Interest and Self-Efficacy Outcomes Following an Experimental Cross-Disciplinary Approach to Secure Design (Cybersecurity and Design)

• In Event: 63.020 - Surveilling Toward Disembodiment: Technologies of Humanity

Abstract

Cross-disciplinary approaches to pedagogy can foment far more than a mix of two subjects. We define our approach, secure design, in the context of critical technology practice. The combination of cybersecurity and design pedagogy is practical, and particularly relevant when applied to Internet of Things devices. In this paper, we discuss a real problem (the need to protect user privacy and data) and the cultivation of empathy (via user-centered design) that offers students the agency required to begin thinking critically about the sites of technologies in people’s lives. Our initial quantitative survey study documents student interest and self-efficacy related to the design and cybersecurity curriculum, as well as the Internet of Things as a contemporary domain for student research.

Authors

• Jessica Westbrook, DePaul University

• Filipo Sharevski, DePaul University

• Adam Trowbridge, DePaul University