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Cyber Safety Course Creation

case study 2

Project Overview

Client's request

"Our mission is clear: to empower the next generation with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in cyberspace. We deliver comprehensive cyber safety, generative AI, and digital wellbeing education tailored to children and youths.

"At the heart of our work is the belief that every child deserves the opportunity to harness the internet's vast potential while understanding the importance of online safety and digital wellness. We take pride in the positive impact we create by fostering a secure, informed, and digitally resilient generation."

Defining project scope

The first step is defining the scope of the project with the client:

Aims of course: creating independent internet users who can browse safely and securely,
Course length: self-led (no time limit),
Delivery method: online, self-led, community adjacent,
Length of course: different modules, each with a badge that can be shared/downloaded,
Location of materials: on client's webpage,
Project Outcomes: cyber safety, generative AI and digital well-being, courses for children, teens and adults (full market),
Students: children/teens (12-17),
Research/SMEs: no Subject Matter Experts, research to be conducted,
Research parameters: cyber safety, generative AI and digital well-being, courses for children, teens and adults (full market).

Research

Cyber Safety & Digital Wellbeing

Most of the examples are for adults (parents/educators). The information covers a number of topics but usually stops at a basic level or with simple tips or recommendations.

Phishing, piracy, cyber-stalking, malware, cyber-bullying. obscenity, sharing too much,
Physical injuries (hand, wrist, etc)
Where: IM / Chats, Chats in games, texting, email, social

Be Internet Awesome (Google) focuses on practical skills: seeing something as a scam, what happens if someone is harassing you. Also has "Interland" a game where they can learn these things: quiz and simple games. Focuses on basic, essential skills (like creating strong passwords).

Some big issues are almost never discussed, like

The few examples that are for kids are usually for younger kids, not teens. The tone is also rather forced and "trying to be cool" which will only work with a small section of the kids/teens market.

Generative AI

There are not many options and they are all for parents/educators, rather than children/teens. The tips are nearly always very generic, like "talk to your children", "discuss pros and cons", "try AI software together".

It is also interesting the negative perception that educators have of AI and how their students interact with it. (survey)

Results

Almost no courses are created for children & teens (mainly for adults),
The tone needs to be important: it might be a good idea to check out what teens respond to, especially on social media, to craft the right tone,
After discussions with the client, they would like more in-depth tips and knowledge for more neutral subjects and neutral tips for more delicate but important subjects (like pornography).

Creating course structure

Deciding on subject groups

Based on the research, there are lots of topics to cover. The first step is creating subject groups and then working with the client to agree on them. We decided that the course groupings should be:

Internet basics: areas of the internet, setting up accounts, intro to common sites,
Keeping yourself safe: creating strong passwords, recognising attacks, taking action
Adult matters: banking, being aware of difficult issues (e.g. predators, pornography) & linking to other sources, if possible (like internetmatters.org does)

Now we can decide on the sub-groups within each topic in order to create an article lists.

Information to include in each group

Within each group, we can go ahead and create lists of topics and articles that we want to include, like:

Internet basics:

Areas of the internet (e.g. e-commerce, social media) & what happens in each one,
How to set up a new account: information that is usually needed, common steps, etc,
Difference between web apps and native apps, which is better for your needs,
Intro to common tools: social media (TikTok, Insta, Snap Chat), Amazon, messaging.

Keeping yourself safe:

Creating strong passwords, good techniques, how often to change them,
Introduction to cyber attacks and then a separate article for the main types (e.g. phishing email)
How to know if you were the victim of the a cyber attack and what steps to take.

Community aspect

The client would like a community where teens can post their questions, answer other people's questions and generally talk about anything they need to. While this is a great idea for creating a safe space, moderating communities can be a difficult and expensive task (in terms of time, money and/or energy).

For this reason, we need to discuss and see if there is a way to include a community that requires less patrolling. For example, offer a choice of responses (so free responses are disabled).

Individual lessons

Creating copy

With the course structure agreed upon, the next step is to write each individual article. The copy can then be checked in real screens to make sure it works well and so the client can get a sense for the finished product before agreeing on it.

I have 3+ years of UX design so I am very comfortable creating these mockups quickly so, given the value offered to the client, it becomes an extremely worthwhile task to do.

"Creativity takes courage"

- Henri Matisse

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