Week 6

I wasn’t able to attend the Focused Ed Digital Classroom Pro-Ds on the day they were happening, but I caught up on recordings later. One of the recordings I watched and the one I am reflecting on is about Student Cyber Security Awareness from Fortinet. One of the first things I noticed was how there are different lessons for different age groups. This isn’t a catch-all topic, as not all students will be using the Internet in the same way for school and personal purposes, so having different lessons for different ages seems very important.

The teacher guides are extremely in-depth and provide teachers with a wealth of information, resources, and even assessment tools. Having the background reading for teachers equips them to be experts on the topic before they teach, ensuring that teachers who may not know much themselves will be confident in what they are teaching before they have to teach it.

There are also many student activities, and the fact that everything is downloadable to use offline is amazing. I didn’t realize that there would be so many games and activities to do with students based on cybersecurity! When I thought about teaching the topic, I pictured more of a video and a discussion with a class, but these resources really make it so that students have a chance to get involved with the material and absorb it better through participation and hands-on activities.

The lesson plan is detailed and packed with great stuff. I thought it was cool how there was a condensed version of the lesson as well. Adaptations like that are awesome if you don’t have the time to dedicate a full 60-90 minutes to the lesson, but these topics are still so important to share.

The PowerPoints for the different lessons are age-appropriate and engaging. There’s a lot of information and discussion for students to learn new terms. The videos in the presentation are great and funny for kids while teaching important digital literacy skills.

Overall, the Fortinet resources on Cybersecurity were rich resources with everything a teacher would need to implement them in a classroom right now. It makes it easy and accessible to share these topics with students. Cybersecurity is crucial to explain to students, as we are all online in some capacity and need to make sure we are staying protected. I really enjoyed seeing what Fortinet has done for teachers and how Focused Ed is making these resources accessible.