Abstract

This paper analyzes students' self-perception of success and learning effectiveness after using non-compulsory gamification in an online Cybcourse. For this purpose, we designed a cybersecurity game based on cognitive constructivism learning theory. We built the game scenes using metaphors to present the main Cybersecurity contents to the students. We delivered the game in a regular course with two objectives: first, to find the primary design factors that affect students' self-perception of success. We propose a structural equation model to find out the elements with the most significant impact on the students' self-perception of success. The results show that the realistic game design and the contextualization of the game do have a notable influence. They are both examples of best practices in game design; second, to evaluate the learning effectiveness of the game. The results suggest a high correlation between playing the game and succeeding in the course. Moreover, chronological analysis of the performance reveals that the intention to play the game could be a simple dropout predictor. Thus, introducing the game in the educational curricula improves student engagement and consolidates their knowledge on cybersecurity.

Highlights

  • Cybersecurity is a relevant and growing field with societal impact [1]

  • We argue that two external variables could affect this two key factors and they are related to best practices in educational game design: a) the engagement of learners, and b) the contextualization of the game

  • EVALUATION OF THE LEARNING EFFECTIVENESS PERFORMANCE DATA To answer RQ2 and RQ3, we analyzed the grades obtained by the students during a one-year Cybersecurity 101 introductory course as part of an online Computer Science degree

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Summary

Introduction

Cybersecurity is a relevant and growing field with societal impact [1]. In recent years, society has realized that preserving the security of computer systems and the Internet is critical to prevent malicious attacks at all levels of governance, from corporate to national [2]. The necessity to teach Cybersecurity concepts [3], [4] to students. Professional associations such as ACM and IEEE are working in this direction, defining new curricula that cover these needs [5]. Different educational theories and models exist [6] that enable the introduction of these new concepts. Effective learning theories suggest that the more active and dynamic learning is, the more effective it becomes, [7]. In this sense, games meet these properties. The IEEE association predicted that by 2020, games would be present in more than 85% of

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