By BusinessWire

Posted: Jul 21, 2010 10:53 AM

In an effort to provide consistent training for young people and educators, Dell is supporting the Cyber Innovation Center (CIC) series of cyber summer camps offered at schools in Louisiana and Arkansas.

The cyber camps offer students and teachers an opportunity to participate in dynamic, challenging, and interactive forums focused on cybersecurity, cyber forensics, and cyber animation and visual effects.

The cyber camps are funded by a U.S. Department of Education grant at Louisiana Tech University, with financial support from the Cyber Innovation Center and technology donated by Dell. The CIC next year plans to expand the initiative to schools across Texas and Mississippi.

A recent study showed that while more than 90 percent of school administrators believe cybersecurity education is crucial, only one-third of surveyed officials said their schools offered classes as part of their curricula.(1) Survey results concluded that America's young people aren't receiving the adequate instruction they need to navigate cyberspace in a safe and secure manner.

The week-long CIC summer camps aim to teach students how to prepare themselves for academic and career pathways through greater understanding of cyber risks and technologies. The camps are hosted by regional university partners and involve interactive labs and project-based curriculum.

In addition, teachers have the opportunity to network with university mentors and to learn how to integrate cyber technology into classroom curriculum at camps and workshops held prior to camp.

This year's summer camps will impact 132 students and 44 teachers. Details of the three camps are listed below:

-- This summer's first camp was held in June at the Louisiana Tech University College of Engineering and focused on cyber discovery. Students participated in discussion sessions, hands-on labs, cryptographic treasure hunt/cyber crime race, evening cyber-related film sessions, and a final day cyber challenge.

-- The second camp, Cyber Forensics, will be held in July at Northwestern State University. This camp offers students and teachers an immersive simulation of the investigation of a crime scene using actual forensics and cyber forensics techniques and processes.

-- The third camp of the summer, Cyber Animation and Visual Effects, will be held in August at Louisiana State University Shreveport. The Cyber AVE Camp offers students and teachers the opportunity to explore the world of animation and visualization through rocketry.

G.B. Cazes, Vice President, Cyber Innovation Center: "The Cyber Discovery Camp was a huge success. We had 60 students and 20 teachers participate this year -- this has been our biggest camp so far with 10 different high school teams participating! The students and teachers really responded well and it's exciting to see them so engaged. We look forward to similar successes with the Cyber Forensics and Cyber Animation and Visual Effects camps. We greatly appreciate Dell's support as technology is critical to engaging students."

Jason Edwards and Michelle France, teachers at Benton High School: "The Cyber Discovery Camp is a model for inquiry and problem-based learning, whereby students, working in collaborative teams, are presented with challenging, open-ended problems, with teachers acting as facilitators of the learning process. We fully expect to take this experience and instructional model back to our classrooms in the fall."

Mark Horan, Vice President of Education, Dell: "This summer's Cyber Innovation Center camps make learning about a critical issue -- cybersecurity -- fun and rewarding. And not only will the camps train students on how to help prevent cybersecurity breaches, they'll hopefully grow students' interest in becoming part of a much-needed future cyber workforce."