by Timothy King
Teaching Cyber-Education through Simulation and Games
Abstract
This paper outlines the nature of a digital media literacy crisis we find ourselves decades into. It contextualizes the challenges cybersecurity education faces in terms of the many digital mediums that it operates in and will reveal two examples of effective, practical cybersecurity education explored in an action research context, much of it happening through school libraries who remain a key to resolving the digital skills crisis.
Terminology and Definitions
Digital Media Literacy (Media Smarts, n.d.): Digital media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and engage with digital media critically and effectively, building on traditional media literacy while incorporating new concepts specific to digital technologies, with the goal of empowering individuals to navigate and participate responsibly in the digital world.
Digital Divide (NDIA, 2024): the gap between those who have affordable access to technology, skills, and support to effectively engage online and those who do not.
Cybersecurity & Cyber Attacks (Cisco, 2024): cybersecurity is the practice of protecting systems, networks, and programs from digital attacks. Cyberattacks are usually aimed at accessing, changing, or destroying sensitive information; extorting money from users via ransomware; or interrupting normal business processes through networked digital systems.
Cybersecurity Education (Canadian Center for Cyber Security, 2024): a multifaceted approach to building knowledge and skills in cyber defense for individual online safety, protection of national discourse and security of critical infrastructure. User error from digital illiteracy is the cause of a vast majority of successful cyber-attacks and education is essential in prevention.
Timothy King developed a multi-award-winning computer technology program in his rural Ontario high school over twenty years ago. In 2022 he was seconded by the Information & Communication Technology Council (ICTC) to support cyber and technology education nationally, and last year with the Quantum Algorithms Institute developing research on the impact emerging quantum technologies will have on cybersecurity. Married to an award-winning librarian and secretly a writer at heart, Timothy first touched a computer in his middle-school library and is a staunch advocate of LLCs championing digital media literacy.