Active Learning Approaches to Teaching Information Assurance

1. Active Learning Approaches to TeachingInformation Assurance Christy Chatmonand Hongmei Chi Based on paper published in: InfoSecCD 2010 Information Security Curriculum Development Conference

2. Overview • Information Assurance (IA) at FAMU • Our Active Learning (AL) approaches to teach IA • Student responses • Conclusions/Future Works • Questions

3. IA at FAMU & CIS • FAMU became a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education (CAE-IAE) [2012-2017] • Led by the CIS department • Designated by National Security Agency & Department of Homeland Security officially on June 11, 2012 • Positive track record in IA Education for CIS • Three-course undergraduate IA curriculum track certified by NSA and CNSS training standards • NSTISSI 4011(INFOSEC Professional) [2008-13] • NSTISSI 4012(Senior Systems Manager) [2010-15]

4. IA at FAMU & CIS • Other Highlights: • Numerous CIS graduates who have completed the IA Certificate Program are employed in the intelligence community • IA professional interaction with IA courses • IA workshops for local community • Graduate IA courses and thesis

5. Activity #1: • Question: • What are some problems with the traditional classroom lecture as the instructional method? • What is Active Learning? • What are some advantages to incorporating Active Learning activities as an instructional method? • Consider your answer to the questions above (~2 min) • Discuss your answers with your neighbor (~3 min) • Let’s Discuss! (~2 min)

6. Active/Collaborative Learning • What is Active Learning? • Planned activities to engage the participant as a “partner” in the activity • Student learns by doing [Felder & Brent (2003)] • “Anything that involves students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing” “Any instructional method that involves the students in the learning process” [Morgan et al (2005)] • “The direct involvement of students in their own learning process” [Sampson & Jackson (2007)] • “Active learning project could generate additional student engagement by involving the students in learning to use a new technology that they might expect to encounter in the workplace after graduation” [Platt & Peach (2008)]

7. Active/Collaborative Learning • Advantages of using AL approaches: • Information Retention • Student-Faculty Interaction • Student-Student Interaction • Academic Achievements (i.e., grades) • Higher-level Thinking Skills • Teamwork • Attitude towards the subject and motivation to learn

8. Active/Collaborative Learning • Active Learning Techniques: • Collaborative Learning • Think/write-pair-share • Cooperative Learning • Cooperative groups, concept mapping, and debates • Problem-Based Learning • Learning by Doing • “Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I’ll understand” – Confucius (Chinese famous educator)

9. Active/Collaborative Learning • The Learning Process (Bloom’s Taxonomy)

10. Activity #2: Results

11. Activity #2: • Advantages of • Use standard web technology to obtain live audience response in any venue (conferences, presentations, classrooms, radio, TV - anywhere) • Works internationally with texting, web, or Twitter • Its FREE! • How it works? • Ask a question • Audience answers using above technologies • Responses are displayed live in Keynote, PowerPoint, or the web

12. Our Approach - AL in IA • Virtual laboratory exercises • Online cooperative group discussions • Think-pair-share activities • Student generated labs • Student-led current event reviews

13. Our Approach - AL in IA • Virtual IA laboratory exercises • Advantages: • Supports distance education • Resource sharing & cost savings • Potential to improve educational outcomes • Easier setup and implementation • Video tutorials (explanation & reinforce concepts)

14. Our Approach - AL in IA Examples of Virtual Laboratory Exercises

15. Our Approach - AL in IA • Online cooperative group discussions • Advantages: • Students utilize critical thinking skills • Students participate more regularly and more thoughtfully than face-to-face • Students develop stronger class community • Students are more likely to cite research and class readings • Students achieve greater cognitive and exploratory learning • Faculty members spend less time answer questions (students often answer each others questions) • Students have greater sense of race and gender-based equality

16. Our Approach - AL in IA • Think-Pair-Share Activities • Think • Students think independently • Pair • Students grouped in pairs to discuss their thoughts • Share • Student pairs share their ideas with class • Learning is enhanced when given opportunity to elaborate on ideas through talk

17. Our Approach - AL in IA • Think-Pair-Share Activities • Example Discussion Question: • What would you recommend as a punishment for a policy violation involving removal of confidential records for a “harmless” reason like catching up on reading them at home? Would your recommended punishment be different if the violator used them for a different purpose, perhaps using them to perform identity theft? [Whitman, M. and Mattord, H.]

18. Our Approach - AL in IA • Student generated labs • Adaptation of “Quiz/Test Questions” approach with Cooperative Groups strategy • Think more deeply about course material • Explore major themes • Higher-order thinking skills • Student groups create hands-on laboratory assignment to be administered to their peers • Mastery of foundational IA skills • Self-directed

19. Our Approach - AL in IA • Student generated labs example • Topic: Explore tools for network monitoring and traffic analysis. • Group selected Netflow analyzer from SolarWinds

20. Student Responses • Feedback from a few students: • “I like all those hands-on labs and the most interesting lab is that I can design my [own] labs and learn free source tools.” • “The hands on labs and the in-class discussions made me want to learn more about security.”

21. Future IA-AL Activities • Introduce the following AL activities in IA Curriculum: • Capture the Flag (Cybersecurity challenge) • CyberCIEGE Video Game • Video game and tool to teach IA concepts • Ubiquitous Presenter • Annotate pre-prepared slides & students create submissions for in-class activities (Just in Time Teaching) • Develop IA active learning modules to be included in CIS core courses & non-CS majors courses to increase IA awareness • Expand IA education at FAMU by offering e-learning opportunities incorporating various active learning approaches

22. Future IA-AL Activities“CyberCiege”

23. Future IA-AL Activities“Ubiquitous Presenter”

24. Conclusion • Active learning instruction requires transition in teaching style from instructor-centered to student-centered • Numerous benefits for student in student-centered instruction (problem-solving, creativity, teamwork, etc.) • AL Considerations • Selecting appropriate AL Strategies to ensure coverage of Course Learning Objectives • Classroom size • Physical environment • Technologies needed • Requires time to prepare AL activities • Etc.

25. Activity #3: Results

26. Questions?

27. References • CyberCIEGE • http://cisr.nps.edu/cyberciege/ • Poll Everywhere • http://www.polleverywhere.com/ • Ubiquitous Presenter • http://up.ucsd.edu/ • http://up.ucsd.edu/about/WhatIsUP.html