Digital literate in VET by cybersecurity training with immersive technologies

"<< Background >>We continue to live in the age of ""cyber-pandemic"". Our daily life increasingly takes place in the digital space. At the same time cyber-attacks and online threats are affecting both organizations and individuals. Cybersecurity plays an essential role in it as demanded in the Digital Education Action Plan for individuals, educational institutions and companies. The increased use of digital technologies must go hand in hand with mainstreaming the topic of cybersecurity literacy and awareness. Currently teaching staff lacks knowledge and skills to respond to cybersecurity threats, mostly not even on a basic level as cybersecurity training to non-IT specialists is novel and not easily accessible. CybARverse (= blend of cybersecurity, metaverse and Augmented Reality (AR)) bridges the qualification gap by developing and transferring immersive cybersecurity teaching and learning scenarios. CybARverse integrates and sustains its activities by combining technology, pedagogy, and organisation. To promote cybersecurity literacy, the CybARverse Academies in partner countries (LT, CY, MT, and RO) provide learning opportunities and this results in cybersecurity literate teachers, equally of all genders and people with fewer opportunities.<< Objectives >>OBJECTIVE I: To promote professional, personal and digital skills among VET teachers and trainers for the field of cybersecurity. All learning scenarios are based on the needs of the relevant professions and the relevant training institutions. Therefore, they are easy to implement and to transfer. OBJECTIVE II: To incorporate modern and immersive technologies into VET cybersecurity training – combined use of Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), WebVR and learning videos in the CybARverse e-learning content. Partners aimed for the media-pedagogical enrichment of cybersecurity training within 16 tailor-made teaching and training scenarios. OBJECTIVE III: Structured qualification of up to 80 VET teachers and trainers to become cybersecurity aware and literate. The establishment of the CybARverse academy in LT, CY, MT and RO just enables collaboration form for the topic of cybersecurity and for IT and non-IT professions. OBJECTIVE IV: To ensure the sustainability of the project results by raising sustainable interest of the CybARverse results on the operational level of the partners, even after the project has finished, relevant sharing and promotion activities were planned.<< Implementation >>The project activities implemented consisted of:- Development, testing and validation of a CybARverse qualification model, that describes the competence framework and qualification need. - Implementation of online survey and interviews with trainers/teachers/educators in schools to define the needs of target group. - Development of pedagogical guidelines and their translation to partner languages (LT, MT, RO and GR).- Defining the structure of the learning scenarios and their content development – 17 e-learning scenarios developed (including immersive VR/AR content) and translated to partner languages.- Pilot testing and evaluation scenarios with 70 VET teachers in 3 levels: beginners, intermediate and advanced. - Analysis of the organisational capacity for establishing a CybARverse academy in partner countries.- Development and testing of national CybARverse academy training offers with 221 learners.- Development of CybARverse Best practice guide and translation to partner languages. - Implementation of transversal promotion activities to promote and disseminate the project.- Organization of multiplier events in all partner countries to present the project outcomes.<< Results >>a) The qualification model and the pedagogical guidelines developed. Documents provide a framework for IT and non-IT educators to recognize and respond to cyberattacks. They align with the Digital Education Action Plan and national agendas, promoting a digital, green, and inclusive educational environment. b) Cybersecurity teaching and learning materials consisting of 17 scenarios – developed in ENG and translated to partner languages to provide training for VET teachers and trainers qualification as well as use in existing trainings. The materials are published on project website and are available free of charge under login of users. c) Foundation and running of four “CybARverse Academies” in partner countries for aiming cybersecurity literacy. The CybARverse Academies resulted in 221 teachers trained and certified until the end of the project in four partner countries. d) The learning components of the CybARverse consortium were collected in the Best practice guide. e) Specific promotion activities implemented throughout the project lifetime (and beyond) aiming to inform about cybersecurity awareness and literacy e-learning scenarios and educational training offers (on- and offline) to VET teachers and trainers."