SaTC: EDU: Preparing cybersecurity advanced professionals for teaching next generation of cybersecurity workforce

Marymount University, Arlington VA

Investigators

Abstract

The "Preparing Cybersecurity Advanced Professionals for Teaching Next Generation of Cybersecurity students (CyberTeach)" project will prepare 30 experienced cybersecurity professionals, currently enrolled in a doctoral program in cybersecurity, to become effective educators at the high school (dual-enrollment), community college, and 4-year university levels. There is currently a shortage of cybersecurity educators and academic jobs in cybersecurity vastly outnumber applicants. Only 20% of traditional cybersecurity PhD students are selecting academia, most going to the private sector, and so a different approach is necessary. This project is designed to remove some of the barriers for working cybersecurity professionals to enter academia. Evidence, particularly in the STEM field, indicates that stronger knowledge of education principles and practices, leads to better teaching. The result of this project should be additional and more diverse educators, including females, with extensive cybersecurity experience, who can offer better cybersecurity education to address the current shortage in the cybersecurity workforce. The curriculum and project assessment results will be widely disseminated for application at a variety of community colleges and 4-year institutions. The project develops a credentialing program for high-level cybersecurity professionals, currently enrolled in a cybersecurity terminal-degree program, to expand their skills in areas such as innovative teaching strategies, engaging students in the classroom, assessing student learning through different strategies, incorporating student research into a course, and preparing for the workforce. Doctoral students learn how to teach from educational professionals based on the science behind the education field and apply their cybersecurity knowledge in a structured manner to a diverse set of students. The doctoral students practice what they learn in one or two mentored teaching semester-long assignments at a variety of institutions. Education and cybersecurity faculty evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching throughout the designated courses and provide guidance from curriculum development to assessment. Results of these courses are evaluated against other courses taught by doctoral students who have not been through the credentialing program. Students are incentivized to participate in the credentialing program and to teach by tuition-reimbursement grants for their doctoral programs. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.