Educator Resources
The Center for Cybersecurity at Bradley University is committed to supporting educators who inspire the next generation of cyber professionals. Our Educator Resources page brings together trusted organizations, ready-to-use curriculum, engaging course activities, national competitions, and professional development opportunities designed to strengthen cybersecurity education at all levels. Whether you are a K–12 teacher introducing your students to the fundamentals, or a higher education instructor seeking advanced materials, these resources provide practical tools, interactive experiences, and connections to a nationwide community dedicated to cybersecurity learning.
Organizations
National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE)
NICE, a program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), works to advance cybersecurity education and workforce development by bringing together government, academia, industry, and nonprofit organizations. NICE provides frameworks, resources, career information, and other tools that help learners, educators, employers, and workforce professionals understand cybersecurity roles, develop relevant skills, and strengthen the nation’s cybersecurity workforce.
National Cybersecurity Training & Education (NCyTE) Center
NCyTE (National Cybersecurity Training & Education Center) supports cybersecurity education and workforce development by providing resources for students, educators, academic institutions, and industry partners. Funded by the National Science Foundation, NCyTE offers cybersecurity curriculum resources, faculty development opportunities, career and internship information, student competitions, and guidance for institutions pursuing Centers of Academic Excellence (CAE) designation.
Curriculum
CYBER.ORG
CYBER.ORG is the academic initiative of the Cyber Innovation Center dedicated to expanding cybersecurity education and preparing the next generation for the cyber workforce. It provides K–12 educators with classroom-ready curricula, professional development, cybersecurity learning standards, hands-on training environments, and career-awareness resources designed to make cybersecurity instruction accessible at a wide range of grade levels and experience levels. CYBER.ORG’s mission is to help every K–12 student develop foundational and technical cybersecurity knowledge and skills.
RING
RING (Regions Investing in the Next Generation) is an online high school cybersecurity course that offers interesting and engaging content specifically for students and schools without an existing cybersecurity program.
NCyTE Cybersecurity Curriculum
Free cybersecurity curriculum, lessons, and modules designed to help students learn the concepts and skills that employers are seeking. Teachers and cybersecurity experts designed many to align with various portions of curricular frameworks. These teaching resources are intended to be facilitated by an instructor over time.
CLARK
CLARK is the largest platform that provides FREE cybersecurity curriculum. It is home to high-value, high-impact cyber curriculum created by top educators and reviewed for relevance and quality. Whether you’re looking to teach something new tomorrow, align with curriculum guidelines and standards, or refine your current course, CLARK has free resources ready for you to use!
Course Activities
TryCyber
Try Cyber is a web application for cyber work role discovery and exploration. It provides the cyber curious access to short 15-minute hands-on micro-challenges, where you can experience a day-one internship as one of the ten supported NICE Framework cyber work roles partnered with a fictional mentor.
Pwn.college
pwn.college is a free, hands-on cybersecurity education platform developed and maintained by Arizona State University that teaches students through interactive hacking challenges and guided learning modules. Students build practical skills by working directly with terminals, networks, programs, web applications, cryptography, reverse engineering, and other core cybersecurity concepts in a safe learning environment. By emphasizing practice over passive instruction, pwn.college helps students develop the technical skills, problem-solving mindset, and confidence needed to apply cybersecurity concepts to real-world scenarios.
Competitions and Cyber Ranges
National Cyber League
The NCL, powered by Cyber Skyline, enables students to prepare and test themselves against practical cybersecurity challenges that they will likely face in the workforce, such as identifying hackers from forensic data, pentesting and auditing vulnerable websites, recovering from ransomware attacks, and much more! Open to U.S. high school and college students, the NCL is a community and virtual training ground that allows students to develop and demonstrate their technical cybersecurity skills, helping students bridge the gap from curriculum to career!
CyberPatriot
CyberPatriot is the National Youth Cyber Education Program created by the Air & Space Forces Association to inspire K-12 students toward careers in cybersecurity or other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation’s future. At the core of the program is the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition, the nation’s largest cyber defense competition that puts high school and middle school students in charge of securing virtual networks.
Hack the Box
Hack The Box is an online cybersecurity training platform that helps learners develop practical, real-world security skills through interactive labs, challenges, learning paths, and Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions. Its gamified, hands-on environments allow students and cybersecurity professionals to practice both offensive and defensive techniques in realistic scenarios while building skills relevant to cybersecurity careers.
Try Hack Me
TryHackMe is an online cybersecurity training platform that helps learners build practical skills through guided lessons, hands-on labs, challenges, and structured learning paths. Designed for beginners as well as more experienced users, the platform provides browser-based environments where learners can practice offensive and defensive cybersecurity techniques using realistic scenarios and simulated networks.
CYBER.ORG Range
The CYBER.ORG Range is a cloud-based virtual environment that gives students a safe, controlled space to practice hands-on cybersecurity skills using real-world tools and scenarios. Available to U.S. educators in grades 6–12, the Range allows teachers to guide students through activities involving common cyberattacks, defensive techniques, and other cybersecurity concepts without requiring additional hardware or software. The platform also supports labs from CYBER.ORG’s Cybersecurity course, including activities designed to help prepare students for the CompTIA Security+ certification.
Conferences and Continuing Education
NICE (National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education) K12 Cybersecurity Education Conference
The NICE K12 Cybersecurity Education Conference brings together educators, cybersecurity professionals, and education leaders to strengthen cybersecurity learning and career pathways for K–12 students. The conference features presentations, workshops, networking opportunities, and resources focused on innovative teaching practices, workforce development, and helping students discover and prepare for careers in cybersecurity.
CYBER.ORG EdCon
CYBER.ORG EdCon is a national conference designed specifically for K–12 cybersecurity educators at all experience levels. Through hands-on workshops, classroom-ready lessons, presentations, and networking opportunities, educators can discover practical strategies and free resources for teaching cybersecurity and related technology concepts in their classrooms.
CSTA Annual Conference
The Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) Annual Conference brings together K–12 computer science educators to share teaching practices, explore emerging technologies, and discover resources for strengthening computer science education. While the conference covers a broad range of computer science topics, cybersecurity-related sessions and professional development opportunities can help educators introduce security concepts, activities, and real-world applications into their classrooms.
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