In the first school week of January, the output of the strategic project “Cyber Clever” - cyber security modules - was tested in the Paide Campus of Järva County Vocational Training Centre by the team members - Erasmus+ project coordinator Marleen Annabel Pukk and IT vocational teacher Kuldar Okas.
The Erasmus+ strategic project Cyber Clever started with the need to integrate cyber security into vocational training. One of the aims of the project is to create a training package for vocational schools to raise awareness of cyber security among teachers and students in any field.
Today, the JKHK “Cyber Clever” project team, in cooperation with the Tartu Vocational College (VOCO) team, has completed a study material that focuses not only on theory but also on teamwork and games, which should increase the motivation of learners to learn and gather information on cyber security. It was these activities and games that logistics and transport management students aged 16-19 experimented.
Students completed seven activities and games on the following topics: encryption, biometrics, cyber hygiene, hacking techniques and cybersecurity. The purpose of testing the project material was to find out and get feedback from students on the idea, content, implementation, level of difficulty and comprehensibility of these activities and games. After each activity, students were asked for feedback, which they provided. After testing all the material, the students selected the games that were of most interest to them and also shared comments on how they could be imprved.
In order for the tested activities to be understood by the learners, the basic knowledge needed to understand each topic was discussed in advance. The first topic was "encryption", where, after defining the term, the topic was discussed: "Do you use encryption on a daily basis? Where? ”. After the discussion, the students found that they had not been exposed to it before and did not use it in their daily lives. Their initial opinion was refuted with examples of how the word "encryption" is used in everyday text messages in both English and Estonian (IDK, IRL, LOL, PMST, LIC, NS, etc.) and explained how such an example falls within encryption. The short video they watched also introduced cryptography in a very simple and straightforward way. This was followed by puzzle games where students had to find a solution to decode a given task. The three games - Freemason cipher, Polybius square and Caesar cipher - proved to be the test group's favorites, as they were used to shake their brains and experience happiness when the task was solved.
The second topic was "biometrics". Again, the meaning of the term was explained, the reasons why biometrics are so easy to use listed, and examples of how and where biometrics are used were given. When the theoretical part was reached, the students played the game “Who is depicted in the picture?” Using the nature of biometrics in this face recognition game, students tried to guess who were in a partially covered picture. The appearance of an identifiable person was revealed with each step. When the person in the picture was finally identified, the students were explained why it was necessary to be 100% sure in biometrics that they were the person who is tryig to log in to their phone or bank and why partial face recognition, fingerprint or other partial pattern cannot be used. Next, group work on biometrics began. 2 groups were formed. Each group chose one Estonian celebrity and thought of the words that characterized him/her (appearance, profession, clothing, etc.). The opposing group had to try to guess who it was after each descriptive word was revealed. The students' feedback showed that they really enjoyed such creative group work on a topic, where they could come up with their own answers and compete with other classmates. It was thought that if there were a lot of groups involved, the game would be even more exciting because they could properly compete with eachother.
The third topic "cyber hygiene" was explained and compared with the nowadays popular topic, ie human hygiene. The importance of the Internet hygiene was highlighted. The activity of this topic was to fill in a comparative table, with "coronavirus precautions" on one side and "cyber hygiene precautions" on the other. Comparing the current topic - coronavirus and its prevention - and cyber-hygiene also helped students to better understand the latter. The purpose of filling in the tables was to find the precautions or measures that should be taken to maintain "hygiene" and to prevent infection with viruses and other malware (both on the smart device and on health). When the coronavirus table was completed, the students were explained why these precautions were needed (mask, hand washing and disinfection, etc.). Once the online hygiene table had been completed, the students were explained, together with a comparison of the coronavirus table, how these precautions would help maintain 'hygiene'. From the students' feedback, it was clear that the task was very interesting for them – after filling in the tables and comparing them, they understood what cyber hygiene is, why is it important and what can be done to maintain it. This topic could be summarized with the idea: "If we keep the hygiene, we can reduce the risks we face in the cyber world, as in the case of the coronavirus."
The fourth topic was "hacking techniques and cyber security". A theoretical introduction to this topic was omitted so that in addition to trying out the game, students' knowledge of hacking and cybersecurity could be tested. The game for this topic was a quiz with different answers in the Quizizz web environment. The progress of the game could be watched on the screen displayed on the projector, and both the questions and the answers could be seen on the students' phones, so even if it is a larger classroom, the students farthest away can take part without any problems. During the quiz, it is important to make sure that the internet connection is of high quality - otherwise the game will not run smoothly. The students liked to test their knowledge in this form, too. To keep the motivation to participate and think of the correct answer a score was calculated and the top three were pointed out at the end of the game - this grading system can also be deducted according to the sensitivity of the students.
To summarize the testing of the Cyber Clever project activities, it can be said that all the students who took part in the tasks were successful, no one was left behind and did not leave the tasks unsolved. Students were able to test both individual knowledge and skills, as well as teamwork and competition skills. Based on the feedback received, we can conclude that students like different types of activities and (interactive) games on topics that are unfamiliar to them, and this is a very good alternative to memorizing theoretical learning material. All the students in the classroom were interested in cyber security topic - everyone tried to solve tasks and participate in group work. Students did not have any negative feelings or objections about all the material they reviewed.
