Adopting the cybersecurity concepts into curriculum: the potential effects on students’ cybersecurity knowledge

Abstract

This study examines the effect of adopting cybersecurity concepts on the information and technology (IT) curriculum and determines the potential effect on students' knowledge of cybersecurity practices and level of awareness. To this end, a pilot study was first conducted to measure the current level of cybersecurity awareness. The results revealed that students do not have much knowledge of cybersecurity. Thus, a four-step approach was proposed to infuse the relevant cybersecurity topics in five matched courses based on the latest cybersecurity curricular guidelines (CSEC2017). A sample of 42 students was selected purposively without prior knowledge of cybersecurity and divided identically into experimental and control groups. Students in the experimental group were asked to take five consecutive courses over five semesters. In each course, groups went through a pre-test for the infused topics. Then, the experimental group taught the corresponding infused topics. A post-test was administered to both groups at the end of each course, and the t-test was conducted. The results found significant differences between marks of prior and post-tests for 11 out of 14 infused topics. These satisfactory results would encourage universities to infuse cybersecurity concepts into their curriculum.