Abstract
<p>This paper describes a survey of online learning which attempts to determine online learning providers’ awareness of potential security risks and the protection measures that will diminish them. The authors use a combination of two methods: blog mining and a traditional literature search. The findings indicate that, while scholars have identified diverse security risks and have proposed solutions to mitigate the security threats in online learning, bloggers have not discussed security in online learning with great frequency. The differences shown in the survey results generated by the two different methods confirm that online learning providers and practitioners have not considered security as a top priority. The paper also discusses the next generation of an online learning system: a safer personal learning environment which requires a one-stop solution for authentication, assures the security of online assessments, and balances security and usability.</p>
Highlights
Due to the development of the Internet, more and more people are taking online courses
According to an extensive literature search via academic databases and Google Scholar, online learning faces various security risks, which mainly come from external intruders
The application of Web 2.0 and massive open online courses (MOOCs) are heralding a new era in education
Summary
Due to the development of the Internet, more and more people are taking online courses. A critical element of security, refers to “the protection of data from intentional or accidental unauthorized changes” (Serb, Defta, Iacob, & Apetrei, 2013) and “the absence of improper system alterations” (Weippl & Ebner, 2008) It assures that “information and data have not been accidentally or maliciously modified or destroyed, and are in accurate, correct, and complete original form” (Raitman, Ngo, Augar, & Zhou, 2005). Availability can mainly be damaged by denial of service and/or loss of data processing capabilities (Serb, Defta, Iacob, & Apetrei, 2013)
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