IT & Cybersecurity Training for Higher Ed | ACI Learning

Prepare students for IT careers, not just exams

IT & cybersecurity solutions for higher education

Hands-on Skill Labs and simple LMS integration help your program prove outcomes, save faculty time, and give students real-world IT and cybersecurity experience before they walk into their first interview.

Explore Skill LabsSee LMS Integration

Trusted by 2-year, 4-year, and CTE programs nationwide
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Students learning IT and cybersecurity skills on a computer
1,000+
Skill Labs Across the Curriculum
500,000+
Learners Served
14M+
Lab Sessions Completed
“
I consider myself a professor of practice. There is no better theory without practice, and there is no good practice without theory.
Dr. Pedro Diaz-Gomez
Professor of Cybersecurity · 10+ years teaching with ACI Skill Labs
4.8M
Unfilled cybersecurity roles globally
Source: (ISC)² Cybersecurity Workforce Study, 2024

Employers need job-ready graduates, not just credentialed ones.

Hands-on experience is often what separates a resume that earns an interview from one that gets overlooked. At the same time, AI is reshaping what employers expect from entry-level candidates. Programs that don't keep pace risk falling behind employer needs.

ACI Skill Labs gives students real-world practice in authentic environments while providing the data and reporting your program needs to demonstrate outcomes.

We’re proud to partner with institutions like

Designed to solve what your program is up against

Whatever's driving the conversation on your campus, there's a good chance we've already helped solve for it.

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Stronger enrollment

Give students the hands-on, demonstrable skills that make your program stand out.

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More for your budget

Deliver job-ready skills without stretching faculty time or department resources

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Accreditation-friendly

Give accreditors the evidence they ask for without adding administrative work

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Faculty time back

Grow enrollment and lab capacity with pre-built, auto-graded labs that won't increase faculty workload

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AI-ready curriculum

Modernize fast with AI Skill Labs that supplement your courses or stand on their own.

Built for everyone in your program

For Administrators & Deans

Demonstrate outcomes. Strengthen your program.

  • Cert-aligned, industry-informed curriculum with measurable, marketable outcomes.
  • Generate the data needed to support accreditation, workforce funding, and program improvement.
  • Deliver career-ready graduates that make your program stand out to prospective students.

For Faculty & Instructors

Spend more time teaching, less time troubleshooting.

  • Zero-prep, browser-based, auto-graded labs—no building, maintaining, or manual grading.
  • Real VMs for genuine skills in environments students will actually use on the job.
  • Full integration with your campus LMS, with reporting built in.

For CTE & Workforce Leaders

Stay aligned to employer demand, on budget.

  • A constantly updated catalog tied directly to workforce demand.
  • Budget-friendly pricing that fits Perkins funding and CTE program constraints.
  • Employer-aligned pathways that support placement and advisory board goals.

For Students

Proof they can do the job—not just a grade that says they studied.

  • Hands-on practice in real environments, not simulations, using the same tools employers expect on day one.
  • A stronger resume and real interview stories, built from work they can point to.
  • Retry-friendly practice that builds confidence before their first internship or job.

Ready to drop into your curriculum

Skip the infrastructure setup and lab development work — Get students into virtual IT labs this semester, not next year.

Share your syllabus

Send your course objectives—a matching or custom lab set comes back at no additional cost.

Connect it, or don't

Integrate with your LMS for grade passback, or give students standalone access—zero infrastructure for your IT team either way.

Launch this term

Browser-based and auto-graded from day one, so there's no ramp-up before your first class meets.

Want the full picture on LTI setup, supported platforms, and onboarding? See LMS Integration →

Why ACI Learning Wins for Higher Ed

Skill Labs is the only solution built from the ground up to solve for hands-on IT and cyber skills in higher education.

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Real Virtual Machines

Students work in genuine environments - Wireshark, Linux, Metasploit, and more - for safe, effective skill-building.

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Cert-aligned, exam-mapped

Mapped to CompTIA, Cisco, AWS, Microsoft, and more, so students prep for jobs and certifications at once.

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Custom lab sets, no cost

Get a lab set mapped to your exact syllabus or program objectives—no lab-writing burden on faculty.

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Provable learning outcomes

Auto-grading, instructor dashboards, and AI-proof challenges show what students can do, not just complete.

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Zero infrastructure

Fully browser-based—no servers, licensing risk, or maintenance for your IT team to manage.

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AI-proof integrity

Encourages skill-building and critical thinking while reducing reliance on AI shortcuts.

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Now Available: AI Skill Labs

Build real-world AI skills through hands-on labs designed for IT and cybersecurity roles — writing prompts, analyzing results, automating workflows, and applying security best practices in realistic, job-based scenarios.

  • CompTIA SecAI+
  • Foundational & Applied AI
  • AI Vibe Coding in the Development Lifecycle
  • Agentic AI: Building, Extending, and Securing a Personal AI Agent (coming soon)
Explore Skill Labs

Why educators love Skill Labs

Curriculum Alignment
I consider myself a professor of practice. There is no better theory without practice, and there is no good practice without theory.
Dr. Pedro Diaz-Gomez
Professor of Cybersecurity
10+ years using Skill Labs · Labs are ~40% of the final course grade
Read the User Story
Career Outcomes
The VMs are there, they’re all set up and ready for you. You’re not wasting any time — you’re just immediately learning something pretty valuable.
José Gaspar
Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst & Cybersecurity Instructor
Teaches across two universities and a leading boot camp
Read the User Story
Custom Lab Sets
Having a student go into a lab and actually perform the public key encryption is really valuable versus just presenting slides on the topic.
Brandon Mowery
Adjunct Professor, Master’s Cybersecurity Courses
Neumann University · Built a custom 20-lab cryptography set
Read the User Story
Ed Tech Breakthrough Award winner 2026

ACI Learning recognized for Career Development Innovation by EdTech Breakthrough Awards for the third consecutive year

Read the Press Release

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