Teaching Digital blog

  On a cold winter day in late 2019, a couple of like minded individuals, Andrew Smith and Nuno Guarda , met to talk about an initiative to Educate the Educators, though a partnership between The Institute of Coding, The Open University and Cisco Networking Academy.  Read more about the discussion to better understand their motivations and why partnerships are so critical: instituteofcoding.open.ac.uk/educating-the-educators-ou-and-cisco-partnership-as-part-of-the-institute-of-coding-11500-and-counting/

Cyber crime is increasing daily, if we don’t educate and learn we won’t be able to support the next generations. We will only help them to suffer. Crime is now growing digitally, and many authorities are not aware of how cyber crimes take place.  Ashey Beck studied at Glasgow Caledonian University, achieving an honours degree in IT. She later went onto work for IBM, but realised she wanted to use her degree and her community focus to help communities, so she left her job and went onto becoming a police sergeant at Police Scotland. Ashley didn’t stop there, she is now studying a master’s in Cyber Security. Ashley helps to inspire many people of all ages and all backgrounds; she supports and teaches courses where the community can evolve. This helps to grow opportunities for young people and show them a world that has more opportunities. Police Scotland Youth Volunteers (PSYV) PSYV is a programme that has been put in places to help strengthen and inspire the young people, the Police...

In November 2020, WorldSkills celebrated 70 years of its existence and the impact it has had on “millions of young people, empowering communities and fuelling economies” [1] . They have built a movement that now reaches two-thirds of the world’s population, combining the strengths of 85 member organisations. It was formerly known as the International Vocation Training Organisation (IVTO), founded in Spain during the 1940s, initially holding national competitions that encouraged young men to learn a trade through various challenges presented to them and by winning resulted in monetary prizes. This was a pre-emptive move by the ruler at the time, as it was predicted that a skilled workforce will be required to help provide nation-wide economic development after the effects Second World War. This competition was further expanded internationally in 1950 to Spain’s neighbouring country Portugal. Then in 1953, general invites from Spain brought in addition to Portugal; Germany, United Kingdo...

Photo Credit: Lynne Norman Lynne Norman knows the importance of education and opportunities. After working in Further Education for many years, she joined Watford UTC (University Technical College) where she spent the last 3 years dedicating her role as a BTEC Lead Practitioner and running a Cisco Academy. Lynne has spent approximately 11 years in teaching and inspired students of all ages. Her past involvement with Cisco Academy led her to offer the current students she teaches a digital education through virtual learning environments, providing a more accessible and independent learning experience. In the region of a thousand students have been educated through Lynne's classrooms and they have been taught various courses from the Cisco NetAcad platform such as Get Connected, Introduction to Cyber Security, Introduction to Packet tracer and many more. With a high percentage of her classrooms from Years 10 up to 13 passing their courses, Lynne’s passion and dedication to her studen...

Photo Credit: Alex Gittings Alex Gittings – graduated from Birmingham City University after studying computer networking courses provided by Cisco Networking Academy. Also gaining industry experience having completed a prosperous placement at Cisco’s internship program. He had experienced a pretty standard education path – from High School, then Sixth Form to University. A few years on and now he is a full-time Professional Services Consultant at Axians UK. His role consists of being a trusted advisor for customers with automation requirements, operating alongside pre-sales to identify customers’ needs and delivering technical advice, working with big enterprise accounts such as BT, to assist with network migration, conducting multiple network automation projects and so much more.  So, how did Alex get to where he is today? IT Education of The Past During his years completing A Levels at Cheslyn Hay High School’s Sixth Form, he had picked three subjects: IT, Media and PE (Physical ...

Cisco Networking Academy programme has already trained more than 2 million Europeans. Be ready, our European NetAcad stories will be out soon. #staytuned Visit the main programme site: www.netacad.com

One of my favorite sayings from a dear friend of mine is “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes – that way you can begin to understand their experience.” Most of us have heard a simpler version of this idiom, but I think it’s especially poignant today, International Day of Persons with Disabilities – a day to not only increase awareness of what people with disabilities experience, but to honor their experiences and achievements.  One billion people , or 15 percent of the world’s population, experience a disability, and rates of disability are increasing. Disabilities take many forms, including physical disability, autism spectrum disorder, vision impairment, and mental health conditions. People with disabilities are much more likely to live in poverty than persons without disabilities. In the United States alone, they are more than twice as likely to live in poverty than those without a disability. The reason: societal barriers such as discrimination, limited access to education an...

