Request InformationMASK NextGen prepares students to be safe, competent, and ethical users of AI while building the practical skills and judgment they need for the workplace.
Most people meet you through a search bar first. The Higher Ed Program is about making sure you like what they find.
Request Information
AI adoption is outpacing AI judgment
Students are being taught to use AI tools, but using them is only part of the challenge. They also need to understand what careless use can cost them in privacy, reputation, judgment, and standing with a future employer. They may be comfortable using these tools but still untested on how to evaluate output, protect confidential information, recognize manipulation, disclose AI use appropriately, or know when human judgment needs to take over. MASK NextGen prepares students to:
The program connects these skills to applied workplace situations, from assessing a digital footprint and evaluating AI output to understanding responsible AI use and information risk.
The goal is to close that gap before it follows a student into an interview, internship, or first job.
Before a student gets the interview, internship, or first job, someone may already have searched their name.
MASK NextGen teaches students to see what others can see, understand how their online activity shapes their professional identity, and take greater control of what they leave behind.
Because a digital footprint is not just about reputation. What students post, share, reveal, and allow others to find can follow them into college and the workplace.
AI readiness should not be limited to computer science
MASK NextGen's postsecondary program is designed for broad access. It is built for community college students, including those who are working, attending part-time, changing careers, or studying outside technical fields.
A nursing student, business student, liberal arts student, marketing student, and computer science student can complete the same core curriculum and earn a directly comparable AI Readiness Score and credential.
No prerequisite coursework is required. The program gives students across majors access to the same core AI readiness and digital safety curriculum while fitting alongside their existing college workload.
Students learn how to:
The program does not stop at explaining how AI works
Students work through situations that resemble decisions they may face in school and on the job:
These are not abstract technology questions.
They are decisions students are increasingly likely to face in professional settings.
Each week's lesson is anchored to a real case so students see the consequences of digital decisions before those consequences become their own.
One case examines a man who was fired days after a clip he neither filmed nor posted reached his employer, less than ten minutes after the first search.
The cases connect subjects such as digital identity, synthetic media, privacy, information security, and AI use to situations students can recognize.
Threats students learn to counter
Each module uses characters and scenarios to turn an abstract digital risk into a specific, recognizable tactic.
Builds trust through charm and false familiarity, then uses it to extract credentials, access, or a moment of poor judgment.
Collects personal, biometric, and behavioral data, turning an exposed digital footprint into information that can be used against someone.
Six modules, six live sessions, a case every week
Students move through six connected modules covering AI readiness, digital identity, cybersecurity, online risk, and responsible technology use.
Six live sessions are led by a working, CISSP-credentialed Chief Information Security Officer. Students see demonstrations, examine real situations, work through scenarios, and discuss how they would respond.
Demonstrations include searches, data-broker records, breach lookups, and a live crisis simulation.
Students examine real cases that connect the curriculum to consequences involving privacy, reputation, security, AI use, and professional judgment.
Platform-based coursework includes chapters, knowledge checks, discussion, and game-based exercises designed to fit alongside a full college course load.
Students work through cases with others, explain their reasoning, respond to different perspectives, and defend their decisions rather than simply select an answer.
Students are evaluated through knowledge checks, platform exercises, discussion, practical work, and a graded capstone or crisis simulation.
Each student receives an AI Readiness Score from 0–100 based on knowledge and applied performance across the program, built from six modules, weekly work, and a graded crisis simulation.
Students who meet the required score threshold earn a certificate connected to the participating college. The credential is based on demonstrated knowledge and applied performance, not attendance or course completion alone.
The result is more than a completion certificate. Students leave with a credential and readiness measure connected to skills they can carry into internships, interviews, and the workplace.
Students complete the program with:
Launched with accredited community colleges
MASK NextGen launched its Higher Education program with Austin Community College, one of two founding accredited community college partners.
MASK NextGen launched its Higher Education program with South Central College, one of two founding accredited community college partners.
MASK NextGen works with ACCT to support the expansion of AI readiness and digital safety education across the community college sector.
Equip. Educate. Empower.
We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe anytime.