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Digital Security and Privacy
By Jenna Kammer, Lauren Hays, and Sandeep Ponigoti, June 9, 2022
Digital security and privacy refer to the importance of keeping some information online private.
Dobias, V. (2017). The influence of teaching methods on learners’ perception of e-Safety. Journal of Information Technology Education: Innovations in Practice, 16(1), 253-275.
In this article, the author studied “How do various teaching methods used in digital e-safety lessons influence students’ perception of this issue?” To complete the research, four different teaching strategies were used to determine which had the biggest impact on students. The four teaching methods were experience-based learning, expert’s talk, lecture, and group learning. To determine the effectiveness of each teaching method participants in the study completed a pre- and post- test. Results indicated that group learning had the smallest impact, and the expert’s talk was more impactful than the lecture. Experience-based learning was impactful, but only when students needed that type of instruction. Overall, the results showed how different types of teaching work for different students.
Doty, P. (2020). Library analytics as moral dilemmas for academic librarians. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 46(4), 102-141.
Doty discussed the moral challenges of using analytics in libraries, particularly as an issue of surveillance for students. Library systems collect data such as circulation, inter-library loan requests, ebook use, use of social media platforms, use of virtual services, use of wifi, logins, etc. While this data justifies use of libraries, it is often collected without consent, leaked to third parties or linked to educational outcomes. Doty stated that there are two ethical concerns that librarians should consider: 1.) involuntary self-knowledge (use of data to nudge students into better behavior and learning outcomes). and 2.) stigmatization (using data to categorize students, such as ‘at-risk’, which disproportionately impacts socially disadvantaged students.
Fees, R. E., Da Rosa, J. A., Durkin, S. S., Murray, M. M., & Moran, A. L. (2018). Unplugged cybersecurity: An approach for bringing computer science into the classroom. International Journal of Computer Science Education in Schools, 2(1), 3-13.
The authors of this study described how to rework undergraduate computer science curriculum for K-12 classes. Many of the activities described in the article are unplugged, meaning they are hands-on activities that do not require a computer. Therefore, they are not traditional computer science programming activities, but instead they teach students principles of computer science. The authors described two example unplugged activities and then described two activities that are taught in professional development workshops for teachers to modify to meet the needs of their students.
Hernández-Martín, A., Martín-del-Pozo, M., & Iglesias-Rodríguez, A. (2021). Pre-adolescents’ digital competences in the area of safety. Does frequency of social media use mean safer and more knowledgeable digital usage? Education and Information Technologies, 26(1), 1043-1067.
The authors of this article used the DIGCOMP, the European Digital Competence Framework, to study 595, 11- 13 year-olds’ competency with digital safety. Study participants scored average in the area of digital safety. To the authors, this was unacceptable, because of how frequently social media is used. Pre-adolescents use social media a great deal and they need to know how to engage safely when online.
Hope, A. (2018). Creep: The growing surveillance of students’ online activities. Education and Society, 36(1), 55-72.
The author’s goal for this article was to chronicle the history of student surveillance, and explain the concerns with what is happening today. Many students are monitored through learning management systems, apps, and other educational technologies. By having their online activities monitored, students lose privacy and claims to personal property and data. The author concluded by explaining the problems with student surveillance.
Igo, S. E. (2018). The known citizen: A history of privacy in modern America. Harvard University Press.
Igo explained how technology has shaped the way Americans feel about privacy. Providing a history of privacy, this book then explained how politics has utilized that which people choose to share in public online forums.
Ivy, J., Kelley, R., Cook, K., & Thomas, K. (2020). Incorporating cyber principles into middle and high school curriculum. International Journal of Computer Science Education in Schools, 4(2), 3-23.
The authors of this article conducted a study on a professional development program for middle and high school teachers in the area of cyber security. Participants in the program represented different subject areas. The article described the schedule for the professional development program and provides specifics about what the teachers did during their time in the program. Results of the professional development program showed it to be successful with teachers indicating they would incorporate cyber security into their instruction. The description and results of the professional development program are valuable because of how widely needed cyber security skills are in today’s world.
Javidi, G., & Sheybani, E. (2019). Design and development of a modular K-12 cybersecurity curriculum. In 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. https://peer.asee.org/32591
This paper presented a model to train teachers instructing on cybersecurity and on how to increase interest in cybersecurity among K-12 students. The model used Tinto’s theoretical framework of student departure. Tinto’s framework “connects a high school student’s engagement with their success in college.” To develop the model course designers used proactive advising to promote cybersecurity in schools to sustain student interest. Thirty teachers were trained in basic information technology and cybersecurity. The teachers and students were also given professional mentoring that provided ongoing social and academic support. The study findings indicated that teachers' cybersecurity abilities and knowledge were improved. However, obstacles remain for teachers implementing cybersecurity and information technology into their curricula.
Jin, G., Tu, M., Kim, T. H., Heffron, J., & White, J. (2018). Evaluation of game-based learning in cybersecurity education for high school students. Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn), 12(1), 150-158.
