The "Story-Centered Curriculum" model, pioneered at Carnegie-Mellon University - West, is applied to the development of a six unit network security course. The project adapts, tests, refines and disseminates an experiential learning model to develop a workforce fully prepared for the workplace in network security. Community college students and returning learners are educated through a sequence of carefully devised tasks and problems that simulate an authentic work experience. The story provides a coherent framework that has students working on both long-term objectives and day-to-day operations. The model is learning by doing with goal-based scenarios. In response to the high interest by employers, network security is the subject of the pilot program. The role of the faculty changes to deciding on and facilitating scenarios and providing just in time tutorials rather than providing information that is readily available elsewhere. Faculty and mentor development are supported. SRI provides the formative and summative evaluation. The pilot tested model can be expanded to include more of the information technology curriculum and can be applied to other curricula.
