Modality
on-site
Room: TBA
Target Audience
- Cybersecurity Professionals
- Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Researchers
- User Experience (UX) Designers, Learning & Development Specialists
- Product Managers
Requirements for participants
Course participants should bring their own laptop or tablet
Abstract
This hands-on course moves beyond traditional "security awareness" to introduce participants to powerful principles and theories from the Learning Sciences. Cybersecurity is not just a technical challenge. It is a learning and behavioral challenge. Participants will learn how to leverage learning sciences concepts and theories, as well as the Four-Component Instructional Design (4C/ID) model, to design security systems, warning messages, and training materials/programs that are inherently more learnable, memorable, and capable of driving secure user behavior.
Participants will apply these design frameworks through interactive, hands-on activities, culminating in the redesign of a common security interaction.
Benefits for attendees
This course enables participants to demonstrate the efficacy of their design decisions through educational research, thereby fundamentally bridging the gap between an easy experience and a secure one.
Course Content
- Apply core learning science principles (e.g., dual coding, distributed practice) to cybersecurity training and materials design.
- Analyze and redesign security user interfaces to minimize cognitive load and encourage secure actions.
- Develop scenario-based, context-rich learning experiences that enable effective responses to real-world threats.
- Collaboratively bridge the gap between technical security requirements and effective human-centered design.
Bio Sketches of Course instructors
Mahnaz Moallem, Ph.D., is a professor and Chair of the Department of Learning Technologies, Design, and School Library Media at the College of Education, Towson University, Maryland. As a learning science/learning design researcher, she studies applications of various learning design theories and approaches for learning and human performance improvement.
Abbas Moallem, Ph.D., is a consultant and adjunct professor at San Jose State University, California, where he teaches human-computer interaction, cybersecurity, information visualization, and human factors. He is the program chair of HCI-CPT, the International Conference on HCI for Cybersecurity, Privacy, and Trust.