By Rob Rashotte, Vice President, Global Training & Technical Field Enablement at Fortinet
Children increasingly use the internet at a young age, making it critical to help them build positive online behaviors and habits and understand the potential risks of being online. Establishing responsible digital practices early on helps students navigate the digital world ethically and effectively, comprehend how to respect others online, and spot and avoid challenges like cyberbullying and misinformation.
Fostering Good Digital Citizenship in the Classroom and Beyond
To support teachers and administrators worldwide in helping students build positive digital habits, Fortinet offers its Security Awareness Curriculum, which teaches fundamental cybersecurity skills to students ages 4 to 18. The program is free for primary and secondary schools (K-12) across North America and the United Kingdom, with additional country availability forthcoming.
The curriculum is divided into the following levels: Rookies (age 4–7), Novices (age 8–11), Specialists (age 12–14), Leaders (age 15–18), and Experts (elective courses for age 15–18).
The program consists of seven “Cyber Strands,” or topic areas. Each strand includes two to four lessons depending on the age group. The strands include:
- Online Presence: Maintain a positive and safe online presence by thinking critically about identity and making mindful choices about sharing content online.
- Digital Safety: Engage in safe and respectful online interactions by recognizing online risks and knowing how to respond to difficult situations.
- Secure Privacy: Protect privacy by safeguarding personal and private information and data.
- Ethical Integrity: Make informed decisions about actions and choices when using technology by understanding the rights, responsibilities, and consequences of online behaviors.
- Digital Impact: Use emerging technologies to improve people’s lives by weighing technology’s positive and negative impact on the world.
- Cybersecurity Landscape: Mitigate risks of cyberattacks by recognizing cyberthreats and bad actors’ tactics.
- Online Information: Explore online content safely and confidently by analyzing data and recognizing reliable and relevant sources.
Lessons designed for Novices are now available to teachers and administrators at no cost through the Fortinet Security Awareness Curriculum. The Novices level introduces core cybersecurity concepts in a way that’s suitable for younger students, laying the groundwork for more complex topics in future grades.
Beyond the strands noted above, the material for this group delves into age-appropriate topics and scenarios that students experience in the real world, such as respecting content creators and digital works, as well as understanding and identifying cyberbullying. Specific lessons include Introducing Cybersecurity, History of Computing Innovations, Building Password Essentials, Online Identity, Recognizing Cyberbullying, Making Sense of Social Media, and Respecting Work Online.
This program was developed for teachers and by teachers to help students build critical digital skills that will help them in the classroom and beyond. Each Novices lesson includes structured talking points to guide teachers in presenting key concepts clearly and effectively, making it easier for students to understand and connect with the material. The lessons are designed to foster collaboration, with material that encourages students to engage in discussions, draw to visualize concepts and write to reflect on or explain what they’ve learned.
Age-Appropriate Training That Addresses Real-World Scenarios
As students everywhere learn to navigate the digital world successfully, they must learn key behaviors and skills to engage effectively online while staying safe. The lessons in the Fortinet Security Awareness Curriculum provide a solid, age-appropriate introduction to digital safety and cybersecurity while encouraging creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration among students.