The authors of this study created a summer camp to teach high school students about cybersecurity using a game-based learning approach. In the article, the authors describe the curriculum for the summer camp and how they incorporated game-based pedagogy. At the end of the camp, they conducted a survey with a 5-point Likert scale to determine how beneficial the game-based learning experience was for increasing knowledge about cybersecurity. Overall, the camp was successful and participants increased their knowledge of cybersecurity. The results did indicate that males found the game-based pedagogy to be more interesting than females.
Jones, K., Asher, A., Goben, A., Perry, M., Salo, D., Briney, K., & Robertshaw, M. (2020). "We're being tracked at all times": Student perspectives of their privacy in relation to learning analytics in higher education. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 71(9), 1044-1059.
Institutions of higher education continue to use learning analytics in a variety of ways. In this article, the authors began with a literature review about various aspects of learning analytics (LA) including student privacy, student data, educational technology’s role with student data, and students’ perceptions of learning analytics. Once the context for the study was established, the authors explained a qualitative study they conducted to answer the following questions: “What privacy issues do undergraduate students perceive when discussing LA practices and initiatives? What are students' privacy expectations for LA data collected about them? How do students believe LA data should be used, shared, and protected? And finally, what are students' reactions to analytics in the context of complex educational environments?” One hundred and twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted. Findings indicate that higher education institutions need to communicate with students about learning analytics and get their feedback on how and when they should be used.
Konak, A. (2018). Experiential learning builds cybersecurity self-efficacy in K-12 students. Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice, 2018(1), 6.
The author of this article described a weeklong program's framework and teaching method to teach K-12 student’s cybersecurity ideas and skills. The utilization of the Collaborative Virtual Computer Laboratory (CVCLAB) to engage K-12 students in experiential learning through interesting hands-on programs based on instructional methods such as collaborative learning and inquiry-based learning is a distinctive feature of the program. The program's evaluation revealed that it was successful in increasing participants' self-efficacy. Konak explains they are confident that the intensive hands-on, active learning in a virtual environment (CVCLAB) and the inquiry-based methodology that were employed in creating hands-on activities contributed to these results. The program's assessment revealed that participants made considerable progress in accomplishing the program's learning goals and developed self-efficacy in cybersecurity.
Martin, F., Wang, C., Petty, T., Wang, W., & Wilkins, P. (2018). Middle school students’ social media use. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 21(1), 213-224.
The authors’ goal for this study was to understand middle school students’ social media use. To meet this goal, the authors surveyed 593 middle school students from the southeastern United States. The survey included 11 questions such as: Which social media tools do middle school students use? and What bothers middle school students the most about using social media? The survey results indicated that instruction is needed on social media for middle school students because they are using it at a very early age. Additionally, middle school students need instruction on digital footprints, digital identity, cyber bullying, and inappropriate use of social media.
Moorefield-Lang, H., & Lang, J. (2020). Keeping your digital legacy safe. Library Technology Reports, 56(5), 29-31.
Individuals need to consider how they will provide access to their digital material once they are no longer able to do so. When an individual passes, loved ones often do not know how to gain access to digital content. Therefore, the authors of this article provide tips and tools you can use to make digital content more easily accessible for loved ones.
Nygard, K. E., Chowdhury, M. M., Kambhampaty, K., & Kotala, P. (2018). Cybersecurity materials for K-12 education. In Midwest Instruction and Computing Symposium. http://micsymposium.org/mics2018/proceedings/MICS_2018_paper_59.pdf
The authors of this paper discussed the development of cybersecurity materials created for middle and high school students using Bloom's Taxonomy and active learning strategies as a framework. Further, the paper includes descriptions of the activities, topics covered and details for developing the content in the program, as well as how they identified missing topics. In addition, limitations were addressed to further develop the design of the summer camp in the future.
Watters, A. (2021). Teaching machines: The history of personalized learning. MIT Press.
Watters' new book described personalized learning and its relationship to educational reform. By looking at the history of machines in teaching and learning, Watters establishes the foundation for modern educational technology uses which often applies behaviorism with student data. The history of personalized learning is presented in this book, demonstrating that it is not a new practice in education.
Yett, B., Hutchins, N., Stein, G., Zare, H., Snyder, C., Biswas, G., Meletko, M., & Lédeczi, Á. (2020). A hands-on cybersecurity curriculum using a robotics platform. In Proceedings of the 51st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (pp. 1040-1046).
The authors of this article developed a weeklong cybersecurity curriculum using robotics to teach cybersecurity concepts. The instruction took place during a week in the summer. Thirty-eight high school students participated in the weeklong camp. The researchers used pre- and post-tests to determine how well the curriculum helped students learn computational thinking, networking, and cybersecurity. Results from the pre- and post- tests indicated that students gained knowledge in computational thinking and cybersecurity, but did not make gains in the area of networking.
Zuboff, S. (2019). The age of surveillance capitalism: The fight for a human future at the new frontier of power. Profile Books.
In this book, Zuboff described how internet companies which collect big data use it to predict behavior which guide production of goods and services. This best selling book cautions readers about data, knowledge and surveillance power and its impact on the market economy. Corporations benefit from raw data collected by users, but as individuals, this is concerning for personal privacy as well as sovereignty.
