Developing Innovative Privacy Learning Modules to Engage Students in Cybersecurity Education

Prairie View A & M University, Prairie View TX

Investigators

Abstract

The rapid development of Internet services such as cloud computing, social networks, and mobile applications has increased attention to privacy protection by both industry and academia. Demand for information security is at an all-time high, creating an urgent shortfall in the national workforce. Despite recognized and critical societal needs, privacy education has not been integrated satisfactorily into undergraduate Computer Science (CS) curricula. A serious lack of effective learning materials to help students understand critical privacy concepts and gain hands-on skills has created a barrier to expanding privacy education. To address this concern and better prepare qualified graduates for the future U.S. workforce, researchers from Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) will collaboratively develop hands-on learning materials on privacy protection and explore optimal integration of privacy into undergraduate cybersecurity education. This project serves the national interest by designing and develop innovative learning modules on cutting-edge privacy topics identified by federal funding priorities to respond to the lack of hands-on based curriculum in privacy and cybersecurity education. These new self-contained learning modules with real-world hands-on labs will not only enrich the CS curricula at the two participating institutions (PVAMU and UTC), but also ensure that they can be easily adopted by other institutions. With these modules, the PIs will revamp related CS core and elective courses, and develop a new course on privacy, which will have profound impacts on both the CS curriculum and student learning at PVAMU and UTC. As an HBCU, underrepresented minorities at PVAMU will benefit from this project. In addition, the project will evaluate the effectiveness of an experiential learning approach based on student learning outcomes, experiences, and motivation, and attitudes toward privacy issues. Project research data, developed learning modules, and teaching materials will be actively disseminated to the research and educational community to benefit other institutions and enrich the NSF cybersecurity learning material repository.