During this difficult and uncertain time of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Classroom of the Future Foundation (CFF) stands ready to support all of our San Diego County students, families, and educators.
We are committed to providing distance learning resources to the community at this unprecedented time of school closures. We encourage you to visit the San Diego County Office of Education’s (SDCOE) COVID-19 website to access in-depth information on distance learning and a variety of helpful materials for families and educators.
CFF CAREER DISCOVERY CYBERSECURITY PROGRAM NOW AVAILABLE TO ALL STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS
CFF would like to announce that our Career Discovery Cybersecurity Program is being made available to all students and educators free of charge. This online curriculum provides students with past, present, and future exposure to one of our region’s fastest growing industries, cybersecurity. The curriculum is a six week program and is designed for students in 5th – 10th grade. You can learn more about the program here. Students are introduced to computer science principles; learn about the history of information security; identify their strengths, interests, and values; explore pathways to cyber jobs using the JourneysMap platform; and meet real-life cyber professionals through the Nepris platform. More than 800 students have taken this program to date and have left with an increased understanding of the technical and essential skills required to succeed in the cybersecurity industry, as well as a deeper understanding on the various pathways to cyber jobs.
If you are a student, parent, or educator interested in reviewing and using this curriculum, please email James Wright at james@classroomofthefuture.org for access.
Special thanks to our Cybersecurity Program partners and donors for their generous support: JourneysMap, Nepris, the USS Midway Museum, Nordson, Capital One, Best Buy Foundation, and General Atomic Sciences Education Foundation. We would also like to thank our Mission Partners: SDCOE, Jack in the Box, Cox Communications, North Island Credit Union, SeaWorld, and SDG&E.
CFF PARTNERS PROVIDE ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
CFF is thankful for the following corporate partners who have stepped up to provide additional resources to students, families, and educators in response to the COVID-19 outbreak:
- XTRA Weekly: Drew Schlosberg and Mark Davis at XTRA Weekly are providing their web-based educational curriculum that uses non-fiction newspaper articles to engage students in reading, writing and critical thinking for free, through June 30, 2020. Each news article is taken from the Tribune News Service, which obtains stories from hundreds of contributors including The San Diego Union-Tribune, Los Angeles Times and The Seattle Times. This opportunity will allow students to access XTRA Weekly at home and on their personal electronic devices. You can learn more about XTRA Weekly here. Additionally, you can access a sample Level 1 Lesson here and a sample Level 2 Lesson here. This XTRA Weekly activation document details how students and families can access the XTRA Weekly program and begin using the curriculum immediately. The activation coupon code is 59129.
- Robo3D: Robo3D is providing a design file to schools to develop face shields or PPE for healthcare professionals. If your school has a 3D printer and would like to produce face shields, please contact CFF at james@classroomofthefuture.org and we will send you the free file. Robo3D has also offered to pick up the face shields from school sites and deliver to healthcare professionals.
- Cox Communications: Cox is offering the first month free to new customers of Connect2Compete, Cox’s low-cost internet product for families with school-aged children who are enrolled in low-income assistance programs ensuring digital equity for students without internet at home. You can learn more here and watch a commercial here. Schools are being asked to contact connectnow@cox.com with a list of eligible low-income students that currently do not have an internet connection. Cox is also fast-tracking the qualification process for Connect2Compete and partnering with PCs for People where families can purchase discounted refurbished computers. More information can be found here. You can also find some helpful tips for the process here.
- Sony: Sony hosted a STEAM Week from 4/13/20 – 4/17/20. This week focused on understanding different careers and activities in STEAM fields. Each day Sony hosted a career pathway webinar for students (recommended for grades 3-8) with a Sony professional who has a job in science, technology, engineering, arts or math. During this webinar, participants learned what that role looks like and the skills required to get there. You can access the recorded webinars here, as well as free activity resources such as the Math Challenge, STEAM lesson plans, and coloring pages.
- Charter Spectrum: Charter will offer free Spectrum broadband and Wi-Fi access for 60 days to households with K-12 and/or college students who do not already have a Spectrum broadband subscription and at any service level up to 100 Mbps. To learn more, click here or to enroll call 1-844-488-8395. Installation fees will be waived for new student households. Charter will partner with school districts to ensure local communities are aware of these tools to help students learn remotely. Charter will continue to offer Spectrum Internet Assist, high speed broadband program to eligible low-income households delivering speeds of 30 Mbps. Lastly, Charter will open its Wi-Fi hotspots across our footprint for public use.
- National University: National University is offering three months of free online classes to all California college and high school students impacted by COVID-19. You can learn more here. National University is also offering online teaching resources for educators, a virtual learning series for teachers, a social emotional learning (SEL) toolkit, and resources on running remote and virtual classrooms. You can access these resources here.
- North Island Credit Union: NICU will award 10 grants of $500 each to local teachers to support an innovative classroom/school project. This is one of many programs NICU provides to support school employees. Interested teachers can find more information and apply online here. The application deadline is April 10, 2020. The grant funds can be used up to the end of the fiscal year, December 31, 2020.
- JourneysMap: JourneysMap is providing free access to its learning map platform, which allows students to explore career pathways for priority industries in our region, as well as careers that match their strengths, interests, and values. To learn more, click here. JourneysMap has put together new activities and lessons, in response to COVID-19, for free in their support portal. JourneysMap is a featured partner and donor to CFF’s Career Discovery Cybersecurity Program.
- Nepris: Nepris is providing all educators with free access to unlimited industry chats and videos from its library. To learn more, click here. Nepris is also a featured partner and donor to CFF’s Career Discovery Cybersecurity Program.
If you have any questions about these resources, please do not hesitate to contact James Wright at the Classroom of the Future Foundation at james@classroomofthefuture.org.
We thank all of our educators, healthcare workers, government officials, grocery store workers, and other essential community personnel for their dedicated support during this challenging time.