Enhancing Cybersecurity Content in Undergraduate Information Systems Programs: A Way Forward

The ongoing barrage of data and infrastructure breaches is a constant reminder of the critical need to enhance the cybersecurity component of modern undergraduate information systems (IS) education. Although the most recent undergraduate information systems curricular guidelines (IS2010) highlight security in the context of data, enterprise architecture, and risk management, much more needs to be done. The IS education community needs to identify cybersecurity competencies and curricular content that further integrates cybersecurity principles and practices into IS curricular guidelines. Until this is completed at the IS community level, IS programs will need to fulfill this role individually. This paper contributes to both these efforts by reviewing relevant literature and initiatives – highlighting two primary paths of curricular development: (1) the evolution of IS curricular guidelines, and (2) the development of Cybersecurity as a standalone discipline. Using these resources, the paper summarizes best practices for integrating cybersecurity into curricula and explores the integration of IS into cybersecurity programs

Quality assurance using international curricula and employer feedback.

The focus of this paper is the quality assurance process for the bachelor program in the School of Computer Science at Reykjavik University, which is a combination of outcome- and process-oriented quality assurance. Faculty members and employers of graduates provided information for the quality assessment. The results provide both detailed quantitative data and more qualitative information that give all stakeholders a variety of ways to interpret the status of the quality of education. This type of assessment has raised the awareness of the faculty members on how abstract topics and learning outcomes from an international standard can be used when revising the curricula of a particular course. A notable feature of this type of analysis is its use of employer-generated data to examine graduate knowledge and skills. The contribution of the paper is to provide an example of how a quality assurance process can be made more valuable to both faculty and degree stakeholders by combining outcome- and process-oriented quality assurance strategies

Global Perspectives on Cybersecurity Education for 2030: A Case for a Meta-discipline

Information security has been an area of research and teaching within various computing disciplines in higher education almost since the beginnings of modern computers. The need for security in computing curricula has steadily grown over this period. Recently, with an emerging global crisis, because of the limitations of security within the nascent information technology infrastructure, the field of “cybersecurity” is emerging with international interest and support. Recent evolution of cybersecurity shows that it has begun to take shape as a true academic perspective, as opposed to simply being a training domain for certain specialized jobs. This report starts from the premise that cybersecurity is a “meta-discipline.” That is, cybersecurity is used as an aggregate label for a wide variety of similar disciplines, much in the same way that the terms “engineering” and “computing” are commonly used. Thus, cybersecurity should be formally interpreted as a meta-discipline with a variety of disciplinary variants, also characterized through a generic competency model. The intention is that this simple organizational concept will improve the clarity with which the field matures, resulting in improved standards and goals for many different types of cybersecurity programs

An Investigation Dimension for Understanding and Characterizing Computing Disciplines

Computing disciplines are diverse and overlap extensively. ACM provides two dimensions, theory and target level, as a tool to describe the problem spaces of five disciplines of computing: computer science, information systems, information technology, computer engineering, and software engineering. However, there are still many studies reporting that even majors are not entirely clear about the scopes and tasks of their computing disciplines. Various supplementary approaches and models have been proposed to assist the understanding and characterization of computing disciplines, such as through computing traditions, research-focuses, and positions in the business-technology continuum. This paper proposes a new investigation dimension based on a popular inquiry approach as a complementary third dimension to serve as an additional high order lens for understanding computing disciplines. The application of the model on understanding and characterizing the five ACM disciplines and data science is discussed. The model encourages systematic critical thinking, meaningful learning, and deep reasoning

Constructing a Methodology for Developing a Cybersecurity Program

This paper serves to introduce the problem of constructing a methodology to develop a cybersecurity program. The goal of the program is to prepare students graduating from an accredited two-year college for success in cybersecurity careers. Several challenges must be addressed such as program accreditation, workforce development, and DHS/NSA Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD) designation. All of these serve as inputs in constructing a methodology to develop such a program to meet local industry needs for cyber professional

Implementation of competences of social and environmental responsibility in IT engineering degrees

In the present globalized world, the impacts of engineering are growing in importance, society is becoming more aware of them, and more and more universities are including ethical and social issues into their engineering degree programs. This article describes the experience of developing competences of ethical, social and environmental responsibility in undergraduate IT engineering degrees at the Technical University of Madrid. The implementation of these competences has evolved in recent years and currently they are developed in two specific subjects in the first and third year, and that work is completed in the Final Year Project. This model allows us to reach all the students at different times along their studies and with a acceptable level of depth. It is an integral experience, where appropriate contents, teaching methodologies and assessment methods have been adapted to deal with social issues in our academic context. As lessons learned, we highlight the effectiveness this model for developing the aforementioned competences and the important role of external references (from professional, governmental and academic institutions) to integrate ethical, social and environmental aspects into engineering degrees

To Heck With Ethics: Thinking About Public Issues With a Framework for CS Students

This paper proposes that the ethics class in the CS curriculum incorporate the Lawrence Lessig model of regulation as an analytical tool for social issues. Lessig’s use of the notion of architecture, the rules and boundaries of the sometimes artificial world within which social issues play out, is particularly resonant with computing professionals. The CS curriculum guidelines include only ethical frameworks as the tool for our students to engage with societal issues. The regulation framework shows how the market, law, social norms, and architecture can all be applied toward understanding social issues

To Heck With Ethics: Thinking About Public Issues With a Framework for CS Students

This paper proposes that the ethics class in the CS curriculum incorporate the Lawrence Lessig model of regulation as an analytical tool for social issues. Lessig’s use of the notion of architecture, the rules and boundaries of the sometimes artificial world within which social issues play out, is particularly resonant with computing professionals. The CS curriculum guidelines include only ethical frameworks as the tool for our students to engage with societal issues. The regulation framework shows how the market, law, social norms, and architecture can all be applied toward understanding social issues

Strategies for teaching professional ethics to IT engineering degree students and evaluating the result

Abstract This paper presents an experience in developing professional ethics by an approach that integrates knowledge, teaching methodologies and assessment coherently. It has been implemented for students in both the Software Engineering and Computer Engineering degree programs of the Technical University of Madrid, in which professional ethics is studied as a part of a required course. Our contribution of this paper is a model for formative assessment that clarifies the learning goals, enhances the results, simplifies the scoring and can be replicated in other contexts. A quasi-experimental study that involves many of the students of the required course has been developed. To test the effectiveness of the teaching process, the analysis of ethical dilemmas and the use of deontological codes have been integrated, and a scoring rubric has been designed. Currently, this model is also being used to develop skills related to social responsibility and sustainability for undergraduate and postgraduate students of diverse academic context

Professional Competencies in Computing Education

Competency-based learning has been a successful pedagogical approach for centuries, but only recently has it gained traction within computing. Competencies, as defined in Computing Curricula 2020, comprise knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions. Building on recent developments in competency and computing education, this working group examined relevant pedagogical theories, investigates various skill frameworks, reviewed competencies and standard practices in other professional disciplines such as medicine and law. It also investigated the integrative nature of content knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions in defining professional competencies in computing education. In addition, the group explored appropriate pedagogies and competency assessment approaches. It also developed guidelines for evaluating student achievement against relevant professional competency frameworks and explores partnering with employers to offer students genuine professional experience. Finally, possible challenges and opportunities in moving from traditional knowledge-based to competency-based education were also examined. This report makes recommendations to inspire educators of future computing professionals and smooth students' transition from academia to employment