Spotlight on PSUSD Cyber Champion

We're excited to announce that Palm Springs Unified School District is among one of the first Alludo districts to create a student-facing game -- and it's all about digital citizenship. The district's Cyber Champion game was launched back in December as a pilot program for high school students, and will be expanded to middle school students later this year. This could potentially put digital citizenship in the hands of more than 10,000 students -- over 1,300 high schoolers  have already joined in the fun and learning.

PSUSD has been instrumental in Alludo's development from the start. Their insights helped us scale the platform, lower costs, and provide choice in our personalized PD platform. The platform evolved to allows districts to capture evidence of learning, leading to micro-credentials, digital badging and continuing education credits for teachers.

Cyber Champion consists of 4 levels: Cyber Bullyproof, Cyber Security, Cyber Publisher, and Cyber Detective, with 6 activities per level. Activities encourage the student to learn, explore, and apply what they've learned. The game ends with a multi-paragraph essay for students to capture what they've learned throughout their journey. The game encourages students to consider questions like:

• What are some actions you can take to prevent or stop bullying?

• How important is online security?

• Why is it important to have a positive digital footprint?

• How important is online credibility?

• How has completing this game changed your perspective about digital citizenship?

PSUSD's instructional technology TOSA Eduardo Rivera and the TOSA team, lead the district in their quest to extend blended learning opportunities to their students. "It is easy to just lock everything down, and block students from everything -- but why not try something that benefits them in the long run? The real world does not block websites, it rewards those that can take advantage of such technology. Cyber Champions hopes to start preparing students for their digital lives, said Rivera in his blog, Ed Tech Eddie.

The district put this sentiment into action by coming up with a unique way to motivate and reward students for completing the game. "The ultimate student prize includes access to district provided internet. All students that complete the game get to add their phone to our Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) network. Who would not want high speed data for their personal devices? More access, more success," said Rivera.