CompTIA and LifeJourney™ Collaborate to Raise Cyber Awareness in Nation's Classrooms

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Jan 22, 2015, 09:23 ET

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., Jan. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- CompTIA, the information technology (IT) industry association, and LifeJourney™, an online STEM career simulation experience, announced today that they are collaborating on a new initiative to bring more cybersecurity education into the nation's middle school and high school classrooms.

The two organizations are cooperating on an online professional development and certificate program that would allow middle and high school teachers to quickly add cybersecurity lessons to their curriculum.

"Equipping our nation's teachers with skills and tools they can employ to make their students more cyber-aware will fill a critical need for greater cybersecurity awareness," said Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO, CompTIA. "These lessons will have long-term relevance, whether students continue their education at higher levels or join the workforce."

Additionally, some students may be prompted to look at cybersecurity as a career choice.

"There are more than 300,000 unfilled jobs in cybersecurity across the nation, so the importance and urgency of bringing more people into the field is evident," said Rick Geritz, LifeJourney CEO. "Teachers are often key influencers and serve as career counselors to their students. Bringing the cybersecurity discussion into the classroom can be the spark that leads some students to seek out more advanced education, training and certifications on their way to careers in cybersecurity."

"Providing teachers with this powerful capability will enable them to connect what they're already teaching in the classroom to hundreds of thousands of unfulfilled cybersecurity job openings," remarked GB Cazes, vice president, Cyber Innovation Center.

The center, a 501(c)(3) organization created by the National Integrated Cyber Education Research Center to advance its academic outreach and workforce development program, is also expected to contribute to the cyber teacher initiative.

Among areas the organizations intend to explore are how to provide participating teachers with direct access to fully integrated lesson plans, resource materials and industry data on cybersecurity. These materials will be designed to integrate into existing math, computer science, technology and career guidance classes; and connect students to industry resources and roadmaps to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers.

CompTIA IT Fundamentals, a new certification that covers a range of IT topics and provides a solid grounding in the basics of computing technology, and CompTIA CertMaster, an online, confidence-based learning solution that helps individuals learn and retain information more effectively, are expected to be key elements in the new cyber teacher initiative.

CompTIA is the voice of the world's IT industry. To learn more visit CompTIA online, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

LifeJourney is a technology company whose online career simulation and mentorship platform enables students to test drive their future in Cyber by living a day in the life of America's STEM professionals. To learn more visit https://www.lifejourney.us/.

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SOURCE CompTIA