Developing Digital Awareness at School:

A Fundamental Step for Cybersecurity

Education

Isabella Corradini1,3(B) and Enrico Nardelli2,3

1 Themis Research Centre, Rome, Italy
isabellacorradini@themiscrime.com
2 Department Mathematics, University Roma Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
nardelli@mat.uniroma2.it
3 Link & Think Research Lab, Rome, Italy

Abstract. The theme of cybersecurity regards people in primis, considering that

everyone uses digital technologies both in professional and private life, and that
people’s behaviour plays an important role in the occurrence of cyberthreats.
The human factor has therefore to be recognized as an essential element to be
considered for developing an effective cybersecurity, and education is the key
driver. However, since children access online activities at an early age, it is wise
to develop interventions to promote digital awareness from first years at school,
focusing on the responsible use of digital technologies. Becoming conscious of
the risks they are exposed to is an important step for children to move safely on the
Internet and to understand the different cyber-risks they have to face. This activity
represents hence a fundamental step for cybersecurity education.
In this paper we present a study investigating Italian school teachers’ percep-
tion of their students’ digital awareness and their evaluation of the actions needed
for its development. Answers were provided by 2,229 teachers from all over the
country belonging to primary and secondary schools, participating in a national
project whose goal is to spread computer science and to sensitize students to a
proper use of digital technologies.
The results confirm the high sensitivity of teachers towards digital awareness
issues. Indeed, students should be prepared to recognize risks when they use
digital technologies: not only cyberbullying, they should pay more attention to the
protection of their personal data, and to the reliability of news on social media.
Moreover, teachers declare the need for themselves to receive specific training on
digital awareness, and to be supported in their activities.

Keywords: Digital awareness · Cybersecurity · Education

1 Introduction
Over the last few years, the theme of cybersecurity has become a great challenge for
every country and a significant problem to handle for all organizations. Cyber-threats
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license
to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
I. Corradini et al. (Eds.): AHFE 2020, AISC 1219, pp. 102–110, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52581-1_14
 Developing Digital Awareness at School 103

and attacks continue to grow, notwithstanding the availability of innovative technolog-

ical solutions and important regulations aimed at protecting personal information (The
General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR).
Many are convinced that cybersecurity is above all a human problem (e.g. [1, 2]),
and that cybersecurity awareness programmes are needed to respond to the gap between
people and digital technology [3]. However, there is still a general tendency to mainly
focus on a technical perspective, thinking that innovative solutions, for example the
newest ones based on Artificial Intelligence, are able to solve both current and future
security problems.
On the other hand, developing a different attitude towards cybersecurity is not easy,
since it requires an ongoing process based on awareness and education programmes.
Outcomes are not immediate, but it is now evident that the poor results deriving from
current cybersecurity approaches impose a different intervention model, where human
beings must be considered as an essential part of the solution [4]. In fact, if the problem is
mainly represented by unsecure behaviour, it is fundamental that people are fully aware
of cyber-risks and respond to them appropriately. Training and education are the key
drivers [5].
Considering that everyone uses digital technologies for both professional and private
life, and that children access online activities at an early age and spend more and more
time in using digital technologies [6, 7], it is wise to develop interventions to promote
digital awareness at school [8]. Children often are not aware of the risks they are exposed
to [9], for instance sharing personal photos and posting sensitive information on social
media. Moreover, we should not forget that also schools can be a target of cyberattacks
[10].
If on one side there is a wide interest in developing cyber-skills at school for future
careers in cybersecurity, on the other side it is important to boost digital awareness early
in school. This activity, if well-managed, can represent a primary step in order to become
aware of cybersecurity risks. It is clear that, considering the age of students, it is not
appropriate to talk about cybersecurity; instead, digital awareness or “digital hygiene”
might be more respondent to the specific needs, focusing on simple notions about online
behaviour. In this sense, it is important to consider that developing digital competences
also include soft skills, such as critical thinking, interacting through digital technologies,
protecting personal data and privacy [11]. Therefore, increasing awareness of the risks
and supporting capacity building of educators in online safety is part of Digital Educa-
tion Action Plan [12]. These recommendations are fundamental to create educational
curriculum to teach computer science at school, considering its social aspects, too. For
example, the National Curriculum in England [13] regarding computing programmes of
study includes, beyond the scientific and technical aspects of computer science, under-
standing and using technology, safely, respectfully and responsibly, e.g. recognizing
inappropriate contents, protecting online identity and privacy.
In the following, we present a study investigating Italian school teachers’ perception
of their students’ awareness about the use of digital technologies, and the need to be
prepared to handle this issue with their students. The study is part of a monitoring report
that every year is conducted in order to evaluate general participation of teachers and
students in a national project on computer science education [14].
104 I. Corradini and E. Nardelli

