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Seeking Suggestions for Enhancing Student Engagement in Security+ Class

M
jarrelrivera said:
As with any other courses, don't kill the students with powerpoint slides.

Security+ has lots of interesting topics, and the world has lots of news related to cybersecurity. Merge the two - theory and practical. In that way, the students will get to see the value of what is being discussed - and they get to remember the details more, in my experience.

You also don't need to do the talking for the entire time. There are good PBQs and quizzes in the CompTIA material. Let the students talk between themselves either in pair or in groups - depending on the amount of training time, that is.

The labs are good, only if the instructions are clear enough for the students to follow. So, I do recommend you running the labs yourself, then find the possible pain points for the students, so that in class, you can give an intro spiel about the lab, how it connects to the lesson, and what the students may learn or need to know in doing the lab, i.e. how to use Wazuh for the first time, or how to learn the various options for nmap.

There are heaps of tools and websites for Security+. Too many to identify. I suggest that you create threads for each question or topic that you'd need help with.

In any case, I hope this helps :)
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Hi Jarrel,
Sure that it helps a lot. Thank you so much! Your advice is incredibly helpful. I completely agree that combining theory with real-world examples and engaging students in discussions is essential. That's exactly why I'm here—to seek suggestions based on your experiences.

I appreciate it.
M.Shehata
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Seeking Suggestions for Enhancing Student Engagement in Security+ Class

M
Mark Anthony Germanos said:
Hi M. Shehata.

Kudos on choosing the best possible forum for that question. Hope to see you here often. I started training Security+ in June, 2023 and have polished my presentations to keep students engaged. Here are some items that may work for you.

1. Home network scan. When you get to the NMAP section, scan your network, share the results, then have students scan theirs. This could be in class or as homework. Have them record the results and then share them with the class. I am attaching a .PDF of an NMAP scan result that I copied and pasted into MS Word and then made beautiful. I usually introduce this task with "This is a fair and objective request you may see when interviewing for a job. Might as well practice here..." The CIN forum did not let me attach a .DOC :-(
2. Memory leaks. Show that many programs, including web browsers, open multiple processes. The challenge is to make sure all processes clear out of RAM when the user closes the hosting program. I open Task Manager then a) launch Firefox, b) visit https://online-stopwatch.com and c) exit Firefox. Students see how many processes Firefox opens and then see them clear out of memory within 75 seconds. Explain that if any Firefox processes remained up and running, that would be a sign of a memory leak.
3. Take them into AI. They've already chosen a favorite AI LLM. I take them in Perplexity then follow a progression of initial prompt and then a series of follow-ups. An example that is highly appropriate here is a) Tell me about the CIA, b) tell me about the CIA in cybersecurity, c) tell me about the CIA in cybersecurity at a 6th grade reading level... You can experiment with more specific prompts. Everybody pays attention.

Onward and upward.
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Hi Mark,

Thank you so much for your suggestions and the attached file! Using NMAP to scan home networks is practical and engaging, and the memory leak demo simplifies complex concepts greatly. The AI progression for explaining the CIA triad is innovative and captivating. I’m eager to incorporate these ideas into my class.

Do you have tips for managing these activities within limited class time without overwhelming students?

I appreciate it.
M. Shehata
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Seeking Suggestions for Enhancing Student Engagement in Security+ Class

M
BrianFord said:
Welcome M.Shehata!

I'm a big fan of active learning and always try to use different techniques to make sure my learners are and stay engaged. I try to mix up my methods offering some from within a lesson and others at end of a lesson. For the Security+ course a couple of ideas might be:
  • Ask students to connect topics back to the CIA triad (Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability),
  • Ask the students to connect methods back to the Security Controls (categories and functional controls), and
  • Something I call 'Where have we seen this before?' where learners connect topics (important to mastering compare and contrast questions).
I do demos using basic OS installed tools (Windows Event Viewer) and web browsers (examine the CompTIA.org site certificate in Chrome). I take students to the NVD to investigate CVEs and to the FIRST.org site to see a CVSS calculator.

