According to Cyberseek.org, there are currently 700,000+ cybersecurity position vacancies in the US. AccessCyber reports reviewing 10,584 cybersecurity job postings and states “Cybersecurity Hiring is Broken” and employers seeking “unicorn” candidates is identified as one cause of the problem. In reviewing position vacancies, half of the vacancies are within the NICE Oversee and Govern (OS&G) category. OS&G requires cybersecurity knowledge and skills, as well as strong business acumen.

Audience engagement is a key challenge associated with Cybersecurity education. Gamification - where elements of competition, unpredictability, and active participation are leveraged to increase interest and motivate learner engagement - is a new frontier for academic research and investment. In this presentation, we demonstrate how a gamified “virtual escape room” challenge can be used to create an interesting, exciting, and memorable cybersecurity learning experience. 

This mini workshop will start with a short presentation to provide latest statistics on the cybersecurity workforce challenge, followed by a discussion about the nationwide demand and open positions for academically qualified cybersecurity faculty, both full-time and adjunct. Then, an interactive workshop will be provided where the audience will collaboratively share their own stories regarding the recruitment of academically qualified faculty members at their institution.

Community outreach is essential for building relationships between the community, potential students, and the college. Increasing visibility in the local area helps to attract more students, donors, and industry partnerships. A successful outreach program can help a college to connect with people from diverse backgrounds and promote a culture of inclusion. It can also help to create a more welcoming and supportive environment for all students and staff.

Miami Dade College has made strides in increasing the number of underrepresented minorities in the field of cybersecurity. MDC provides stackable programs, certifications, professional development, and other initiatives to help students come to our programs, graduate, and get a career. 

Funded by the NSA through the NCAE-C program, the mission of the National Cybersecurity Curriculum Task Force is to catalog and create high-quality and relevant curricula on emerging cybersecurity topics, mapping to curricular and workforce guidelines, and make them freely available. The mission is being accomplished with the following goals: (1) Conduct a comprehensive search of available curricula in cybersecurity repositories, directories, and among the community. (2) Perform gap analysis to identify high-need areas to create a cyber-ready workforce.

More than 60 percent of university students freely admit to cheating in some form, according to Dr. Donald McCabe of the International Center for Academic Integrity. The NCAE-C Student Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct sub-committee has drafted a Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct for faculty consideration. A Code of Ethics establishes core values, ethical principles and ethical standards that student professionals use to guide their academic and professional conduct. We will also suggest some guidance to faculty on how to implement it in their courses.

The CAE Community of Practice (CoP) for Cyber Defense (CD) (https://www.caecommunity.org/community-of-practice/cyber-defense) was established in 2020 with the mission: “To collaborate with both the CAE Community and the NCAE-C Program Management Office (PMO) to build a Cybersecurity Excellence Community of Practice in Cyber Defense (CoP-CD) in order to gather and share input from the broader community as well as to provide continuous program improvement".