Using Offline Activities to Enhance Online Cybersecurity Education

This paper is a thesis project conducted by Sarah Padilipsky, as a partial fulfillment requirement for her Master of Science Degree in Computer Science at California Polytechnic State University. The paper focuses on cybersecurity education, and aims to improve the effectiveness of it. Specifically, the writer looks at whether or not an online course in cybersecurity can be strengthened by face-to-face and in-person activities that more closely resemble classroom teaching methods. The paper looks at several different teaching methods such as Challenge Based Learning (proposed by Apple) applied to cybersecurity, and collaborative learning methods. The writer follows the standards of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Computer Science Standards, to bring about seven standards for students: 1) empowered learner, 2) digital citizen, 3) knowledge constructor, 4) innovative designer, 5) computational thinker, 6) creative communicator, 7) global collaborator. The paper details the course curriculum for the online and in person courses, and provides the results from the 2 test groups of high school students.