Bridging the ‘Town and Gown’ Divide: Experiential Learning for Students via a Community Cyberhygiene Training Program

Cyberhygiene is a necessary tool for navigating today's ever-evolving tech-centric society. Unfortunately, discussion and development of this skillset rarely tends to go beyond the four walls of the classroom and into the wider community. This paper shares a pilot student course project conducted in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 semesters that aimed to bridge academia and the community. Specifically, undergraduate and graduate students shared their knowledge on, and had conversations about, cyberhygiene and cybersecurity with the community. By combining academic resources, student learning, and key community partnerships, the authors created and facilitated a learning space for those who might not otherwise have access to cyberhygiene training. This paper shares student perspectives on how this project was valuable to themselves and the community; it also shares student recommendations for project improvement. The paper concludes with a discussion about fostering community-academia relationships, establishing trust, and suggestions for developing similar projects in the community.