Gateway for Girls to become Women in Cybersecurity
Women still fall short in terms of total participation in STEM industries, but not for lack of talent. Women have outnumbered men in college registration for some time, and there is finally a project that considers and builds upon this fact. The Cyber Warrior Princess (CWP) project (started by girls AND guys, actually) focuses on educating girls from grades 6 to 12 on the wonders of cybersecurity.
CWP innovated in the market for learning management systems by providing a “lab in a box” that can be easily moved where it is needed. Providing an incredibly adaptable interface to students, its mode of learning is also unique in its opportunities for collaboration. CWP students work together, not against each other, to achieve a new understanding in cybersecurity.
This innovation was recognized by the National CyberWatch Center. The CWP won the Innovation in Cybersecurity Education Award over many worthy competitors.
The real innovation in CWP training is the way that it leverages young girls’ interest in online gaming (the Guardian reports that female video game consumers actually outnumber males). Cybersecurity is introduced to students in terms of their everyday lives, not as an esoteric, hidden discipline. In short, CWP shows girls that cybersecurity is already all around them. Once the concept is no longer foreign, it will become natural for women to take their places in the future of the industry.
If you want to learn more about the CyberHer educational program, read page 7 of National CyberWatch Center’s Innovations in Cybersecurity Education.
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FULL SUBMISSION (pg. 7 in National CyberWatch Center’s Innovations in Cybersecurity Education):
CYBER WARRIOR PRINCESS CYBERHER EDUCATION FOR GIRLS
The research is overwhelming; there are not enough women in STEM, and speci cally the cybersecurity eld. Long enough had we sat back reading article after article and reviewing the research, so we decided to do something about it! Thus, the Cyber Warrior Princess (CWP) project was born! Some [really] smart women, and a few guys, got together and created this program, which uses a blended training environment and innovative, interactive learning material designed to educate girls from 6th-12th grades in cybersecurity by encouraging their strengths, comfortability, and con dence! CWP teamed with the Dayton Regional STEM School to create the rst Chapter of Cyber Warrior Princess and the results were astonishing!
Students are introduced to cybersecurity in a way that leverages online gaming, art, and collaborative group research. We learned very quickly in our rst pilot year that the students thrived when we related cybersecurity to their everyday lives, which have been immersed with technology since young ages. By doing this, the students felt like they were in control, and even more so, having fun, being creative, and engaging with one another – which is just what the cybersecurity career eld needs: innovative thinkers, collaboration to ward off our adversaries, and a workforce who’s excited for the challenges our nation and private sector industries face daily. Our goal is to be a community-driven, freely available platform, and we have created a community in which other organizations are encouraged to add modules to our Learning Management System (LMS), which can be made available to every participant and contributor.
CWP provides the exibility and adaptability to work in a multitude of different environments. We have schools where students do not have internet connectivity and lab space, so we have developed an online lab environment that can be provided to the schools as a “lab-in- a-box” solution to be used locally. Pikes Peak Community College has partnered with us to provide a summer camp for girls in Colorado Springs, leveraging our program and adding their own speci c curriculum. That curriculum will be added to the CWP program and made available to other users – a tremendous bene t of our open and free LMS.
BENEFITS:
The CWP program provides free curriculum to schools, public centers, such as libraries, parents, and even to students directly; to be leveraged however best suited for their environment. Although the material has been created with a female student in mind, there are no restrictions to only female participants. This non-competitive, collaborative learning mode was created as a gateway into learning about the fundamentals of cybersecurity, while exploring the various career opportunities it provides.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Rebecca Onuskanich
ronuskanich@cyberwarriorprincess.org (813) 416-0361
Sinclair Community College
TRANSFERABLE:
Yes, this innovation is transferable to other institutions.
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