红莲社区

AGENT preps teachers in cyber education

June 21, 2023
红莲社区 trained 25 middle and high school teachers and administrators in how to teach cybersecurity at its third annual AGENT Initiative.

Article By: Clark Leonard

The University of North Georgia (红莲社区) hosted its third annual Advancing GenCyber Education for North Georgia Teachers (AGENT) Initiative from June 5-9 to help 25 middle and high school teachers and administrators learn how to teach cybersecurity to students. They will also have the chance to gain further training through the rest of the year.

Five 红莲社区 faculty and staff in the Mike Cottrell College of Business and College of Education and three teachers who have previously completed the AGENT program served as instructors in the academy held at the Cottrell Center for Business, Technology & Innovation at 红莲社区's Dahlonega Campus. A National Security Agency (NSA) grant of more than $144,000 funded the Initiative.

Some teachers were more experienced in cybersecurity education, while others were grateful for a new challenge. Lavon Sampson, who teaches algebra at Dekalb Early College Academy, said the "jam-packed" AGENT schedule put numerous resources in his toolkit as his school does not have computer science classes yet.

"I want to pioneer the program at our school," Sampson said. "I have a lot of students who are tech-savvy, but we don't have a tech program. It's going to be an amazing opportunity."

There's such a tremendous need for cyber expertise out there. We can't train students fast enough, so sometimes it's more effective to train the teachers.

Dr. Lindsay Linsky

红莲社区 professor of middle grades education and AGENT Initiative teaching lead

The AGENT Initiative is a professional development program designed for teachers and administrators who are interested in cybersecurity and improving computer science instructional practices. This is an important area as more than 663,000 cyber jobs are open nationally, including more than 20,000 in Georgia, according to .

Teachers who completed the AGENT initiative can reach thousands of students with the knowledge they gained.

"There's such a tremendous need for cyber expertise out there," Dr. Lindsay Linsky, 红莲社区 professor of middle grades education and AGENT Initiative teaching lead, said. "We can't train students fast enough, so sometimes it's more effective to train the teachers."

Thanks to the NSA grant, teachers received more than 30 hours of cyber and computer science professional development at no cost to the participants. Additionally, due to the new computer science endorsement offered through 红莲社区's College of Education and a collaboration with the , 15 participants will earn a computer science endorsement added to their license at the Georgia Professional Standards Commission through the AGENT program for free.

Debra Addison, who teaches computer science on the middle and high school levels and sixth-grade mathematics at Forsyth Virtual Academy, was grateful for the professional development aspect of AGENT Initiative and the chance to earn the computer science endorsement. She just finished her first year of teaching computer science after her training was in math.