Women Rock-IT is helping to push the boundaries with technology.  We are very fortunate to have Lisa Lang the founder and CEO of ThePowerHouse Group and Emmastella Gakuo the Co-Founder of Savanna Circuit Tech, be our keynote speakers for this event. By signing up to this event you will receive benefits such as: Learn the benefits of a technology career Be connected to successful female role models Learn how job seekers can switch to a more fulfilling career Start a new journey right after attending this session with our self-study courses Women Rock IT isn't just for those who have a passion within the IT industry it's about finding what pushed these inspirational Women every day to get to where they are today. This talk is about helping to build a clear pathway for our future, it’s about helping the next generation and helping to create a meaningful journey. You will get an insight into Cisco and the work that you can see being done to help empower each individual. Register fo...

October is the celebration of Black History. It is an opportunity for all to take awareness and learn about the rich history that shapes everyone’s lives today. Not only to learn more about the history of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the Civil Rights Movement in America and its prominent figures such as Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Rosa Parks, but to also connect with someone of African heritage and discover more about the vibrancy of their culture, from the language, music, food, innovations and so much more that expresses their way of life and amazing achievements. We so often talk about slavery but not enough about the bravery of people who are making a difference in the face of challenges. This final week of Black History Month, we would like to celebrate two instructors that have been nurturing our future generations for many years with digital literacy and skills that are required now more than ever. Through their dedication to the field, they have imparted essential knowl...

  During this year's European Cybersecurity Month we would like to invite you to the two-days virtual event “ The Importance of Cyber Security Skills in Today’s EU Job Market ”, that will take place on October 28th -29th 2020. The aim of this event is to take stock of the situation regarding the cyber security skills that are missing in the current and future European labour market, and to reflect about what are the strategies to be implemented at the educational level to fill the gaps. The event is mainly addressed at teachers and digital sector professionals. On October 28th, you'll be able to listen to high-level speeches from Cisco, European Commission and Enisa about EU's strategy for digital skills and which are the activities that could be implemented to create awareness and competences among young students and professionals. On October 29th, Cisco Networking Academy Instructors will lead cyber security labs. Register now (it's the same link for both days, so yo...

This European Cyber Security Month  (ECSM), we would like to highlight someone very exceptional – Cisco Networking Academy instructor Rebecca Harrop. Rebecca plays a vital role in the education of professional Network and Cyber Security personnel. As a key educator of Network and Cyber Security in the UK, her work continues to help bridge the Cyber Security skills-gap. Rebecca is a specialist in computer networking and security, and senior lecturer of cybersecurity at the University of Bedfordshire. She is also an associate lecturer in computer networking, cybersecurity micro credential consultant, and co-author with the Open University. She has trained and inspired thousands of students on their pathways to becoming IT Technicians, Network and Security Engineers and SOC Analysts. This year she celebrates her 20th year as a Cisco Networking Academy instructor. Rebecca was a long-standing manager of a Cisco Networking Academy and Cybersecurity lab at Barnet and Southgate College. Re...

Today 28th September 2020, the government has added over 60 new courses to The Skills Toolkit from top quality providers including Cisco, The Open University, and others. With an even wider range of free, high quality digital and numeracy courses, and the addition of new employability and work readiness courses, the online platform gives people the opportunity to build up their skills, progress in work and boost their job prospects. From computer essentials and practical maths to digital marketing, coding, leadership and project management, there’s something for everyone. Cisco Networking Academy is making available 3 Coding courses: Programming Essentials in Python, Programming Essentials in C and Programming Essentials in C++. Learn more about this initiative here: www.teachingdigital.org/initiatives/the-skills-toolkit