I caution about using too many tools or visiting too many websites. Adult learners can only recall for or five things in a day. If you try to do too much in one day they may not be able to recall the topic the next day (but they may remember the site or the tool).

As far as learners hands on activities in Security+ I stay with the PBQs and Labs in CertMaster. I may walk through the Exploring the Lab exercise with a class but if it's not a bootcamp and time allows I try to organize small teams to complete a lab and then present it to the class. I use teams because if one person is leading a demo and goes blank or has a tech issue it becomes awkward and stops the learning for all. In bootcamp courses the students should do the labs on their own time. I try to fit in a walk through of the Vulnerability Assessment and Packet Capture labs.

I hope this helps.

Brian
.
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Dear Brian,
Thank you for the great suggestions! I really like the idea of connecting topics to the CIA triad and Security Controls, and your hands-on approach sounds like a great way to keep students engaged.
Do you have any specific recommendations for engaging activities or labs that work well for the Vulnerability Assessment or Packet Capture labs?

Thanks again!
M. Shehata
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5380 mins instructional time.

Danai Nathan Chinyenye
Lshanno said:
It's a 5 day pacing for both courses combined.
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Please try to convince the provider to stretch the program to at least 2 weeks. Packing everything into 5 days will only lead to rushing, and in the end delegates may complain. This way, everyone benefits from a smoother, more effective learning experience.
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Do You Report Cheating?

Mark Anthony Germanos
David Staples said:
Hey everyone, happy Tuesday! So I was teaching a DataSys+ class last week and there are some security topics in the course. This being a military group, I knew that they had most likely done a Security+ at some point and mentioned that they should have seen some of these topics on their Security+ exam. One of the students relayed to me that he thought the exam was so much easier now than it was years ago when he first took it. I asked when he took it and he said just a few months ago. I asked more about his experience on the exam and he said that these days all you have to do is memorize the questions in the test bank because they're practically the same questions as on the exam. I asked more about the test bank he (and another student who was in his same Sec+ class) used and he went on to describe the VCE Player that is commonly used with braindumps. He also said that when he had a difficult question on the exam, he simply raised his hand and the instructor would sit there and go through the question with him. The instructor was not only proctoring the exam, but also helping students out during the exam.

After the class was over, I talked to the owner of another training company that I knew does business with this group and he said he had already reported it to CompTIA, but CompTIA seems to be saying they can't do anything without any sort of hard evidence and apparently isn't going to do anything about it. So my question is, should I even bother reporting this to CompTIA if they're not going to do anything anyways? All I have is what students told me about their experience. No physical, hard, concrete evidence. Does CompTIA actually care about cheating, or so long as a training company brings them a lot of business they don't really care about how they get the students to pass the exam? What would you do?
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I am suspicious of the “hard evidence” claim. I sat SecurityX two weeks ago. My audio and video were recorded. I sincerely hope CompTIA is not too lazy or overworked to request audio and video from that testing environment.
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Do You Report Cheating?

jarrelrivera
There's not much we can do about brain dumps, apart from reporting the site.

As for the student and their proctor, this could've been captured in the camera. To my understanding, all proctored exams in a Pearson test centre is equipped with a camera. Unless, if the exam is taken on a secured site where Pearson simply relies on trust and integrity of the people.
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5380 mins instructional time.

L
Rick Butler said:
So, I don't think you can push both Core 1 and Core 2 into one week and have an effective class. In all the time I've taught A+ (disclosure, I have not taught v12), I have never seen both sides taught properly in a week, even in a bootcamp scenario. Perhaps the only way I would suggest it would be for established professionals that are merely reviewing content. Even then, that's an overly ambitious pace.

Mathematically, 90 hours divided by 5 is going to be 18 hours per day if we're understanding it correctly. Perhaps the schedule is a 5d/wk schedule across two weeks, making it 9h/day, which may be more reasonable?
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Thanks Rick. Three days completed. Swapping out a large number of slides for labs. Two good courses and the feed back for the labs has been good but would definitely work better as a two week delivery.
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Need Help Accessing Network+ Instructor Resources

Rick Butler
So, the CIN does not have "Instructor Resource Kits" for instructors. We don't provide slides that you can use in your classroom, nor materials that you can take back and put in your learning environment.

