Be a CyberHero! Free Cybersecurity Resources

Be a CyberHero! 

Help us increase Online Safety through Free Cybersecurity Resources (Lesson Plans and Textbooks) for Middle and High School Teachers and Students at Miami-Dade. 

The goal of this fundraiser is to provide free textbooks, cybersecurity resources and lesson plans to middle and high school teachers and students in Miami-Dade County focusing on Title I schools. Title I schools have high numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families.

Your contribution will allow Innovation Tech Academy to provide middle school and high school teachers and students at Miami-Dade County the following:

1. Lesson Plans: Recruit teachers to create quality-controlled cybersecurity lesson plans. These lesson plans will be readily available for free to any Miami Dade teacher through an online lesson plan database. 
2. Textbooks: Provide cybersecurity textbooks for free to Title I schools located in Miami-Dade County. Title I schools will be selected based on teacher interest application and lesson plan database registration. 

Many teachers struggle to obtain adequate resources for their students and this fundraiser will ensure that all children at Miami-Dade, who might be interested in cybersecurity, have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to access cybersecurity resources such as software, lesson plans and textbooks. This initiative is structured along the lines of creating an extensive resource of cybersecurity and technology-related lesson plans for teachers to use in the classroom.

Minorities are underrepresented in the area of cybersecurity.  Cybersecurity is "the state of being protected against the criminal or unauthorized use of electronic data, or the measures taken to achieve this." Cybersecurity is a much needed field that students at Miami-Dade need exposure to given today's technology challenges and workplace requirements. 

Innovation Tech Academy's (ITA) mission is to provide free online courses in cybersecurity and other technology-related topics. We have been able to offer free cybersecurity summer camps for students through GenCyber grants but have noticed that many school administrators and teachers complain about the lack of funds to implement cybersecurity initiatives in their schools year round. 

ITA began creating cybersecurity specific lesson plans in 2022 with the volunteer assistances of two teachers. This effort produced a hand-full of cybersecurity specific lesson plans that can be used in the classroom. Although, the process is time consuming for teachers that are already overwhelmed with their current teaching responsibilities, thus it is necessary to further this initiative by recruiting additional teachers for this labored work. This initiative requires funding to engage additional teachers in the process.

The lesson plans are designed specifically for appropriate use in the middle and high school level and are provided free as a valuable resource to teachers. Additionally, the free textbooks will be distributed to underrepresented students at Title I schools for those teachers using the cybersecurity lesson plans. The textbooks can be used in conjunction with the lesson plans since they compliment the topics discussed. 

It is ITA's goal to provide free cybersecurity resources, including lesson plans and textbooks, to the Miami area middle and high schools in order to augment interest and possible academic and professional career paths for underrepresented students. 

The "Be a CyberHero!" fundraiser will provide the much needed support and cybersecurity opportunities that Miami-Dade County teachers and students require to shorten the technology gap that exists and increase minorities in the field of cybersecurity. Exposure to cybersecurity resources at an early age is crucial given the challenges faced with the rapidly increasing technology demands and artificial intelligence developments. 

Lets reduce the cybersecurity minority gap!