2 Methodology
Programma il Futuro project ([14, 15]) has the goal to increase awareness in Italian
schools both on the scientific principles of digital technologies and on the basic con-
cepts for their responsible use. For these goals the project provides lessons developed
on the basis of Code.org materials (for awareness on the scientific principle), and guide-
books based on Common Sense materials (for awareness on responsible use of digital
technologies). Teachers and students are voluntarily enrolled in the project that, in its
fifth year, has involved more than 30,000 teachers and over 2 million students.
Every year teachers are asked to fill out monitoring questionnaires consisting of 40
items to evaluate their general participation – together with students - in project activities,
and the quality of the actions implemented.
One section of the monitoring questionnaire, “Digital Awareness”, aims at inves-
tigating teachers’ perception regarding the responsible use of digital technologies by
their students and the level of usefulness of the related teaching material developed by
the project. The section consists of 15 multiple-choice questions and one open-ended
question.
Three areas have been investigated:
Area 1: Assessment of the usefulness of digital awareness guidebooks. Teachers are
asked to evaluate, using a scale from 1 (low) to 4 (high) how useful each of the following
guidebooks provided by the project is to develop digital awareness in students:

– Super Digital Citizen;

– The Power of Words;
– Private and Personal Information;
– Safe Online Talk;
– Going Places Safely;
– Follow the Digital Trail;
– Screen Out the Mean.

These guidebooks, intended for teacher use, contain fully developed lesson plans with
teaching content and exercises on different issues, for example: how to use the Internet
and social network safely, how to safeguard personal data and digital reputation.
Area 2: Responsible use of digital technologies. This area investigates:

– what is necessary to develop a conscious use of digital technologies;

– which activities students mainly carry out through digital technologies (e.g., studying,
doing research, getting information, playing music);
– how important the knowledge of certain issues is for students’ preparation (e.g., fake
news, online behaviour).

Area 3: Supporting teachers with specific training in digital awareness and security.
This area investigates what type of activity is useful to support teachers in developing a
proper digital awareness among their students (e.g. training, communication). Moreover,
 Developing Digital Awareness at School 105

teachers are asked to evaluate their need for specific preparation on topics related to
digital awareness and security.
The monitoring questionnaire was sent in December 2019, through the project plat-
form. The total sample who filled out the questionnaire is composed by 2,229 teachers,
presenting the following demographic characteristics: Gender (F: 82.01%; M: 17.99%);
Age (up-to-30: 0.27%; 31–40: 5.83%; 41–50: 34.19%; 51–60: 51.91%; 61-and-up:
7.81%). The gender distribution is in line with the national distribution of teachers’
gender. The majority of teachers is from primary school (59.98%), then around a quarter
(26.29%) from middle school, and a minority is from high school (10.32%). There is
also a very limited participation from kindergarten teachers (3.01%). All respondents
have participated in “Programma il Futuro” activities for at least one year (the project
has been active since 2014).

3 Results and Discussion

We now report and discuss the main outcomes of our study related to the above three
areas of the questionnaire.
Area 1. Assessment of the usefulness of digital awareness guidebooks
Results confirm a high perceived usefulness of the guidebooks used to spread digital
awareness (Fig. 1). Note that between 80% and 90% of teachers evaluated the guidebook
with “high” or “medium” usefulness. Teachers who still do not know these materials

Fig. 1. Usefulness of the various guidebooks for digital awareness.

106 I. Corradini and E. Nardelli

declare their intention to apply them in their classrooms, because of the topical nature
of the issues dealt with. In particular, materials focused on communication (e.g. “Safe
Online Talk”) have been particularly appreciated by teachers.
The interest demonstrated by teachers is also confirmed by suggestions provided in
the open-ended question, where they underline the need for producing further materials
on online communication issues, especially about the use of social network.
Area 2 – Responsible use of digital technologies
For a responsible use of digital technologies, teachers think that this mainly requires
the development of an adequate knowledge of risks associated with their use (Fig. 2).
Therefore, students should be prepared to recognize risks when they use digital tech-
nologies. The prevalence of risk element in digital awareness confirms results deriving
from previous monitoring report [9]. After “knowledge of risks” (66%), a responsible
use of digital technologies passes through “the ability to use them effectively” (49%),
“understanding how they work” (45%), and “sense of responsibility” (41%). It was pos-
sible to provide up to 3 answers out of 7 and the remaining 3 were selected by less than
40% of respondents.

