Polymorphic Homework and Laboratory System: An Instructional Tool for Combating Cheating
Open Access
- Author:
- Kohler, Ryan J
- Graduate Program:
- Information Sciences and Technology
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- March 19, 2018
- Committee Members:
- Nicklaus A Giacobe, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Jungwoo Ryoo, Committee Member
Peter Kent Forster, Committee Member - Keywords:
- Cybersecurity
Education
Cheating
Situation Awareness
Challenge-Based Learning
Polymorphism - Abstract:
- Cybersecurity is a complex and ever changing domain. This requires that cybersecurity professionals be vigilant in their monitoring of complex network environments to prevent and resolve undesired actions. In order for cybersecurity professionals to achieve this they have to learn these techniques in curricula that adapt to the current technologies and techniques available. However, this becomes difficult when students are able to readily find assignment answers online that they can copy as their own work. This thesis addresses this issue by proposing the design of a system (PolyLab) and implementing a system to combat the ability for students to cheat. This proposed system is capable of automatically generating and grading homework and laboratory assignments that are unique for each student. This reduces the administrative overhead of instructors and does not negatively impact the cognitive workload of students. The system is also capable of use in a variety of domain fields and in a variety of class sizes. This work evaluates the proposed system through the comparison of two groups of research subjects in a between-groups experiment. One group received network data that the system generated and the other group received the static network data. This study utilizes situational awareness measurement techniques to determine if an impact on cognition exists between the two groups.