Cyber Awareness & Safety Education Curriculum

The objective of Cyber Safety’s Internet safety curriculum is for students to develop a deeper understanding of the dangers of the Internet and inappropriate online behavior thus making the connection between online actions and consequences of those actions. While students gain a keener understanding through the initial student presentation, this 4 session course pushes the students to the next level of learning.  They will engage in active learning techniques to personalize the topics covered.

The Internet safety curriculum utilizes a pretest to assess the students’ current understanding of the material to be covered. The instructor uses this information to tailor the course to increase its effectiveness. What we have learned in administering numerous Internet safety curriculum to middle school and high school children, is that students need to connect the instruction with their own unique experiences for it to truly sink in. Traditional presentation styles in which an instructor lectures to a class is not 100% effective. To connect the dots, they need to understand why Internet safety is important to THEM. The majority of material is delivered using a student-centered approach to learning. While the instructor is an authority figure, the students play an equally active role in this course. The instructor’s primary role is to coach and facilitate student learning and overall understanding of the material. The material is taught through a number of different activities: videos, case studies, small and large group discussions, and small group projects. An end of course test is given to measure the students’ mastery of the material.  This can also be used by the school to record a grade for an ‘Internet safety’ unit of the class. The Internet safety curriculum consists of 4 independent classes with each class building on the previous class and continually reinforcing the information presented. The topics covered include:

• Session 1: Cyber bullying
• Session 2: Appropriate online behavior
• Session 3: Internet predators
• Session 4: Over exposure

A typical session lasts for approximately 45 minutes but can be adapted to the length of a typical class period as necessary.  

Course Information

Course Instructor

Liz Repking Author