Project Description
The EnCycLEd Erasmus+ Project aims to promote digital readiness in cybersecurity, resilience and capacity-building in educational institutions. To achieve this, the project will promote cybersecurity literacy and awareness. It focuses on training students, schoolteachers and other teaching professions to develop key digital skills and competences.
Special focus is given to promote interconnected educational systems in Europe with cybersecurity awareness and training at High Schools, Vocational Schools, as well as at university courses, especially the ones related to the formation of future teachers. The project results are planned to go beyond the project’s educational partners, taking effect also via interactions with the vast existing network of associated institutions of the partners.
The EnCycLEd consortium benefits from the diverse and profound experience of higher education partners, professional schools and associations in the topic areas of cybersecurity and didactics. The project counts with cybersecurity expertise coming from European Universities (UIBK in Austria and HU in Germany) and from a cybersecurity Association (UACS in Ukraine), supported by two other Universities (UoM in Greece and SET Univ. in Ukraine) to develop and test the training materials and school curricula. Two SME project partners (AC in Malta and REACH in Austria) will respectively cater for the development of the project’s digital platform and the project’s dissemination and network-building. EnCycLEd will devote main efforts on interacting and piloting its developments in cooperation with two European Schools (in Greece and in Austria) and with two Ukrainian Educational Institutions (a University dedicated to the formation of teachers and a Vocational School).
Another important aspect of the EnCycLEd project is to enable cooperation with Ukrainian counterparts, in this way supporting the interaction between Ukraine and other European cross-borders education and training systems, as well as promoting sustainable levels of digital readiness in cybersecurity. The approach taken by the project will leverage existing European educational systems with the Ukrainian system, by means of trainings to be used at Universities, High-Schools and Vocational School courses, focusing on cybersecurity issues, responding to the Ukrainian needs with the current war situation, as well as safeguarding comprehensive European protection in this area.
The main Objectives of EnCycLEd are the following:
- To increase schoolteachers’ and students’ awareness of cybersecurity threats, opportunities and readiness levels in Europe, supporting digital security readiness, resilience and capacity development in cybersecurity, including by promoting cybersecurity studies and careers. To achieve this, scientific papers will be written as well as a Careers and Study Pathways Guide. In addition, a Personal Cybersecurity Assessment Tool will be provided.
- To support mainstreaming cybersecurity in education with a bidirectional approach involving both teachers’ and students’ training and interactive activities. Those will teach them basic and simple ways to protect themselves and their relatives, as well as empowering them to become cybersecurity advocates and community influencers. This will be made possible by releasing a teachers training toolkit as well as a set of video tutorials, podcasts and interviews with industry representatives.
- To provide a safe online environment for sharing resources, experiences and lessons learned in cybersecurity, as well as for allowing interactions and activities among teachers and students across Europe. This will be achieved with the development of a digital educational platform, including digital tools and a resources repository.
- To support the mutual learning and development of core life and digital competences in cybersecurity between school-teachers and students across different European countries, via piloting the developed training materials, tools, resources and platform with local educational institutions.
- To build a Network for Educational Cybersecurity Awareness, including students, teachers and education policy-makers, to maximize the project’s outreach and impact at European and International levels and instill core skills and competences for digital resilience and safety in the society. This will be achieved via the communication & dissemination activities planned for EnCycLEd, involving social media engagement, and the multiplier events.
WP1
Project Management
Qualitative assessment and monitoring approach based on predefined milestones and performance indicators.
WP2
Development of Educational
Content on Cybersecurity
Analysis and development of educational content on cybersecurity including presentations, workshops, and interactive sessions.
WP3
EnCycLEd Platform
Creation of a safe online platform for pooling and sharing educational resources on cybersecurity issues.
WP4
Piloting and Assessment
Piloting of innovative educational cybersecurity curricula to strengthen awareness and overall protection in a sustainable way.
WP5
Dissemination
Reporting and promotion of the results of all the project work packages by means of a sustainable dissemination strategy.