Publication Date

2021

Abstract

With cybersecurity becoming an essential need in today's world alongside the growing trend of higher education in adopting and implementing cybersecurity programs at their institutions, principles of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) must be utilized to help faculty grasp student learning and how to further enhance their programs. At Murray State University’s Telecommunication Systems Management (TSM) program, we have implemented SoTL by focusing on the inquiry of student learning, grounding in context, abiding by sound methodology, partnering with students, and making our findings appropriately public. By applying these SoTL principles in the TSM cybersecurity track, faculty have been able to guide their inquiries about student learning and to help evaluate what assignments, curriculum, and activities are enriching the learning experience. Additionally, they have been able to ensure that the cybersecurity content remains updated and relevant. Understanding student learning in a cybersecurity program is critical because the field of cybersecurity is always changing and advancing, which requires the curriculum and assignments to be updated or changed at the same pace. Utilizing the principles of SoTL has enabled the faculty in the TSM program to accomplish this important goal.

Author Biography

Dr. Randall Joyce is an instructor at Murray State University in the TSM program,where he lectures students in the areas of cybersecurity, virtualization, and wireless. Dr. Joyce holds an M.S in Health Informatics from Northern Kentucky University, and a B.S. and M.S. in Telecommunications Systems Management from Murray State University. He has also recently completed his Ed.D. in P-20 and Community Leadership with STEM Specialization from Murray State University.

Dr. Faris Sahawneh is an assistant professor of Cyber Security and Network Management (CNM) at Murray State University’s Institute of Engineering. Before coming to Murray State, he was the CIT program coordinator at West Kentucky Community and Technical College. Dr. Sahawneh is passionate about teaching and has been in higher education for more than 23 years. His research interests are computer forensics, cybersecurity, servant leadership, and online learning.

Mr. Brandon Dixon is an instructor at Murray State University. He has worked in the technology field for 15 years, spending four years at the Commonwealth Office of Technology in Kentucky, and then moving to Information Systems at Murray State. His research interests are in security, forensics, IoT and e-sports. Mr. Dixon has also been involved in the development of networking and security laboratories, minority student engagement, and student recruitment at Murray State University.

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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Adopting Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Principles in a Cybersecurity Program

With cybersecurity becoming an essential need in today's world alongside the growing trend of higher education in adopting and implementing cybersecurity programs at their institutions, principles of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) must be utilized to help faculty grasp student learning and how to further enhance their programs. At Murray State University’s Telecommunication Systems Management (TSM) program, we have implemented SoTL by focusing on the inquiry of student learning, grounding in context, abiding by sound methodology, partnering with students, and making our findings appropriately public. By applying these SoTL principles in the TSM cybersecurity track, faculty have been able to guide their inquiries about student learning and to help evaluate what assignments, curriculum, and activities are enriching the learning experience. Additionally, they have been able to ensure that the cybersecurity content remains updated and relevant. Understanding student learning in a cybersecurity program is critical because the field of cybersecurity is always changing and advancing, which requires the curriculum and assignments to be updated or changed at the same pace. Utilizing the principles of SoTL has enabled the faculty in the TSM program to accomplish this important goal.