Experiential Learning Programs
Online Range Readiness and Reach Programs
To develop cybersecurity competence in the next generation of Virginians, the Commonwealth has created courses to be taught in the K-12 system. A major problem at this point is the lack of basic cybersecurity knowledge among K-12 teachers and the lack of familiarity of the teachers in the K-12 system with using the technology necessary to utilize the Cyber Range. Supported by the CCI Southwest Virginia Node, Radford University’s Department of Information Technology will develop modules intended for K-12 teachers, community college faculty, and practitioners to develop competence in both the operating system and cybersecurity basics necessary to incorporate cybersecurity topics into K-12 classes and the required technical competence to more fully utilize Virginia’s Cyber Range.
Cyber Range Bootcamps
The CCI Southwest Virginia Node will host a cybersecurity bootcamp for Virginia high school teachers and community college faculty who will be teaching cybersecurity classes to better prepare them. Of the approximately 200 Virginia high schools using the cyber range right now, very few of them have fully qualified cybersecurity teachers. Most schools are making do with teachers who normally teach something else (computer science, math, business IT, etc.). The Cyber Range will train 20 - 25 teachers who attend this residential camp each summer. Participants in the past were paid a small stipend and travel. The courseware and infrastructure is available in the Cyber Range.
2020 Virginia Cybersecurity Workshop
In 2020, CCI supported the Virginia Cybersecurity Workshop, hosted by the Virginia Cyber Range. The Commonwealth Cyber Initiative and the Virginia Cyber Range will host an online workshop to support Virginia secondary school teachers and Virginia Community College instructors who teach cybersecurity topics. Instruction will focus on core cybersecurity topics such as cryptography, networking, and an introduction to the Linux command line, along with discussions of ethics, cybersecurity careers, and emerging topics such as 5G. Hands-on labs using the Virginia Cyber Range will demonstrate the topics and how they can be taught in your school. The two-week (half-day for 9 days) workshop will culminate with a Capture-the-Flag competition. Attendees receive 3.0 CEUs, a book, and other surprise items. Fifty teachers and instructors are expected to attend this workshop.
Cyber Curriculum Alignment
The Northern Virginia Node is working with its partners to build capacity for a cyber-capable workforce. This includes enhancing and aligning the existing academic curricula of the NoVa Node academic partners with NoVa Node industry-identified skills, the NICE workforce framework, and existing and projected practices, in order to create pathways that bridge the gap between education and jobs; exploring and aligning industry certification if possible with credit bearing coursework and ensure dual enrolment and transfer between community colleges and 4-year institutions; and developing where possible, ways to enable credits for prior work and ensure credit transfer between institutions. In the spring of 2020, the NoVA Node leadership developed and distributed a survey to examine critical needs of industry in cyber workforce development.
Highschool Summer Camp for CyberAI
Northern Virginia Node will support a new summer camp designed to offer Virginia high school students the opportunity to learn about artificial intelligence and its increasingly important role in protecting our nation. The syllabus and activities developed will be made available to all schools in the Northern Virginia CCI node area, through a two-day orientation session and extensive dissemination of the resources. Recruitment will focus on diversity, including female participation.
High School Internship Preparedness
The Northern Virginia Node is developing a two-week Professional Development Orientation program, to be offered as the start of a 10-week high school cybersecurity summer intern program. High school students will be able to apply for cybersecurity internships offered by CCI partners and other cybersecurity firms through the CCI internship portal embedded in the CCI NoVa Node website (under development). Students who receive an offer of a summer internship will be required to take the 2 week Professional Development Orientation at the CSC
Graduate Student Experiential Learning
The Coastal Virginia Node is connecting cybersecurity graduate students with students enrolled in community colleges or four-year institutions without graduate programs. Graduate students will be made available to serve as mentors or instructors in those institutions seeking graduate student support.
Curricula Development for Cyber Range and Coursework
To encourage utilization of the Cyber Range and curricula development across the node, Coastal Virginia Node is providing support to faculty members seeking to develop cybersecurity curricula. Faculty will be encouraged to identify gaps in existing curricula and propose strategies to fill those gaps. Workshops promoting the Cyber Range and curricula development will be held across the node institutions. Faculty receiving support will be expected to share their curricula with others in the Commonwealth.
Community College Outreach and Bridge Programs
VCU is expanding a successful program that provides research experiences to high school and community college students, where students continue in engineering programs throughout the region. As a node, it will enable early instruction of CCI-related topics. In addition, working with community college partners, the Central Virginia Node will develop bridge programs for students who are interested in continuing their education at the Central Virginia Node’s four-year institutions.
Career Services Expansion
The Central Virginia Node is investing in support and advising students to expand the cyber workforce. The UVA Career Center is expanding their successful spring break externship program. This program partners with Virginia companies to place students in 1-5 day externships. This program exposes students to career options and opportunities and frequently results in internship offers for the student as a result of these brief visits. The VCU Engineering Career Services designating personnel to promote CCI related activities including internship, co-op and full time job opportunities. In collaboration with our industry partners VCU Engineering Career services is planning a career workshop and career day specifically targeting CCI related areas.