This IS child's play Creating a “playground” (computer network testbed) for high school students to learn, practice, and compete in cyber defense competitions

Abstract

The IT-Adventures program is designed to increase high school students' interest in information technology (IT) as a career. It allows them to learn about IT in non-threatening, extracurricular IT-Club activities using inquiry-based learning. The IT-Clubs have four tracks from which students can select to study: cyber defense, game design programming, robotics, and multimedia. This paper focuses on the cyber defense venue and the need for students to have equal access to computing equipment on which to learn about computer operating systems, networking, and information security prior to competing in a cyber defense competition (CDC) at the end of the academic year. The creation of a remotely located and managed “playground” provides uniform access to equipment across schools. This paper shares our knowledge and experience in creating the “playground”.