The Future of Education

Cybersecurity topics which make it into textbooks have historically been developed from real world threats which have been actualized in the real world.  In fact, most risk management frameworks require cybersecurity threats to be ranked by a probability metric such as a likelihood and an impact score.  Cybersecurity therefore is unlike other computing fields as it is most likely not developed in any part in isolation from the real world.  This strong real world connection of the field can be emphasized directly to the student through regular cybersecurity lab and demo exercises.  Our research contributes an new approach to cybersecurity learning through regular (i.e. weekly) lab demonstrations by either or both the instructor or students.  The paper discusses a curriculum design where the cloud is employed for live cybersecurity demos to the students.  A cloud service provider such as Amazon, Microsoft, or Google, can be employed in the classroom setting for the cybersecurity teaching and learnings. In some cases, our research has identified that these major cloud service providers offer free services for education.  Our research can be used to guide further future curriculum designs gaps in cybersecurity or computing where traditional lab environments and resources are not available to both faculty and students.

Keywords: Cybersecurity, Teaching, Learning, Real Threats, Instructional Labs;

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