BROADENING PARTICIPATION IN CYBERSECURITY EDUCATION: USING AN INTERSECTIONALITY LENS TO UNCOVER NEW PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

The three-year participatory action research case study provides an opportunity to uncover the critical outreach role community colleges have in increasing access and broadening participation in cybersecurity career pathways. The research addresses the question: How can learning opportunities for women and minorities be implemented to broaden participation in cybersecurity education? The study achieved its overall goal to increase career awareness and readiness of underrepresented high school students in cybersecurity by implementing an early admit pathway. The study prepared students for: (1) careers in cybersecurity through career awareness, exploration and readiness activities, and (2) college-level sequencing of information computer science and cybersecurity courses. The project successfully recruited women and minority high school students to participate in a college cybersecurity pathway. The lens of intersectionality as a critical inquiry of praxis, illuminates the uniqueness of early admit cybersecurity education programs that focuses on an underrepresented student population that are not often the focus of cybersecurity grants.