In July 2005, CSIA issued a white paper, "Teaching Children Cyber Security and Ethics," which called for the creation of a national-level endeavor for teaching children K-12 cyber security, ethics and safety. This roundtable series follows up on that paper and is the first step in creating a national cyber awareness campaign to make cyber security, safety and ethics curriculum and other teaching tools easily accessible to all educators, and create a culture of common sense cyber security, safety and ethics to enhance the education and economic opportunities the Internet provides for youth.
"While the Internet provides children with great educational benefits to advance academically, the growing amount of cyber threats we face online cannot be ignored," said Paul Kurtz, executive director of CSIA. "Proper guidance from parents and educators is absolutely critical to teach our youth cyber security, safety and ethics. We hope the result of these roundtable discussions will be a coordinated, national-level cyber awareness program that will help our children and parents understand the importance of a safe online environment."
The focus of the roundtable event included these topics:
- Awareness Initiatives to Promote Cyber Security, Safety and Ethics. To help parents and educators understand the need for a cyber security, safety and ethics curriculum in the classroom, the roundtable participants discussed developing a communications and awareness strategy to inform educators, administrators and parents on the need for these courses in schools. They exchanged ideas on how to create a positive cyber security message for educators, vet awareness messages with educators for their feedback and develop a list of stakeholders that does not just include educators.
- Provide Educators with Tools and Resources. Educators face a number of requirements and curriculum they must teach their students, and this education roundtable worked to develop mechanisms and education tools to help educators incorporate cyber security, safety and ethics into the required curriculum. Participants brainstormed ways to draft curriculum that suites educators' schedules and lesson plans and incorporates cyber security curriculum into the teaching standards process. They also examined ways to communicate with the education community on how to easily access and obtain education material.
- Develop Professional and Policy Tools for Administrators and Educators. Educators and administrators will face roadblocks while incorporating online education in the classrooms as a result of cyber security, safety and ethics issues, and some educators may want professional training. This roundtable discussion explored the idea of providing professional development materials to educators and providing administrators and educators with template acceptable use policies.
