver learning content via virtual, remote, or otherwise constrained contact with students.
Adapting to change
To help meet this new, urgent need for materials that suit such varied circumstances, we have spent the spring developing CyberCAP, our new cybersecurity career awareness and confidence program for middle and high school students. CyberCAP is flexible, cost-effective, and high-quality cybersecurity learning suitable for summer camps, the regular school year, or any other kind of program to get kids interested in the field.
To create CyberCAP, we integrated content, learning activities, and guidance for educators across three related publications, each of them either updated or altogether new.
CyberCAP includes our updated Career Guide and Student Workbook plus a brand new Teacher’s Guide.
Why cybersecurity?
There are three great reasons for introducing students to cybersecurity career options.
The field serves a vital social need that can appeal to students’ service impulses.
Learning about the field reinforces best online safety practices in students’ own online lives.
Career prospects are rewarding and varied, appealing and open to students of diverse backgrounds and academic interests.
CyberCAP puts educators in position to illustrate these points in engaging, relevant fashion. The program is designed for use in remote or virtual learning programs, in-person settings, or combined approaches of any kind. Students could use the Career Guide in a classroom setting, do Student Workbook activities at home, and explore results and further topics with instructors using the Teacher’s Guide in discussions held in person or online. CyberCAP also supports learning standards in cybersecurity set out by the Computer Science Teachers Association.
Social benefit
COVID-19 has changed much in the world. But it hasn't changed the need for us to continue building students' awareness and interest in cybersecurity careers. If anything, this need is greater now – the online attack surface has only grown with working and learning from home so much more a part of our lives. We need the best and the brightest, of diverse backgrounds and interests, putting their talents to work on all facets of the cybersecurity enterprise.
Individual imperative
Learning about cybersecurity can benefit all students, even if they would not consider actually working in the field. Understanding, for example, how cybersecurity systems work to keep them safe online can help students align their own online behaviors with best safety practices. Investigating the chances of their own personal data being compromised or how long it would take a hacker to crack their passwords drives home the importance of vigilant, strong online security habits.
Great career
Cybersecurity careers offered great prospects for growth and compensation even before pandemic times. Now, the pace of moving work, school, and home life online is almost sure to accelerate. And cybersecurity jobs will only increase in conjunction with this trend. Showing students the full range of skills and interests that people in the field bring to cybersecurity work is key. The field offers opportunities far beyond just technical work – business, law, education, policy, psychology, and many other disciplines offer paths of entry into cybersecurity work.
Flexible approach, individualized results
CyberCAP puts educators in a position to highlight all these facets of cybersecurity work – the breadth of the need, the relevance to individuals’ lives, and the range of opportunities available to students of all backgrounds and interests. The program works equally well for individual or group instruction. Upon completing the program, students interested in the field will understand their aptitudes for the work and possess an individualized plan for pursuing further educational and career options.
If you’re interested
There’s lots more to learn about CyberCAP. For many students, a career in cybersecurity is possible if they can find the right pathway into the field and develop the confidence to step onto it. Even without training in the field, educators can use CyberCAP to inspire this confidence in students of all backgrounds and interests.
Eric Iversen is VP for Learning and Communications at Start Engineering. He has written and spoken widely on STEM education and related careers. You can write to him about this topic, especially when he gets stuff wrong, at eiversen@start-engineering.com.
You can also follow along on Twitter @StartEnginNow.
Our Cybersecurity Career Guide shows middle and high schoolers what cybersecurity is all about and how they can find the career in the field that’s right for them. Now with a Student Workbook for classroom or afterschool use!
To showcase STEM career options, pair our cybersecurity books with the updated, 2019 edition of our Engineering Career Guide.
We’ve also got appealing, fun engineering posters and engaging books for PreK-2 and K-5.
Our books cover the entire PreK-12 range. Get the one that’s right for you at our online shop.