Cybersecurity and media literacy that the class takes into its own hands.
Three ready-made lesson series for grades 5 to 10, staff training with a certificate and a parents’ evening I’ll attend on request. Everything is prepared so that teachers can run it without me. Free of charge, no advertising, no student accounts.
I don’t sell anything to schools. My business clients fund this offer; schools, teachers, parents and students never pay anything, not even for a visit in person.
What you get
- Three course series (grades 5/6, 7–9, 8–10) with 38 lessons in total, each lesson mapped to the Baden-Württemberg curriculum
- 69 interactive tasks: quiz questions, word clouds, six learning games via QR code
- Staff training: phishing course with a practical test and a training certificate
- Letter to parents as a template, parents’ evening with me on request
- Data protection sheet for the data protection officer, data processing agreement (DPA), staff council templates
- A certificate of participation for every student; in the “Digital Self-Defence” course, the phishing training as well, with parental consent
A skill everyone needs today.
Young people face the same attacks as adults: fake prize notifications, stolen gaming accounts, fake profiles, messages that look like they’re from friends, and recently AI-generated voices and images. They’re just less often prepared for them.
My aim is to enable young people to recognise an attack and fend it off. Nobody is turned into a security guard here, and nobody is shown up. That’s why these lessons aren’t a list of prohibitions: they show how an attack really unfolds, let the class play it through themselves and give them practical moves that work in real life.
I do this professionally for businesses. For schools I do it for free, because I’m from the area and have been doing it for years. That’s the whole ulterior motive.
Lessons, staff, parents’ evening. You run each format yourself.
Everything is ready in the school Cockpit, with instructions from a teacher’s perspective. No preparation, no technician, no appointment with me needed. If you’d still like me to come in person: see below, also free of charge.
Lesson series for the class
Grades 5 to 10 · about 90 minutes per series, can be split into double or single lessons · projector and the class’s phones
You project the lesson, the class scans a QR code and joins in on their phones: quiz, word cloud, learning game. Results appear live on the board. At the end, a certificate of participation via an email link. In the “Digital Self-Defence” course, the phishing training is added with parental consent: three simulated scam attempts by email; there, only those who take part get the certificate.
Staff training
Staff training day or at your own pace · around 45 minutes online course plus a practical part over a few weeks · with a training certificate
The same phishing course with a follow-up practical test that businesses book. The head teacher enters the teachers, each gets a personal link and downloads their own certificate at the end (person, topic, content, duration). Beforehand: involve the staff council; templates are ready.
Parents’ evening
about 30 minutes’ talk plus questions · letter to parents as a template · on request I’ll come myself, free of charge
What chatbots can do, where they get things wrong, the learning trap, data and deepfakes, three rules for school and family. The content matches the AI block of the Media Literacy course, so home and classroom speak the same language. If you’d like to run the evening yourself, use the course PDF as a basis.
I’ll come in person on request. That’s free too.
A student workshop in a double lesson, a live demo in front of the class, or a talk for the staff or at a parents’ evening. We’ll sort out timing and region by phone; before the summer holidays, after reports and for staff training days in autumn there’s usually a slot. Topics I bring:
- “Cybersecurity: discover the world of hackers” for school classes: plenty of live examples of how attacks really unfold and how to protect yourself
- “Digital security in the workplace” for older classes, work experience and careers guidance
- For staff and parents: AI at school, phishing at schools, security awareness at schools
Three series, on their own or building on each other.
“Getting Started Safely Online” is written for grades 5 and 6, “Media Literacy” for grades 7 to 9, “Digital Self-Defence” for grades 8 to 10. All address the students informally, are spread over several lessons, and the lessons follow the order of the Lesehilfe (the official reading guide): under each lesson you’ll see which grade and which competence area it covers. Lessons marked “Supplement” aren’t required by the curriculum; they add the practical side.
Getting Started Safely Online
Grades 5 and 6 · 10 lessons · approx. 90 minutes · 21 interactive tasks
Phone, class chat, first accounts of your own: how to be smart and safe online from day one, without anyone spoiling the fun.
