About C-SAVE

It’s easy to participate and use!

Since our goal is to reach as many young people as possible, we have made C-SAVE as easy as possible. We have developed classroom materials and other resources to support volunteers. There is no need to sign up or register (although you can opt in to receive email updates).

We encourage individuals as well as organizations to become C-SAVE volunteers. Individuals might want to start by first using the materials at their children's school. Organizations and companies might consider making C-SAVE part of a commitment to bring cybersecurity education and awareness to their local schools during National Cyber Secuirty Awareness Month in October.

To make NCSA's C-SAVE materials relevant for a variety of classrooms, NCSA contracted with an education consultant with expertise in technology's role in education and the lives of today's young people to assist in developing the materials to be used by CSAVE volunteers.

The Volunteers:  The success of C-SAVE depends greatly on the comfort level of the volunteers to deliver this important information.  Although volunteers are successful IT professionals, they may not have had much opportunity to present to students in a classroom setting.  Therefore, the supporting documents were developed to provide common tips for presenting smoothly to each age band targeted, to ensure that the concepts are introduced at an age-appropriate level and that volunteers remain sensitive to the fact that each student has vastly different background knowledge and Internet exposure.  The supportive materials were designed to ensure that every child benefits from the C-SAVE lessons.

Teachers and School Administrators:  There are many expectations of teachers and school administrators today as they work hard to ensure that every child reaches their full potential.  With that in mind, we did not want the C-SAVE program to be viewed as an “extra burden” or “one shot” assembly that offered no opportunity for sustainability or ease of incorporating throughout the curriculum.  Therefore, I included additional resources offering suggestions for continuing the conversation in the classroom, at home, and within the broader school community that goes far beyond the initial C-SAVE presentation.

Students:  Most importantly, the lessons were designed, to engage every student, and to challenge their awareness with thought provoking scenarios that require critical thinking and collaboration among peers. Each step of the student activities have a strong theme of empowering students with enough knowledge to have a positive experience online, and the confidence to stand up for themselves when challenged with someone else’s inappropriate behavior.

The C-SAVE materials are in no way intended to be a comprehensive curriculum for Internet safety education; they are designed to help students acquire a distinct set of tools and checklists that they can apply to any of their online experiences.  My hope is that the C-SAVE program and its materials will serve as a platform from which teachers and administrators can create a more systemic approach toward thoughtful Internet safety and security education.

The National Cyber Security Alliance first published all CSAVE materials on April 22, 2009 in conjunction with the official launch of the program. For more information about reusing these materials see the About Us section of this website.