On Monday this week, the announcement came – one of INN University's applications for Erasmus+ funding has been granted.
Together with several partners in Europe, a course will be developed to improve school curricula and address the lack of standardised training materials for teachers on these topics.
The main goal is to identify specific threats against children and provide teachers with interactive tools to educate youth about these threats.
– A cybersecurity project like this for children is important because it addresses a critical societal challenge that we are all increasingly exposed to. The best prevention against digital threats starts with children, says Karen Parish.
She is an associate professor at the Department of Education at INN University and the university's participant in the project.
Development and testing
It is the University of Liechtenstein that is leading the project. In addition to INN University, the University of Innsbruck is also involved, along with a university in Lithuania and a cybersecurity organisation in the Czech Republic.
The project has received a total of 400,000 euros to work on this for two years. INN University's share is almost NOK 900,000.
The goal is to educate children and youth about cybersecurity and protect them from various digital threats. It also seeks to encourage children to consider cybersecurity as a future career.
INN University will play a central role in developing and testing various educational and training modules.
– Participating in projects like Erasmus+ is important for the university because it strengthens our collaboration with international partners, which enhances the quality of research and its global impact, says Parish.
Increasing cyber awareness
The project will conduct a thorough study to identify the major security threats specific to children, and adapt the skills required to build resilience against these identified threats.
– We will be involved in defining central themes and teaching methods, designing a toolkit for pupils and teachers, and producing the content for implementation. We will also contribute to evaluating the effectiveness of the toolkit in promoting cybersecurity awareness among children, says the university's participant in the project.
Materials for school teachers will also be developed, and the effectiveness of the developed course and modules will be evaluated.
The findings of the project will be made available as open educational resources.
Contact information:
- karen.parish@inn.no
- Phone
- +47 61 28 84 73