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Collaborative Learning refers to any instructional method in Our motivation for designing the various learning activities was to
which students work together in small groups toward a common create a unique environment to allow students to incorporate what
goal [17, 22]. The emphasis of this approach is on student they have been exposed to into applications. As an example, in
interaction rather than on learning as a solitary activity. An several of our security courses, students are required to create
example of this approach is a “think/write-pair-share” method. and design their own labs to be administered to their peers. The
The instructor begins by posing an issue or problem to the class student in this activity is given guidance by the instructor, but is
and then allowing the students to reflect and write out their allowed the freedom to explore the security tools. We examine
response. Students then pair up and explain their responses to this idea further later in the paper. This type of experience
one another for a set time. Lastly, as a class, the issue or problem encourages the student to move from the exposure stage to a
is discussed. The instructor may record each group’s main point higher level of learning. With guidance and similar activities, the
on the board and incorporate the material into a future lecture. student gains mastery of the concepts as shown in Figure 1. This
is the ultimate achievement and core of the learning process.
following section, we examine several of the active-learning
techniques adopted in our various IA courses: virtual hands-on
MASTERY
Creativity laboratory exercises, online cooperative group discussions, think-
pair-share activities, student-generated laboratory exercises, and
student-led current event reviews.
4. FEEDBACKS
7. REFERENCES
Anecdotal feedback from students has been very positive. We
collect responses for each IA course at the end of each semester. [1] Academic Technology Center: Teaching with Technology
Several responses are presented below to the following question: Collaboratory, Benefits of Using Discussion Boards in Your
What did you like the best about this course? Classes,
http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/ATC/Collaboratory/Idea/boa
“I like all those hands-on labs and the most interesting lab is rdbenefits.html, accessed 07/15/10.
that I can design my [own] labs and learn free source tools.” [2] Bligh, D. (2000). What’s the point in discussion? Portland,
Oregon: Intellect Books.
“The Current Event reports. These assignments really opened
my eyes to security…” [3] Burd, Stephen & Conway, Christopher & Seazzu,
Alessandro. (2009). Virtual Computing Laboratories: A Case
“The current event discussions.” Study With Comparisons To Physical Computing
“The hands on labs and the in-class discussions made me want Laboratories. Journal of Information Technology Education.
to learn more about security.” Volume 8.
[4] Bullers, W. I., Burd, S. D., and Seazzu, A. (2006). Virtual
The main finding so far suggests that the active learning activities Machines - An Idea Whose Time Has Returned: Application
are welcomed by students and they have a sense of being involved to Network, and Security, and Database Courses, ACM
in their learning experience. Of course, this survey is preliminary. SIGCSE Bulletin (Inroads), March 2006, pp. 102-106.
We will conduct a formal questionnaire for feedback from our [5] Conklin, A. (2006). Cyber Defense Competitions and
students. In addition, we will test various active learning activities Information Security Education: An Active Learning
in courses for non-CS majors and conduct a well-designed Solution for a Capstone Course. In Proceedings of the 39th
pre/post-surveys and report the responses in future papers. We Annual Hawaii international Conference on System Sciences
also found that the student-centered activities, such as student- - Volume 09(January 04 - 07, 2006). HICSS. IEEE Computer
generated labs and peer review exercises require the instructors to Society, Washington, DC, 220.2.
spend considerable outside class time with students to provide [6] Finkelstein, N. D., Adams, W. K., Keller, C. J., Kohl, P. B.,
guidance on how to express their views and findings. Perkins, K. K., & Podolefsky, N. S., et al. (2005). When
learning about the real world is better done virtually: A study
of substituting computer simulations for laboratory
equipment. Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.
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.jhtml?articleID=208804640 teaching of today’s chemistry’s graphical language. Journal
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