Sustainable and Security Focused Multimodal Models for Distance Learning

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced much education to move into a distance learning (DL) model. The problem addressed in the paper is related to the increased necessity for the capacity of data, secure infrastructure, Wi-Fi possibilities, and equipment, learning resources which are needed when students connect to systems managed by institutional, national, and international organizations. Meanwhile, there have been cases when learners were not able to use technology in a secure manner, since they were requested to connect to external learning objects or systems. The research aims to develop a sustainable strategy based on a security concept model that consists of three main components: (1) security assurance; (2) users, including administration, teachers, and learners; and (3) DL organizational processes. The security concept model can be implemented at different levels of security. We modelled all the possible levels of security. To implement the security concept model, we introduce a framework that consists of the following activities: plan, implement, review, and improve. These activities were performed in a never-ending loop. We provided the technical measures required to implement the appropriate security level of DL infrastructure. The technical measures were provided at the level of a system administrator. We enriched the framework by joining technical measures into appropriate activities within the framework. The models were validated by 10 experts from different higher education institutions. The feasibility of the data collection instrument was determined by a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient that was above 0.9.