Fig. 2. What is necessary for a responsible use of digital technologies.

For what regards how digital devices are used by students (Fig. 3), accord-
ing to teachers’ perception they use them mostly “to play” (85%), “to communi-
cate/share with friends/classmates” (56%), “to listen/watch/download music” (54%),
“to study/research” (28%), and in only 11% of cases “to get information” (multiple
answers were possible).
The high value obtained by “playing” agrees with the fact that many participants
involved in the study are primary school teachers. Clearly, at this stage, students’ activi-
ties are not focused on searching information on the Internet. However, it is recognized
the social significance that digital tools and devices have for students, given that they
permit to communicate with their friends/schoolmates and to share news (in particular
in the secondary school).
 Developing Digital Awareness at School 107

Fig. 3. How students use digital technologies according to teachers’ perception.

In Fig. 4 you can see how teachers evaluated the importance of various issues to pre-
pare students to use digital technologies in a safe and responsible way. “On line harass-
ment”, “Data protection and privacy”, and “Safe online behaviour” are the most impor-
tant topics for students’ preparation. If on the one side “Online harassment” received
the highest evaluation, given it is probably the hottest topic in the discussion on the
Internet risks regarding children and teenagers, on the other one it is interesting to notice
that teachers appropriately recognize the importance of protecting data and guaranteeing
privacy while online.

Fig. 4. Degree of importance of various topics for students’ digital awareness.

Area 3 – Supporting teachers and specific training in digital awareness and security
Regarding the activities considered useful to help teachers to develop students’ digital
awareness (Fig. 5), the most important action according to teachers is “sharing expe-
riences” (65%), followed by “training in presence” (53%), and “parents’ involvement”
(48%). It was possible to provide up to 3 answers out of 7, and the remaining ones were
108 I. Corradini and E. Nardelli

selected by less than 40% of respondents. These results confirm the importance of deal-
ing with these issues and the need for the contribution of others, e.g. parents’ students,
to achieve effective results.

Fig. 5. Actions/tools to support teachers to develop digital awareness in their students.

On the other hand, teachers highlight the need for themselves to receive a spe-
cific training on digital awareness issue, as a response to a specific yes/no question (Y:
97.74%). Among the topics to be included in this training they identify (Fig. 6): “social
media use” (70%), “fake news” (57%), “online harassment” (56%), and “identity theft”
(48%). It was possible to provide up to 4 answers out of 7, and the remaining 3 were
selected by less than 45% of respondents.

Fig. 6. Topics for training teachers in digital awareness.

This training could provide useful clarifications about common terms used in the
area of cybersecurity, given that some of them are often improperly used, because of the
lack of knowledge.
 Developing Digital Awareness at School 109

4 Conclusions and Future Work

In this paper we have analysed how teachers evaluate the importance of spreading digital
awareness among their students and the necessary actions in order to improve the respon-
sible use of digital technologies. Answers from 2,229 teachers - belonging to primary
and secondary school - confirm their high sensitivity towards digital awareness issues.
Students should be prepared to recognize risks when they use digital technologies: not
only cyberbullying, they should pay more attention to the protection of their personal
data, as well as to the reliability of news on social media. Becoming conscious of the
risks they are exposed to on the Internet is an important step for children to move safely
and to understand the different cyber-risks they have to face.
Considering that digitization is unstoppable and that cyberthreats are likely to grow, a
precocious education on the responsible use of digital technologies can be a fundamental
step for an effective cybersecurity education. Indeed, we think that, given the age of
students, talking of cybersecurity training in primary and secondary school is excessive;
instead, educating students to understand the concept of digital risks and highlighting
the importance of online behaviour can be an effective way to develop digital awareness.
Finally, also teachers need to be supported in this activity; among the preferred
actions, they identify sharing of experiences, training classrooms and parents’ involve-
ment. They declare the need for themselves of a specific training on digital awareness,
and the use of social media is one of the most important topics to be managed.
In conclusion, we think that education is an essential key to handle cyber risks, now
and in the future. Not only for workers [5], but also for students and, in general, for all
citizens. We will continue to produce guidebooks and materials on the basis of teachers’
requests, and to monitor the project activities.

Acknowledgements. We thank all teachers involved in “Programma il Futuro” for their continued
participation to the project and their involvement into this research. Thanks also to Common Sense
for having provided us the digital awareness teaching material and to Code.org for their activity
to support Informatics education in schools. Last, but not least, a big thank to Francesco Lacchia
for his excellent work in the adaptation of the Common Sense guidebooks.

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