ABSTRACT

The significance and importance of this project resides in the diversification and broadening of the STEM talent pipeline in cybersecurity in predominantly undergraduate and liberal arts schools (small institutions). This is achieved by the creation of a curriculum that accommodates students of different levels of computer literacy, that focuses on experiential learning, and that utilizes institutional collaboration via cloud computing. This project will mitigate the challenges small institutions currently face in the cybersecurity area, for example, a tight computer science curriculum and the inability to support the expensive infrastructure required for cybersecurity education. Integrated into this project is research as to whether using this new curriculum and the related online projects, students will attain the same, or an increase, level of cybersecurity learning.

This project will address the above challenges by creating a range of cybersecurity learning opportunities that emphasize hands-on and realistic experimentation for students in small institutions. First, this project will attract a diverse population of students by introducing cybersecurity topics through multiple paths of study and engagement. Students will be introduced to cybersecurity concepts through manageable, stand alone course modules and laboratory exercises. Interested students can study further by taking two cybersecurity focused courses and cybersecurity capstone projects created by this project. Using all these materials students can create a cybersecurity concentration. Second, the project will use the Global Environment for Network Innovation (GENI) infrastructure in the development of empirical labs and the capstone project assignments. GENI offers an affordable cloud solution to small institutions that lack the infrastructure to support sophisticated computer labs. The learning impact of the new curriculum will be evaluated by quantitative competency assessments that are administered yearly. Student cybersecurity persistence will be assessed by a longitudinal study of the number of cybersecurity courses taken during a student's course of study. Qualitative assessment of the curriculum will take the form of student interviews and focus groups to gauge attitude towards course modules, perception of learning gains and comfort level with the pedagogies employed. In addition to the collaboration of three college level institutions, this project will leverage relationships with local community colleges to further develop a cybersecurity workforce. This partnership provides a diverse set of students that will support the evidence-based evaluation of student cybersecurity learning via this approach.

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