Using Discord to Overcome Communication Challenges During COVID-19: CyberPatriot XIII Competition Communication Media Literacy Case Study View Digital Media

Innovation Showcase
Dean Jensen,  David Brown  

​CyberPatriot is the National Youth Cyber Education Program created by the U.S. Air Force Association to inspire K-12 students towards careers in cybersecurity or other STEM disciplines. At its core is the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition where teams of high school and middle school students are challenged with securing online networks. Students must remediate multiple online machine images containing vulnerabilities within a set amount of time. Until the COVID-19 Pandemic locked down the world this consisted of a six-hour block of time in-person on competition days. Discord is a free voice, video, and text chat service that is used most frequently for online gaming. This case study examines how the Elmhurst Cyber Club was able to effectively use Discord to communicate collaboratively during the CyberPatriot XIII competition days. It will also share insights on how Discord could be used in remote and online learning environments.