- Your Day with Your Phone
Grade 5/6 · Digitality and participation - Advertising: Why the Game Is Free
Grade 5/6 · Digitality and participation - Agree? What You Sign When You Create an Account
Grade 5/6 · Digitality and participation - Who Do You Tell What? Your Data Online
Grade 5/6 · Digitality and participation - Is That True? Checking Information
Grade 5/6 · Information and data - The Class Chat
Grade 5/6 · Communication and security - Strangers Online: Who's Messaging You?
Grade 5/6 · Communication and security - Your Lock: Password and Screen Lock
Grade 5/6 · Communication and security - Where Is My Photo Stored?
Grade 5/6 · Communication and security - Summary: Your Starter Toolkit
Supplement · Summary
Complete content with summary, curriculum mapping and all quiz questions. No registration needed. The answers are deliberately left out; only you can see them in the Cockpit.
Digital Self-Defence for Students
Grades 8 to 10 · 13 lessons · approx. 90 minutes · 26 interactive tasks
What you need to know about phishing, social media, gaming and your data so you can stay safe online.
- Introduction: What Does the Internet Know About You?
Grade 5/6 · Digitality and participation - Social Media: What Your Apps Really Know About You
Grade 5/6 · Digitality and participation - Your Data, Your Rights: What the Law Says
Grade 5/6 · Digitality and participation - Data Protection at Work: Why Secrets Are Worth Money Later
Supplement · Data protection in practice (2016 curriculum, 3.1.4 (6)) - Fake Profiles, Catfishing and Social Engineering
Grade 7 · Digitality and participation - Deepfakes and Fake Voices: Don't Trust Everything You See and Hear
Grade 7 · Digitality and participation - Gaming: Account Theft, Scams and How to Protect Yourself
Supplement · Everyday scams in practice - Where is my message right now? How the internet works
Grade 5/6 · Communication and security - Encryption: the padlock in the browser and the Caesar trick
Grade 7 · Communication and security - Passwords and Accounts: What Belongs to You and What You Never Share
Grade 5/6 · Communication and security - Securing Your Smartphone: PIN, Apps and Permissions
Grade 5/6 · Communication and security - Recognising Phishing, Even When It Looks Like Your Favourite Game
Supplement · Phishing in practice - Summary: Your Digital Toolkit
Supplement · Summary
Complete content with summary, curriculum mapping and all quiz questions. No registration needed. The answers are deliberately left out; only you can see them in the Cockpit.
Media literacy for students
Grades 7 to 9 · 15 lessons · approx. 90 minutes · 22 interactive tasks
News, AI images, algorithms and advertising: how to make sense of what you are shown, and what you are allowed to post yourself.
- Getting started: how much media is actually in your day?
Grade 5/6 · Digitality and participation - Why do you see exactly this? Algorithms and filter bubbles
Grade 7 · Digitality and participation - Advertising, influencers and the money behind them
Grade 5/6 · Digitality and participation - Gaming: Why You Can’t Stop
Grade 7 · Digitality and participation - How a news story is made and how you recognise quality
Grade 5/6 · Information and data - Fake news and disinformation: the fact-check game
Grade 5/6 · Information and data - AI images, deepfakes and chatbots
Grade 7 · Information and data - What AI tools are – and how they "think"
Grade 5/6 · Information and data - Which AI tools exist – and from what age you may use them
Grade 5/6 · Digitality and participation - AI always sounds sure – even when it is wrong
Grade 5/6 · Information and data - The learning trap: if you let AI do the thinking, you learn nothing
Supplement · Learning with AI in practice - Using AI cleverly and safely
Grade 5/6 · Communication and security - Cyberbullying: recognise it, respond, get help
Grade 5/6 · Communication and security - Are you allowed to post that? Rights to your own image, memes and music
Grade 5/6 · Communication and security / Digital working - Your media toolbox
Supplement · Summary
Complete content with summary, curriculum mapping and all quiz questions. No registration needed. The answers are deliberately left out; only you can see them in the Cockpit.
Proper lessons, not an add-on event.
