Educating leaders in information assurance

Abstract

Information assurance is a new and rapidly evolving field. The best way to prepare professionals for the information age in light of the increasing security threat is not clear. There is an attempt to educate future leaders in information assurance at the undergraduate level. At this level, the authors found two distinct types of students and determined that their needs could be met only with separate courses. A course was developed for nontechnical majors that focuses on strategy and policy, but with a strong technical component. The course for computer science majors is highly technical, but does not neglect the strategy, policy, ethics, and laws of information warfare. In both courses, the authors have relied heavily on active learning activities, reducing the content, and focusing on teaching the students how to teach themselves. Each course culminated in a major project that required the students to demonstrate mastery of the course objectives. The accomplishment of course goals was extremely successful. These courses can be models for information assurance education at other undergraduate institutions.