Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Website Review: Carnegie Cyber Academy

THE CARNEGIE CYBER ACADEMY is a professional-quality website focusing on digital citizenship.
The Training Missions section explores cybersecurity topics such as email threats and website safety. Students earn badges as they complete tasks. Four missions are currently available. Each mission has an online component as well as a hint sheet that can be downloaded.
The Academy Library contains useful information on searching for resources, evaluating source credibility, and using web resources. The Cyberpedia is an encyclopedia of key vocabulary related to digital literacy.
The Fun Stuff area provides short animations and games on curriculum-related topics as well as themes such as holidays. Links to the YouTube Channel provide additional resources on topics such as cyberbullying. The Carnegie Cadets: The MySecureCyberspace Game is a downloadable game focusing on digital literacy skills. The News and Cadet Life pages aren’t being updated but have interesting archival information.
The Faculty Pages help teachers locate useful information for teaching digital citizenship. A Classroom and Support Materials section provides many more resources for teachers including over a dozen lesson starters, downloadable materials, a youth user manual, and other resources.
Librarians will find many uses for the engaging digital citizenship information, games, and learning activities. While the website can be used as a self-contained information literacy curriculum, pieces on specific topics such as online reputations, netiquette, and online safety can be woven into the existing curriculum.
To visit the website, go to http://www.carnegiecyberacademy.com/.