New Program Teaches Students Civics

Middle school students across the state of Florida and all over the United States are learning civics through a program developed by the University of Central Florida’s Lou Frey Institute.

Civics360 is an interactive civics review website provided by the Lou Frey Institute’s Florida Joint Center for Citizenship. It evolved from the Escambia County Civics Review Site with the help of the institute’s web development team. Official development began last summer.

The goal of the new website, which officially went online in early April 2017, is to provide study materials and assessments to help middle school students understand civics. The study sessions are designed to be accessible for a variety of class lengths.

Stephen Masyada, Ph.D., director of the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship, said that the site was made to continue the institute’s work with students and teachers across the U.S.

“We provide a variety of resources and professional development for civics educators,” Masyada said. “Civics360, at this point, is our crown jewel resource.”

Other states and school systems across the country are welcome to use the content on the website, even though much of it is specific to the state of Florida. With only a month since the website’s launch, there are currently about 15 thousand registered users in Florida and about a thousand nationwide.

The development team is actively adding new exercises and assessments to give students plenty of resources. Masyada said that he only expects the program to keep growing.