Entrepreneurial-minded learning in a freshman mini-project in Computing

Abstract

Computing and Information Technology are among the fastest growing fields in the U.S. and participating in efforts to attract and retain students in this major is critical. The Computing field offers a unique opportunity for exciting industry-sponsored mini-projects that involve hands-on experience and link the applicability of computing skills to the industry world. Technical understanding is essential to engineering. But engineers find success and personal fulfillment when they couple these skills with a mindset to create extraordinary value for others. Our mini-project aims at providing an immersive experiential learning experience that introduces students to engineering entrepreneurial-minded principles[1] (EML). In this paper, we discuss the design of a seven week long lab offered in the beginning of the freshman year, where students get real world experience on cyber-security, computer networks, and the economics behind security attacks and security solutions. The theme of the mini-project is CSI; students form two groups, the "hackers" and the "defenders" and for the first six weeks of the project they rotate roles while trying to solve various tasks[2]. The teams learn the basics of password cracking, password strength, wireless security, network monitoring, biometrics etc. The seventh week of the mini-project is reserved for the entrepreneurial-minded learning (EML) activity. By the end of the seven-week period students are able to identify popular attacks and discuss potential defense techniques to counter those attacks. They are also able to understand the economics behind security attacks and security solutions, and think about contributions they could make to the security community/industry. Another important objective of the mini-project is for students to be able to effectively function as a team member, with effectiveness being determined by peer rating and self-assessment (using CATME.org questionnaires[3]). We use a concept inventory in the beginning of the course in order to determine students' interest and involvement in entrepreneurial-minded learning. This inventory is also used as pre-test data in our end of the course inventory, where we reassess students' interest and confidence in entrepreneurship to measure the effectiveness of the instruction.