2019-10-23 Undergraduate Curriculum Committee Meeting Minutes

Undergraduate Curriculum Committee meeting minutes for October 23, 2019

Educating the effective digital forensics practitioner: academic, professional, graduate and student perspectives

Over the years, digital forensics has become an important and sought-after profession where the gateway of training and education has developed vastly over the past decade. Many UK higher education (HE) institutions now deliver courses that prepare students for careers in digital forensics and, in most recent advances, cyber security. Skills shortages and external influences attributed within the field of cyber security, and its relationship as a discipline with digital forensics, has shifted the dynamic of UK higher education provisions. The implications of this now sees the route to becoming a digital forensic practitioner, be it in law enforcement or business, transform from on-the-job training to university educated, trained analysts. This thesis examined courses within HE and discovered that the delivery of these courses often overlooked areas such as mobile forensics, live data forensics, Linux and Mac knowledge. This research also considered current standards available across HE to understand whether educational programmes are delivering what is documented as relevant curriculum. Cyber security was found to be the central focus of these standards within inclusion of digital forensics, adding further to the debate and lack of distinctive nature of digital forensics as its own discipline. Few standards demonstrated how the topics, knowledge, skills and competences drawn were identified as relevant and effective for producing digital forensic practitioners. Additionally, this thesis analyses and discusses results from 201 participants across five stakeholder groups: graduates, professionals, academics, students and the public. These areas were selected due to being underdeveloped in existing literature and the crucial role they play in the cycle of producing effective practitioners. Analysis on stakeholder views, experiences and thoughts surrounding education and training offer unique insight, theoretical underpinnings and original contributions not seen in existing literature. For example, challenges, costs and initial issues with introducing graduates to employment for the employers and/or supervising practitioners, the lack of awareness and contextualisation on behalf of students and graduates towards what knowledge and skills they have learned and acquired on a course and its practical application on-the-job which often lead to suggestions of a lack of fundamental knowledge and skills. This is evidenced throughout the thesis, but examples include graduates: for their reflections on education based on their new on-the-job experiences and practices; professionals: for their job experiences and requirements, academics: for their educational practices and challenges; students: their initial expectations and views; and, the public: for their general understanding. This research uniquely captures these perspectives, bolstering the development of digital forensics as an academic discipline, along with the importance these diverse views play in the overall approach to delivering skilled practitioners. While the main contribution to knowledge within this thesis is its narrative focusing on the education of effective digital forensic practitioners and its major stakeholders, this thesis also makes additional contributions both academically and professionally; including the discussion, analysis and reflection of: - improvements for education and digital forensics topics for research and curriculum development; - where course offerings can be improved for institutions offering digital forensic degree programmes; - the need for further collaboration between industry and academia to provide students and graduates with greater understanding of the real-life role of a digital forensic practitioner and the expectations in employment; - continuous and unique challenges within both academia and the industry which digital forensics possess and the need for improved facilities and tool development to curate and share problem and scenario-based learning studies

The Understanding of Digital and Multimedia Evidence (DME) by Attorneys and Digital Forensic Examiners (DFE) within the United States Criminal Justice System

One goal of this research was to determine potential themes that may influence the understanding of Digital and Multimedia Evidence (DME) by attorneys and Digital Forensic Examiners (DFE) within the United States Criminal Justice System. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather information from experienced criminal attorneys and DFEs regarding potential influences on their understanding of DME. The results of these interviews were transcribed, and the data coded to allow for qualitative analysis. Five themes were developed from this data and are thought to play a role in understanding of DME by attorneys and DFEs: motivation for involvement in the criminal justice system (passion for the job, desire to work in law enforcement, monetary gain, sense of ethical obligation, and seeking justice), experience (and knowledge), generational influences (age and the CSI Effect), communication within defined roles, and education/training. These five themes were used as a guide to develop a questionnaire that was then distributed to attorneys and DFEs across the U.S. Statistical analyses were conducted on the survey results from attorneys (n = 14) and DFEs (n = 44) in relation to the five themes. Attorneys and examiners agreed on many facets of each theme. The most influential motivational factor for seeking a career as an attorney or DFE is a passion for the field. Experience was determined to be one of the most influential key components to understanding DME. Increasing age and the CSI Effect may be detractors to understanding DME. An increase in frequency of communication between attorneys and DFEs has the potential to affect DME understanding and case efficiency. Higher educational levels of attorneys are much greater than DFEs, but technical DME training levels, which influence DME understanding more, are much greater for DFEs. Attorneys tend to use online research as a primary learning method, while DFEs rely primarily on technical training. Each of the identified themes shows promise for influencing understanding of DME by Attorneys and DFEs within the U.S. criminal justice system. Vicarious secondary trauma was also examined and is experienced by attorneys and DFEs working with DME. Training on recognition of vicarious secondary trauma is recommended

Immersive 360° video for forensic education

Throughout the globe, training in the investigation of forensic crime scene work is a vital part of the overall training process within Police Academies and forensic programs throughout the world. However, the exposure of trainee forensic officers to real life scenes, by instructors, is minimal due to the delicate nature of information presented within them and the overall difficulty of Forensic investigations. Virtual Reality (VR) is computer technology utilising headsets, to produce lifelike imageries, sounds and perceptions simulating physical presence inside a virtual setting to a user. The user is able to look around the virtual world and often interact with virtual landscapes or objects. VR headsets are head‐mounted goggles with a screen in front of the eyes (Burdea & Coffet 2003). The use of VR varies widely from personal gaming to classroom learning. Uses also include computerised tools that are used solely online. The current use of VR within Forensic Science is that it is used widely in several capacities that include the training and examination of new forensic officers. However, there is minimal review and authentication of the efficiency of VR use for the teaching of forensic investigation. This is surprising, as the VR field has experienced rapid expansion in the educating of many varying fields over the past few years. Even though VR could enhance forensic training by offering another, perhaps more versatile, engaging way of learning, no devoted VR application has yet been commercially implemented for forensic examination education. Research into VR is a fairly young field, however the technology and use of it is still rapidly growing and the improvement of interactive tools is inevitably having an impact on all facets of learning and teaching

Annual Report 2019-2020

https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/govpubs-tn-bureau-investigation-annual-reports/1002/thumbnail.jp

College Senate Minutes May 18, 2019

Minutes for the meeting of the College Senate on May 18, 2017

2012 Annual Report

The 2012 annual report for the University of Bridgeport

Four Strategies for Driving a University Pre-College Computing Outreach Program

A public university’s computing outreach program focused on four key strategies for increasing the depth and breadth of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This paper describes the development and implementation of a project management hands-on learning laboratory activity within the context of the university’s outreach strategies. The first two strategies, establishing relationships with the primary and secondary (K–12) level partner schools and implementing whole-grade participation, have led to repeat visits by students over several years. The third strategy, hands-on learning laboratory activities, has successfully engaged K–12 students, as indicated by the assessment results that provide evidence of successful student learning. The fourth strategy, producer–consumer collaborations, has facilitated the efficient matching of faculty expertise with K–12 teacher needs. The results include the evidence that outreach strategies can have a positive influence on student engagement in STEM education at multiple points in the K–12 education experience