The Partnership

Acronis Cyber Foundation, the CSR arm of global cybersecurity company Acronis, supports initiatives that bring digital skills and safety education to underserved communities worldwide. They wanted to create e-learning content that could reach young learners at scale: something engaging enough to hold attention, rigorous enough to build real skills, and flexible enough to work across different educational settings.

We partnered with Acronis to design and develop a suite of gamified e-learning modules on cyber hygiene and online privacy for 7–14 year olds. The goal wasn't just to produce content, but to create a resource that could be deployed by non-profits and educational institutions globally through Acronis' philanthropic network.

Learning Through Play

E-learning content for children fails when it feels like a digital worksheet. We developed an original storyline set in a futuristic cyber landscape, weaving themes of sports, games, and adventure throughout the modules. The narrative gives students a reason to progress—they're not just completing lessons, they're moving through a story.

Each module integrates mini-games aligned to specific learning objectives. The gamification approach draws on research showing that interactive challenge and immediate feedback significantly improve retention.

Built on Solid Pedagogy

Underneath the engaging surface, every module is grounded in our Internet Independent Framework. The content covers foundational cyber hygiene and privacy concepts in a structured, age-appropriate progression. Storytelling and games serve the learning objectives, not the other way around.

The modules were built to be LMS-compatible, allowing seamless integration into existing learning management systems used by schools and non-profits. We also developed supplementary teaching guides so educators can incorporate the e-learning content into classroom instruction — supporting a blended approach that combines digital modules with teacher-led discussion.

Why This Approach Works

Traditional cyber safety education often relies on warnings and rules: don't click this, don't share that. For young learners, this approach struggles to compete with the immersive, interactive experiences they encounter everywhere else online. By meeting students in a format they find genuinely engaging—story-driven, game-based, visually dynamic—the content has a better chance of being absorbed rather than ignored.

The result is a resource that organisations in Acronis' network can deploy confidently, knowing it's both educationally sound and designed to hold young learners' attention.