Archived Assessment Report
| Program | CIS Cyber Security Certificate |
| Assessment Reporter | [email protected] |
| Theme | Practicing Community |
| Review Year | 2024-2025 - Midpoint Report |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Focus Area |
|---|---|
| 1. Create a threat model for a given scenario, identifying assets, threats, and mitigations. | Can the student create a realistic threat model using all available resources to minimize the threat landscape in an active Networked Systems environment? |
| 2. Apply principles of secure system design to host and network security scenarios. | Can the student use smart design methods to secure individual host systems, network devices, and perimeter boundaries? |
| 3. Use derived requirements such as authentication and access control to secure systems and networks | Can the student effectively lock down system access to only required users using AAA and Access Control methods? |
| 4. Perform forensic analysis of systems and create a report of results. | Can the student use secure and accepted methods to analyze systems and create a report of the results that could pass a legal test? |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Description of Assessment Tool | Population or Courses Assessed | Hypothetical Analysis/Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Create a threat model for a given scenario, identifying assets, threats, and mitigations. | Paper | CIS 2853 | 80% of students passing the project with a 75% or higher |
| 2. Apply principles of secure system design to host and network security scenarios. | Paper | CIS 2853 | 80% of students passing the project with a 75% or higher |
| 3. Use derived requirements such as authentication and access control to secure systems and networks | Homework Assignments Paper | CIS 2853 | 80% of students passing the project with a 75% or higher |
| 4. Perform forensic analysis of systems and create a report of results. | Homework Assignment | CIS 2853 | 80% of students passing the project with a 75% or higher |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Summary of Results | Reflection on Focus Area | Intepretation of Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Create a threat model for a given scenario, identifying assets, threats, and mitigations. | The performance for this assessment is excellent, as 91% of students passed with a 100%, far exceeding the target of 80% passing with 75% or higher. However, the 5 students who received 0% suggest a gap that could indicate issues such as missed deadlines, lack of understanding, or external factors affecting their performance. 3.) Compared to last year, performance is exceptional since the average score last year was 91%, and this year, students performed at 100%. The trend shows improvement in student success. | This outcome reflects overall student success. | There has been improvement from the previous year average score last year was 91%, and this year, students performed at 100%. |
| 2. Apply principles of secure system design to host and network security scenarios. | The performance for this assessment is strong, with 19 out of 21 students (90.5%) passing with scores of 75% or higher, easily surpassing the target. Most students (71.4%) scored 91% or higher, showing a high level of understanding. Only one student barely passed with a 75%, and one failed. Compared to last year, the average score has slightly decreased (from 96% to a range of 91%–100%). However, the overall performance still indicates mastery of the material, with the slight dip possibly due to the one student who scored 75%. | The students made notable improvements. | The results showed the students understanding of updated curriculum. |
| 3. Use derived requirements such as authentication and access control to secure systems and networks | Similar to the first assessment, 91% of students completed this assignment with a perfect score of 100%. This far exceeds the 80% target for passing with 75% or higher. However, again, the 5 students receiving 0% should be considered, indicating potential issues with engagement or understanding, though these students are outliers in an otherwise stellar performance. Compared to last year, the improvement is significant, as students scored 100% this time, whereas last year they averaged 91% . | The students' outcome reflected the success of their learning accomplishment. | The students' outcome reflected the success of their learning accomplishment. |
| 4. Perform forensic analysis of systems and create a report of results. | The performance for this assessment is concerning. 69% of students passed, which is well below the target of 80% passing with 75% or higher. The absence of data for comparison to last year makes it difficult to determine whether this is an anomaly or part of a larger trend. However, given the low participation rate, this needs to be investigated further. | Passing rate has improved significantly from fall 2023 to spring 2024 from 74% to 85%. | With the higher passing rate and fewer failure rate across semester shows effective teaching strategies and/ or better students engagement. |
| 1. Create a threat model for a given scenario, identifying assets, threats, and mitigations. | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | Based on Fall 23 and Spring 24, total 64 students were assessed. We will continue to add total number of students when we report. We may use CIS 2999 capstone course results instead of a course. In addition to this, we will promote extracurricular activities to increase students interest in Cybersecurity. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | none |
| What data motivated the change? | Additional course updates, extracurricular activities-CtF which will provide additional support to the students. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | Passing rate of this course will be increased by 5% from previous year. |
| 2. Apply principles of secure system design to host and network security scenarios. | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | Based on Fall 23 and Spring 24, total 64 students were assessed. We will continue to add total number of students when we report. We may use CIS 2999 capstone course results instead of a course. In addition to this, we will promote extracurricular activities to increase students interest in Cybersecurity. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | no |
| What data motivated the change? | Additional course updates, extracurricular activities-CtF which will provide additional support to the students. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | Passing rate of this course will be increased by 5% from previous year. |
| 3. Use derived requirements such as authentication and access control to secure systems and networks | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | Based on Fall 23 and Spring 24, total 64 students were assessed. We will continue to add total number of students when we report. We may use CIS 2999 capstone course results instead of a course. In addition to this, we will promote extracurricular activities to increase students interest in Cybersecurity. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | no |
| What data motivated the change? | Additional course updates, extracurricular activities-CtF which will provide additional support to the students. |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | Passing rate of this course will be increased by 5% from previous year. |
| 4. Perform forensic analysis of systems and create a report of results. | |
|---|---|
| Describe the change that was implemented. | Based on Fall 23 and Spring 24, total 62 students were assessed. We will continue to add total number of students when we report. We may use CIS 2999 capstone course results instead of a course. In addition to this, we will promote extracurricular activities to increase students interest in Cybersecurity. |
| Type of Change |
|
| Change in Assessment Approach or Tools? | no |
| What data motivated the change? | Additional course updates, extracurricular activities-CtF which will provide additional support to the students |
| Hypothesis about the effect the change will have? | Passing rate of this course will be increased by 5% from previous year. |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Description of Assessment Tool | Population of Courses Assessed |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Create a threat model for a given scenario, identifying assets, threats, and mitigations. | Final assessment | no |
| 2. Apply principles of secure system design to host and network security scenarios. | Final assessment. | no |
| 3. Use derived requirements such as authentication and access control to secure systems and networks | Final assessment | no |
| 4. Perform forensic analysis of systems and create a report of results. | Final assessment | no |
| Learning Outcome (or Gen Ed Essential Skill) | Summary of Second Round Results | Intepretation of Results, Pre- and Post-Change | Follow up questions, possible next steps |
|---|
Describe any change in student achievement observed as part of this assessment process, and what led to those changes.
Describe long-term changes in the program(s) that the assessment process led to, and what motivated those changes?
What did you learn about the teaching and learning of "Practicing Community" in your programs?
Describe any external factors affecting the program or affecting assessment of the program.