North Dakota’s Cyber Moonshot: Every Student, Every School, Cyber Educated

Purpose & objective

A challenge in North Dakota is that there are approximately 721 open computing jobs, yet we have only 162 CS graduates within the state. (Source: Code.org)
The “K-20W” Initiative team is a collaborative effort with dozens of partners who are providing resources and training to teachers, administrators, parents and students. Planting seeds of curiosity around technology and nurturing those interests from grade school through high school and post-secondary training will help create a 21st century technology literate workforce.

The keys of collaboration and communication have taken place not only face to face, but within a Microsoft Team. We house documents for transparency and invite collaboration within this structure.

https://www.nascio.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/K20W-NASCIO-2019.pdf

The collaborative efforts of this PK20W committee took less than 9 months to complete. They were the first statewide standards to include both computer science and cybersecurity standards. https://www.nd.gov/dpi/sites/www/files/documents/Academic%20Support/CSCS2019.pdf

There have been significant accomplishments since the initiative launched with a group of
twenty participating organizations in Jan. 2018.
➢ As of March 2019, EduTech (the Educational Technology arm of the state’s IT team) has
provided dozens of training sessions for more than 1,800 participating teachers
(*aggregate number, doesn’t represent unique attendees) focused on computer science
and cybersecurity, including NICERC, Code.org, and Minecraft in Education workshops.
➢ The state’s overall goal is to train 700 teachers across the state on computer science and
cybersecurity resulting in one trained teacher for every 160 public school students.
➢ The Department of Public Instruction is implementing newly drafted computer and
cybersecurity science standards - the first in the nation to emphasize cybersecurity.
➢ Higher education institutions are creating new degree and apprenticeship opportunities,
including a partnership between Bismarck State College and Palo Alto Networks that will
grow the college’s Cybersecurity and Computer Networks Program.
➢ North Dakota State University has new cybersecurity education focus in its PhD program,
and along with Bismarck State College, was recently designated a Center of Academic
Excellence in Cyber Defense by NSA and Homeland Security.

These partnerships have yielded significant capacity in professional development and classroom
resources, including:
o $150K classroom equipment to teachers who complete NICERC training; EduTech
was also the first organization nationally to be certified as NICERC state training
partner;
o Microsoft TEALS was implemented in 14 schools and builds on the state’s
TechSpark partnership, which includes a $50,000 grant and partnership with
Learning Forward North Dakota that is helping build professional learning
standards and best practices via EduTech’s delivery of the Code.org, NICERC, and
Microsoft training platforms to support the growth and development of
computer science education across the state;
o Minecraft events were held in 4 locations with over 70 N.D. educators and inclassroom support from EduTech Minecraft experts;
o CSTA (Computer Science Teacher Association) https://www.csteachers.org/
Chapter currently being established in the state;
o ND EduTech is expanding tribal partnership for CCS and STEM:
▪ New Town Middle School is a pilot STEM school and K-20W partner;
6
▪ Turtle Mountain Tribal Community College partnership included a 2-day
high school teachers and student cybersecurity exploration of computer
science and 2-day virtual opportunity for teachers as follow up with two
professional learning credits.
We recognize that to compete locally – and globally – we need to create a technology literate
workforce that can compete and succeed in the 21st century economy.
North Dakota is not only a great place to live, work and do business – it’s leading the way in
innovative education and a future-facing approach to helping our students and communities
thrive well into the future.
Impact
There have been significant accomplishments since the initiative launched with a group of
twenty participating organizations in Jan. 2018.
➢ As of March 2019, EduTech (the Educational Technology arm of the state’s IT team) has
provided dozens of training sessions for more than 1,800 participating teachers
(*aggregate number, doesn’t represent unique attendees) focused on computer science
and cybersecurity, including NICERC, Code.org, and Minecraft in Education workshops.
➢ The state’s overall goal is to train 700 teachers across the state on computer science and cybersecurity resulting in one trained teacher for every 160 public school students.
➢ The Department of Public Instruction is implementing newly drafted computer and cybersecurity science standards - the first in the nation to emphasize cybersecurity.
➢ Higher education institutions are creating new degree and apprenticeship opportunities,including a partnership between Bismarck State College and Palo Alto Networks that willgrow the college’s Cybersecurity and Computer Networks Program.
➢ North Dakota State University has new cybersecurity education focus in its PhD program, and along with Bismarck State College, was recently designated a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense by NSA and Homeland Security.

Additional highlights include:
• In the state’s first year participating in the SANS Institute’s Girls Go CyberStart and College Fast Track programs, 310 girls from 28 schools participated – the highest per capita participation out of 26 states overall.
• For Cyber Fast Track, the college version of the program, 10 out of 69 participants are women, and 10 of the 69 advanced to the quarterfinals in the game with a chance to win $2.5 million in scholarships.
• North Dakota State University in Fargo hosted a GenCyber Camp for high school students (funded by NSA and NSF) in 2018 and is also slated for June and August 2019 (along with a camp at Bismarck State College. UCodeGirl, a Fargo-Moorhead based 501©3, is also hosting “Crack the Code: Tech Camp for Girls”);
• Partnership with Palo Alto Networks is helping BSC to grow its Cybersecurity and Computer Networks Program.
• EduTech hosted a Technology Showcase during the 2019 Legislative Session, highlighting 10 schools that are leaders in Computer Science and Cybersecurity innovative education, and providing valuable interaction with legislators and students.
The K-20W team is also actively promoting and supporting Robotics/STEAM clubs throughout the state.
• ND Center for Distance Education (North Dakota’s virtual school) is offering new online courses in cybersecurity.
• Focus on promoting women in technology and cybersecurity through partnerships with Microsoft TechSpark, uCodeGirl and Girls Go CyberStart participation, among other efforts including MindShift and non-traditional workforce pipelines.
• North Dakota hosted what is believed to be the first simultaneous, statewide Hour of Code in Dec. 2018 with 5,000 students from 100 schools K-12 and higher ed) participating.
• These accomplishments amplify our ability to reach rural and urban areas of the state, including North Dakota’s > 120,000 students, and provide training to help recruit andretain workers for the state’s more than 1,100 computer-related job openings.

Outline

Introduction of presenters-5 minutes

Think Pair Share Audience-What's initiatives are happening within your state?-5 minutes

What is PK20W? Why is it a "thing"? -5 min
Identify Partners and highlight kinds of partnerships-5 min
Highlight Accomplishments -5 min
How did this occur? 10 min
Future Goals 5 min

Q and A Remaining time

Supporting research

https://www.nascio.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/K20W-NASCIO-2019.pdf

https://www.nd.gov/itd/news/6470/north-dakota%E2%80%99s-cybersecurity-education-and-training-%E2%80%9Ck-20w%E2%80%9D-initiative-wins-national-award

https://dda.ndus.edu/workforce/nd-k-20w-initiative/

https://www.nd.gov/itd/sites/itd/files/ND Sizzle Reel.mp4

https://cyber.org/sites/default/files/2021-10/K-12%20Cybersecurity%20Learning%20Standards_1.0.pdf

https://www.nd.gov/dpi/sites/www/files/documents/Academic%20Support/CSCS2019.pdf

https://statescoop.com/on-cybersecurity-north-dakota-wants-to-change-the-conversation-completely/

https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/resources/videos-customers/state-of-north-dakota

https://www.nd.gov/itd/news/7098/nd-k-12-students-urged-install-anti-malware-new-school-year-begins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=LQE9Y8ac86c