September 23, 2013 AASU Faculty Senate Minutes

September 23, 2013 AASU Faculty Senate Minute

"Do this! Do that!, And Nothing will happen":Do specifications lead to securely stored passwords?

Does the act of writing a specification (how the code should behave) for a piece of security sensitive code lead to developers producing more secure code? We asked 138 developers to write a snippet of code to store a password: Half of them were asked to write down a specification of how the code should behave before writing the program, the other half were asked to write the code but without being prompted to write a specification first. We find that explicitly prompting developers to write a specification has a small positive effect on the security of password storage approaches implemented. However, developers often fail to store passwords securely, despite claiming to be confident and knowledgeable in their approaches, and despite considering an appropriate range of threats. We find a need for developer-centered usable mechanisms for telling developers how to store passwords: lists of what they must do are not working

Perceived Advising Needs Of Adult Learners: A Qualitative Analysis Of Advising Experiences Among Online, Classroom, & Cohort Adult Learners

This phenomenological study sought to investigate, understand, and make meaning of the perceived advising experiences among nine adult learners. Participants were students pursuing their Master\u27s degrees in a department of education at one public university in the upper Midwest. This research explored and described the advising experiences among, and within, three learning environments to include online, classroom, and cohort. Three adult learners from each learning environment were interviewed either in person or through an electronic video system. Participants were asked seven standard questions, but question order and follow-up varied as a result of the emergent design of the study. Students were also asked to conceptualize meaning of their responses to afford greater detail. Interviews were transcribed and data were reviewed through thematic analysis. Interviews were coded; codes were evaluated and organized into categories of experience/need which led to the development of themes and a discussion of the central phenomenon. The identified themes were peer reviewed and went through member checking to ensure valid interpretation. In addition, the final themes and conclusions were reviewed and compared to the eight principles of effective advising for adult learners, as proposed by the Council on Adult and Experiential Learning (2000). The experience of good advisement was collectively defined as the product of both the person (the advisor) and the advisor\u27s required tasks of advising. All stated characteristics of a good advisor, and expectations of good advising, were identified as necessary for adult learner satisfaction. The adult learners identified good advisement as an important, holistic, complex practice requiring an involved, passionate, trustworthy advisor working within a strong advising system. Only one category of need was specific to students\u27 learning environments - immediacy of response. All adult learners identified the need for frequent, immediate communication, preferably through email. However, on-campus learners needed to hear from their advisor within two days, cohort learners were willing to wait 24 hours for a response, and online learners required notification from their advisor within hours, would be frustrated beyond 24 hours, and would begin to significantly worry by the 48th hour