What we find in the resource area are Train the Trainer slides (if you hit the resource area inside a TTT seminar) - which we don't use for the classroom - they are tilted towards teaching instructors how to deliver the content, or secondary materials that folks may submit over time.

If you need learning materials to teach your classes, you need to get those things from whomever developed your curriculum. If you are delivering CompTIA branded content, you should have access to some instructor materials (mostly pre-CertMaster Perform). If you are using another publisher for your curriculum, you will want to contact them for those assets.
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Do You Report Cheating?

Rick Butler
Now, the ONLY time I could EVER think of using a braindump for ANYTHING would be in the form of a lab manual - that is, take the question as written, toss out the answers, and model it up in a bench situation. At that point, it's a experiential lab. But, using the question from the exam, as study material undermines the idea of questioning someone's applicative knowledge.

See, if we look at this from a Blooms perspective, a question from a scenario that a candidate has never seen tests applicative knowledge. If the candidate has seen the question, it goes down to Understanding or just Knowlege levels - which is not meet for a certification that is testing applicative knowledge.

So one would hope that if they have modeled things in a lab situation, they've covered the points that might be addressed in a braindump question, anyway. I have seen very few GAS questions that have been so off the wall, as to be purposely evasive. Usually, either you know it or you don't.
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Regarding CompTIA CTT+

Rick Butler
To add, CompTIA never has seemed to want to tell a training house/school, etc, who would be an instructor. For as long as I've been in education, I've never seen a huge push on CTT+ certified instructors in any training situation. Others' mileage may vary, but in my experience, it's never truly commanded a lot of respect between the instructor population. Just my two bits.

/r
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Regarding CompTIA CTT+

imsrj.cse
Since CompTIA CTT+ is retired so is there any replacement or what needs to be the criteria or qualification for a CompTIA certified trainer to teach an official CompTIA Training

This question is already been posted, but didn't see the satisfied respononse, asking again to see if anyone has direct response
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Need Help Accessing Network+ Instructor Resources

S
Hello everyone,

I recently joined CIN, and I’m preparing to deliver training for Network+. However, I couldn’t find the official Instructor Resource Kit (IRK) or the instructor slides in my account.
Can anyone guide me on how to properly access or request the Network+ instructor materials? Do I need to go through the CompTIA Store, or should I submit a support ticket?

Any help or step-by-step directions would be highly appreciated.
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Tools and learning platform suggestions.

J
sbeth said:
If you're looking to stay with certification prep, you might want to check out Ascend Education: https://ascendeducation.com/landing-page/ I previewed a few of their courses and found them to be easy to navigate. Their course prospectuses are more informative and better organized than TestOut’s. I went in a different direction with my courses, but if I ever went back to offering a cert prep course, they'd be a strong contender.
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Thanks sbeth for the excellent recommendation. I'll certainly look at what Ascend offers. Yes, we offer cert prep courses for workforce so this another good offer. Thanks for responding.
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Tools and learning platform suggestions.

S
If you're looking to stay with certification prep, you might want to check out Ascend Education: https://ascendeducation.com/landing-page/ I previewed a few of their courses and found them to be easy to navigate. Their course prospectuses are more informative and better organized than TestOut’s. I went in a different direction with my courses, but if I ever went back to offering a cert prep course, they'd be a strong contender.
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Seeking Suggestions for Enhancing Student Engagement in Security+ Class

David Staples
Looks like a good bit has been covered already. I'll add that I throw in some YouTube videos relevant to the topics that we're discussing. Sometimes it's a video I created (for instance showing how a ping flood works using a virtual machine) while other times it's one by someone else. And it all depends on the audience as to which video(s) I may show. Another example of a video is a Wired journalist driving a Jeep Cherokee down the highway while two people hack it remotely over the cellular network. It's a great example of how everything is becoming Internet connected and vulnerabilities are everywhere. I also try and throw in some dry humor. For instance - the "S" in IOT stands for Security. (Don't remember where I heard that one, but I can't take credit for coming up with it. I just relay it to the class and it usually gets a few laughs or snickers.)
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