Two factors are vitally important when training students to become computer security and information assurance (CSIA) professionals. First, students must be well educated in the technical aspects of the field. In addition, students must be aware of the social, legal, and ethical implications of deploying CSIA technologies. An awareness of the contextual (social, legal, and ethical) factors is necessary both to discourage harmful use of potentially dangerous knowledge and to encourage due care in the use of that knowledge even when intentions are honorable. This exploratory project is creating, using, and evaluating innovative learning materials for CSIA education. These learning materials are integrating the technical aspects of CSIA with contextual elements and hands-on laboratory experiences. The materials are being refined through use in a classroom setting, with ongoing formal evaluation activities providing feedback.
Broader Impacts The broader impacts of this work include producing CSIA professionals who appreciate the relevance of contextual issues in: solving technical problems, broadening the participation of women through an integrative curriculum that applies research in integrative learning to a CSIA curriculum, and creating innovative learning materials to be widely disseminated for use at universities offering CSIA courses and in other STEM disciplines.
Intellectual Merit The intellectual merit of this work is based on developing an innovative integrative approach to CSIA while still enabling the use of existing, well-established technical resources; working as an interdisciplinary collaborative team including participants with backgrounds in computer science, sociology, and cognitive psychology; and building upon a promising integrative curriculum framework and existing laboratory resources assembled under prior NSF support.