Since 2025/26 the state has been introducing the compulsory subject Informatik und Medienbildung (Computer Science and Media Education). Until its curriculum takes effect in 2027/28, the Lesehilfe Informatik und Medienbildung für die Klassen 5 bis 7 (reading guide for grades 5 to 7) applies (Ministry of Education and ZSL, July 2026); for grades 8 to 10 the 2016 curriculum with its Media Education guiding perspective still applies. The new guiding perspective is called “Leben und Lernen in einer digitalisierten Welt” (Living and Learning in a Digitalised World). All three courses are mapped to these requirements lesson by lesson, so you can justify them to your colleagues as proper lessons. The courses deliberately don’t cover algorithms and digital working; that stays with subject teaching.
The mapping is my professional assessment, not an official approval. As of 03.10.2026; sources at the end of this section.
Getting Started Safely Online
Grades 5 and 6 (about 10 to 12 years old) · two double lessons or four single lessons; lessons can be used individually
The introduction to the new subject Informatik und Medienbildung (Computer Science and Media Education): follows the reading guide for grades 5 and 6 in the areas of digitality and participation, information and data, and communication and security. Algorithms and digital working stay with subject teaching.
Fields of action of the LDW guiding perspective: Acting responsibly and protecting, Communicating, cooperating and acting digitally, Gathering, understanding and evaluating information, Analysing media and the media society
Competences in the Lesehilfe Informatik und Medienbildung (reading guide)
| Area | Competence | Lessons |
|---|---|---|
| Digitality and participation | Rules for media use at school; describe and reflect on your own media use; identify advertising and explain how it is chosen; terms and conditions of apps; situations where data is collected and the interests of those involved | Your Day with Your Phone, Advertising, Agree?, Who Do You Tell What? |
| Information and data | Check information against criteria; criteria for trustworthiness; basic workings of an index-based search | Is That True? |
| Communication and security | Communication in the digital space (class chat, rules, consequences); hurtful behaviour, sources of help and ways to report; protecting your own access; storage locations and the path of a message; the right to your own image | The Class Chat, Strangers Online, Your Lock, Where Is My Photo Stored? |
2016 curriculum (grades 8 to 10)
- Basic course in media education, grade 5 (becomes part of IuM): 3.1.3 Communication and cooperation (rules online, private data, cyberbullying), 3.1.4 Media society, 3.1.1 Information and knowledge
Digital Self-Defence for Students
Grades 8 to 10 (about 13 to 16 years old) · two double lessons or four single lessons; lessons can be used individually
Fits into Informatik und Medienbildung (Computer Science and Media Education), cover and project lessons, and as a building block of the guiding perspective in German, social studies, economics/careers (WBS) and ethics.
Fields of action of the LDW guiding perspective: Acting responsibly and protecting, Communicating, cooperating and acting digitally, Gathering, understanding and evaluating information
Competences in the Lesehilfe Informatik und Medienbildung (reading guide)
| Area | Competence | Lessons |
|---|---|---|
| Communication and security | Explain personal reasons for protecting your own access; describe and apply measures to protect your own access | Passwords and Accounts, Securing Your Smartphone |
| Communication and security | Describe the internet as a meshed network and the path of a message; the client-server principle; compare storage locations (device, server, cloud) by availability, security and operator | Where is my message right now? How the internet works |
| Communication and security | Name reasons and everyday examples for encryption; describe transport and end-to-end encryption; carry out the Caesar cipher and assess its security | Encryption: the padlock in the browser and the Caesar trick |
| Digitality and participation | Name situations in which personal data is collected; explain the interests of those involved; reflect on your own media use in the light of informational self-determination | What Does the Internet Know About You, Social Media, Your Data, Your Rights |
| Digitality and participation | Identify signs of disinformation; engage with fake news and deepfakes | Fake Profiles and Social Engineering, Deepfakes and Fake Voices |
| Digitality and participation | Identify monetisation models of digital games; reflect on your own use | Gaming: Account Theft, Scams and In-Game Fraud |
2016 curriculum (grades 8 to 10)
- Media Education guiding perspective: Informational self-determination and data protection, protection of minors in the media, communication and cooperation, IT fundamentals
- Advanced course in computer science, 3.1.3 Computers and networks / 3.1.4 Information society and data security: Structure of computer networks; (1) reasons for encryption, (2) the Caesar cipher, (3) brute-force attacks, (4) security aspects of mobile devices and protective measures, (6) where personal data arises, benefits and risks
Media literacy for students
Grades 7 to 9 (about 12 to 15 years old) · two double lessons or four single lessons; the AI block also works as a double lesson on its own
In grade 7 it covers the reading guide focus “manipulation through media” almost completely, and in grades 8 and 9 it supports the Media Education guiding perspective in German, social studies, ethics and art.
Fields of action of the LDW guiding perspective: Analysing media and the media society, Gathering, understanding and evaluating information, Acting responsibly and protecting, Using digital tools and algorithmic thinking
Competences in the Lesehilfe Informatik und Medienbildung (reading guide)
| Area | Competence | Lessons |
|---|---|---|
| Digitality and participation (grade 7: gaming and manipulation through media) | Actors in the digital space and their interests; influence through algorithms, ratings, advertising; assessing trustworthiness; fake news and deepfakes; psychological and social aspects of gaming, monetisation | How a News Story Is Made, Fake News, AI Images and Deepfakes, Algorithms, Advertising and Influencers, Gaming: Why You Can’t Stop |
| Information and data | Check information against criteria; criteria for trustworthiness; AI-generated research results can lead to misjudgements | AI block: What AI Tools Are, AI Always Sounds Sure, The Learning Trap, Using AI Cleverly and Safely |
| Communication and security | Describe features of hurtful behaviour (cyberbullying, hate speech); name strategies, sources of help and ways to report | Cyberbullying |
| Digital working | Describe forms of technical alteration and manipulation of media; apply copyright rules and the right to your own image | AI Images and Deepfakes, Image Rights |
2016 curriculum (grades 8 to 10)
- Media Education guiding perspective: Media analysis, media society, information and knowledge, protection of minors in the media, production and presentation
- Advanced course in computer science, 3.1.4 Information society and data security: (5) The right to your own image and copyright, (6) personal data arising from the use of services
Sources
- Lesehilfe Informatik und Medienbildung (reading guide for Computer Science and Media Education), grades 5 to 7, school year 2026/27 (KM BW, ZSL)
- Medienbildung (Media Education), Ministry of Education of Baden-Württemberg (LDW guiding perspective, compulsory subject IuM)
- Bildungsplan 2016 (2016 curriculum), Media Education guiding perspective
- Bildungsplan 2016 (2016 curriculum), advanced course in computer science, grade 7, 3.1.4 Information society and data security
Four steps, the class does the rest.
Open course
You project the lesson. In the first lesson, the class scans the course code once and signs up. A first name is enough.
Open a task
Quiz question, word cloud or learning game: one click and a QR code appears on the board. The class scans it and joins in on their own phones.
Reveal
Answers appear live on the board. “Reveal answer” marks right and wrong at the front and on every phone at the same time, and you have the solution ready to discuss.
Finish
Once the material is covered, you close the course. Everyone with an email address gets their certificate of participation as a link. In the “Digital Self-Defence” course, this also starts the phishing training for everyone whose parents have agreed; there, the certificate is only given with participation.
Anyone without a phone joins in with their neighbour. Material for a follow-up lesson: the course PDF without answers for the class, the answer key in your Cockpit.
Six games, all following the same pattern.
Open it, show the QR code, the class plays on their phones, the result appears on the board. Then you go through together what stood out. That’s the real learning moment.
Privacy game
Tap the details in a made-up person’s public profile that a stranger could use. The board shows what the class missed.
Operation ORION
An office simulation: find the weak spots of a workplace in five minutes, from the note with the password to the unlocked screen and the unknown USB stick.
Phishing duel
Five messages, real or fake? Then the board shows the tell-tale signs that are easy to miss when reading quickly.
Fact check
Five headlines, real or made up, each with an explanation: from the real picture in the wrong context to the advert dressed up as news.
Password cracker
Type in an example password and the phone shows the estimated time to crack it. Only the pattern type is sent, never the input.
Permissions check
Assess app permissions: what does the torch really need? The board compares the class majority with the right answer.
