CYBER.ORG —previously known as NICERC— works in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security to empower K-12 educators to provide “technical cybersecurity knowledge and skills” to their students. Through their free and accessible course works, they want to prepare and motivate the next generation to be part of the cybersecurity workforce. As they were already in the process of renaming and rebranding themselves, they were also looking to partner with an agency that would develop a website that was easy to navigate for educators and demonstrated what CYBER.ORG has to offer. Taoti worked with CYBER.ORG to create a modern and approachable website.
Empowering Educators to Teach Cyber
Problem
The organization’s goal with its new website was to create a great user experience for its users, especially educators. Our findings showed that all users wanted a more comprehensive search. The previous site didn’t provide easy access to the exact information each user was looking for, like a specific teaching curriculum or even the registration page. Another goal was to increase the number of teachers that signed up for courses. We found that educators didn’t know if the site was trustworthy because the curriculum and trainings are offered for free, but CYBER.ORG is certified by the government.
Solution
Through our research, we found what users wanted from the CYBER.org website, and our UX experts and developers determined the best way to increase website engagement and the number of teachers signing up for courses. We created an easy to use search feature that yields the exact information educators are looking for and found a way to motivate them to sign up. Our creative team worked with CYBER.ORG’s internal design team to polish the website’s look and feel by creating original icons and graphics to help tell the CYBER.ORG story throughout the site and build trust with users.
Creating a Robust Search Function
We created a robust, custom search functionality that allows educators to search through CYBER.ORG’s curricula. With the more comprehensive search form, a user can now search by unit, course type, and grade to seamlessly browse the curricula where they are then prompted to sign up.
Encouraging Educators to Sign Up
The new multipage signup form allows users to go through the registration process much more efficiently than the previous, long-form submission. It also lets users access the signup form from every curricula page. Thanks to this new process, in the first week after the new website launched, CYBER.ORG received over 100 organic signups, more than they had ever seen before.
