Title: On the enhancement of teaching method for information security course

Authors: Omaimah Bamasag

Addresses: Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Computing and Information Technology, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 42808, Jeddah 21551, Saudi Arabia

Abstract: There is a common consensus that information security courses at undergraduate level should teach principles of the field in a theoretical fashion. It is perceived that most of the information taught using this method are either outdated with respect to current developments in security technology or lost after graduation as theoretical information easily slips from the students' minds after the final exams. This is because this information is not tied to practical experience. Although some courses tried to provide a remedy to this obstacle by including lab sessions, they are considered not to be enough as they offer only exercises. The course outcomes will be highly beneficial to the students combined with hands on experience, implementing theories and exercises on a real life project. This paper focuses on enhancing the teaching method of information security course with an aim of acquiring better understanding and comprehension by the students to make it more beneficial in their future real life careers. The implementation of this enhancement shows an improvement in a students' marks average in comparison with students who took the course without applying for the proposed improvement.

Keywords: information security; teaching methods; higher education; information technology; computer science education; Saudi Arabia; learning outcomes; security projects; real-life problems; network security; project-based learning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTEL.2015.071919

International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, 2015 Vol.7 No.1, pp.36 - 43

Received: 30 May 2015
Accepted: 06 Jun 2015
Published online: 23 Sep 2015 *

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