As little data as possible, and here that’s not just a footnote.
A course about handling data carefully must not itself be a data collection exercise. That’s why the process is deliberately lean, and why there’s a sheet you can pass straight on to the data protection officer and the school’s governing body.
Data protection sheet for schools DPA as PDF
If you want something deleted, let me know. Then it’s gone, no form and no waiting period.
- No student accounts, no app, no email registration. A first name is enough to join in
- An email address is optional and only used for the certificate link; the phishing training exists only in the “Digital Self-Defence” course and only with parental consent
- Addresses are visible only in the Cockpit, never in the class’s course view
- In simulated attacks a password is never stored, only the fact that one was entered
- Certificate data deletes itself after 60 days
- Servers in Germany (IONOS), no sharing, no tracking, data processing agreement ready
Material that works without me.
You don’t need to set anything up to see whether this suits your school. And the answers to what the school office, staff council and parents will ask are already here.
Getting Started Safely Online as PDF
All 10 lessons in full, summary and curriculum mapping at the front, all quiz questions. Without answers; only you see those in the Cockpit.
Digital Self-Defence for Students as PDF
All 13 lessons in full, summary and curriculum mapping at the front, all quiz questions. Without answers; only you see those in the Cockpit.
Media literacy for students as PDF
All 15 lessons in full, summary and curriculum mapping at the front, all quiz questions. Without answers; only you see those in the Cockpit.
Information sheet about the speaker and secureIT
One page for the school office, the head teacher and parents: who is coming, qualifications and teaching experience, the offer for schools and why it’s free.
Data protection sheet for schools
One page for the data protection officer and the school’s governing body: what is stored, what isn’t, where the data is kept, legal bases.
Staff council pack
Model staff agreement and information sheet for colleagues, so the training with a phishing test can be properly agreed. Adapted from the works council templates.
Letter to parents as a template
Explains the lesson series and its data protection to parents, with a reply slip for the optional email address. Add the school letterhead and you’re done.
Office game “Operation ORION”
Five minutes hunting for weak spots in the office. Also works as an opener for staff.
Free self-test
Three simulated phishing emails to your own address. A good way to experience first-hand what the course is about.
Knowledge & articles
Background on current scams, useful as a hook for a lesson.
Who’s behind it
A person, not a sales team.
My name is Patrick Ihle. secureIT is a one-man business from the Breisgau region, and for schools that’s an advantage: you know who’s coming, and you always talk to the same person.
I hold a Dipl.-Ing. degree in information technology, network and software engineering (BA), and have worked full-time in IT security for many years, regularly for public authorities, law enforcement and medical laboratories. I’m also an external lecturer at DHBW Lörrach (Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University), teach courses at schools and at the adult education centre, and have trained students and apprentices for over 20 years.
There’s no product advertising in the lessons, not even for mine.
Register for free
School name, your email address, one sentence about the school. That’s all it takes. I check activation by hand, usually the same day.
Register your school Ask a question first +49 157 58278025One account for the school, one login per teacher. Each sees only their own courses. Nothing to cancel, because it costs nothing.
What teachers and head teachers want to know beforehand.
What does this cost our school, and what’s the catch?
Do students have to register with an email address?
Do we need the staff council for the staff training?
Does the staff training count as evidence of training?
What about children without a smartphone?
Do I have to get through the course in one lesson?
What happens in the phishing test at the end, and in which course?
Do we get results for individual students or teachers?
Does it work on the school network?
How much preparation does the teacher need?
Frequently asked questions
What does it cost for schools?
Does it fit into lessons?
Do students have to register?
Is this a subscription?
What does it cost?
Does the effect of a one-off training actually last?
Do I need an IT department for this?
How does training with you work?
Will anyone on our team be singled out or monitored?
Does this cover GDPR, NIS2, ISO 27001 or insurance requirements?
What happens when staff change?
Do I get proof of training or a certificate?
Does this also cover AI fraud and deepfakes?
Are schools and non-profit associations really free of charge?
How quickly can I start?
Your question is not listed?
Ask me directly. You only need to give an email address if you want to receive my answer.