Community College Cyber Summit Transforms Cybersecurity Education

February 14, 2018

With every innovative technological advancement, more gateways are created for vulnerabilities. The significant growth in hacking makes it a struggle for the cybersecurity workforce to keep up. Fortunately, educators are joining together to address this critical need. The fifth annual Community College Cyber Summit (3CS) is the only cybersecurity conference for community college educators. With a theme of “Expanding Expertise – Transforming Cybersecurity Programs”, 3CS is scheduled from Aug. 2 to 4 at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon.

What sets this conference apart? It cuts through the noise of other conferences and pools together the cybersecurity education base, resources, demonstrations, and best practices in one place for only community college educators. Growing from 186 attendees in 2014 to over 450 in 2017, the need for this kind of specialized conference for educators continues to trend.

There has been a shift in the cybersecurity education landscape. Employers are now expressing a need for students to understand business context. No longer can technicians just use this technology. They must understand why, when and how to apply that technology to solve business challenges. Community colleges are known for having the ability to work with these employers and adjust education strategies to fluctuate with workforce needs.

“We must transform our curriculum to meet new threats and challenges,” said Dr. Bob Spear, chair or 3CS. “In addition to network defense – the traditional core of a cybersecurity curriculum – we must also teach mobile forensics, secure coding, vulnerabilities of drones, autonomous cars, electrical power grids, and many other topics.”

The 3CS educates college faculty, administrators, and students interested in implementing or incorporating cybersecurity into curricula, influencing cybersecurity educational programs, or expanding knowledge about the field. Participants can become involved in one of four tracks: new to cybersecurity, experienced in cybersecurity and CAE2Y aspirants, expanding expertise – transforming cybersecurity programs, and student track.

Anyone interested in submitting a proposal should do so by March 15. For more information, visit http://www.my3CS.org.

About Community College Cyber Summit:
The Community College Cyber Summit (3CS) is organized and produced by the National CyberWatch Center, National Resource Center for Systems Security and Information Assurance (CSSIA), CyberWatch West (CWW), and Broadening Advanced Technological Education Connections (BATEC), which are all funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The outcomes of 3CS leverage community college cybersecurity programs across the nation by introducing the latest technologies, best practices, curricula, products, and more. To learn more, visit my3CS.org.

 

View original article HERE.


Share: