Stephen Schneiter said:

Are you ready for the first TTT series of 2026? Join the CompTIA Instructor Network and special guest @Dwayne Natwick as he leads the SecAI+ TTT series. Dwayne will cover the exam objectives and provide hands-on examples as you strengthen your cybersecurity skills. We will discuss how to cover the content with students and suggest various labs to let students gain hands-on experience as they prepare for certification.

CompTIA SecAI+ is the first certification in CompTIA's new expansion series, designed to help you secure, govern, and responsibly integrate artificial intelligence into cybersecurity operations. Gain the skills to defend AI systems, meet global compliance standards, and use AI to enhance threat detection, automation, and innovation while strengthening organizational resilience.

What: CIN TTT Series: SecAI+ V1
When: February 18 - March 9, 2026 (Six sessions), 1:30 - 3:30 PM CDT
Who: Dwayne Natwick
Where: ON24
Register Now

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Hi Stephen, I missed the training but is this available on demand ?

Registered. Looking forward to the training.

Hi Dan,
It's easy to see how this has become a widespread challenge for instructors. Student engagement now requires more than delivering content. It requires relevance. I usually connect lab activities to real job adverts so students can clearly see how each skill is demanded and how it applies in the workplace. By linking labs to actual job descriptions, students shift from passive learning to understanding how their work prepares them for employment. It takes extra effort to do things this way, but it significantly improves motivation, focus, and real-world readiness.

Registered. Thank you!

Dan.Morrill said:

Yah, but we don't get much of a choice on who we teach, we just have to teach them to the best of our ability. And focus is a thing, do you have any ideas on how to improve focus for students? Could they put on some lo-fi concentration music, maybe from YouTube?

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Hi Dan,

I teach college as well and yes, they have trouble focusing. Many of my students are on the spectrum and many have ADD or ADHD, so I feel your frustration. I've some on the spectrum that once they 'get into it' their focus is good; others get so frustrated they quit (mostly because of the theory courses like SAD). In my face-to-face classes when they are doing the labs, I do play concentration music from YouTube. Some I let listen to their own music (as long as they are continuing to work) with headphones or earbuds, but it has to be so that I can't hear it. I've usually learned their habits and abilities by the end of their first semester and know who can listen to their own and who can handle the YouTube music. I play the classics (Mozart, Beethoven, etc); by the third semester they might request music (no lyrics of course) and as long as it's not heavy metal or hard rock, I'll play it. I've also found 'programming' music and other tech concentration music. When there's a challenging lab, we do it as a class (or whoever needs to do it with help).
Hope this helps.

Dan.Morrill said:

Yah, but we don't get much of a choice on who we teach, we just have to teach them to the best of our ability. And focus is a thing, do you have any ideas on how to improve focus for students? Could they put on some lo-fi concentration music, maybe from YouTube?

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I tell them they have two choices:

Focus and work hard, or AI will take your job

I passed the first, second, and third versions of the exam, and my cert is good through 2031, so I think I'll sit this one out.

Yep, we're still going out here. Probably not as much chatter as of late, but I still check in generally once a day, as others do.

Would love to get some more chatter going, of course. Real stuff, not noise...etc etc....

Happy Tuesday masquerading as a Monday (at least for the US and a few other places....)

/r

congrats

I start my class with a slide of two lines.

One line is going into a Food Bank/Homeless Shelter and the other is at a Job fair. I then say your ability to have discipline, focus and finish your education will determine which line your going to stand in.

Gregory Childers said:

If they can't focus, they may not be cut out for this line of work.

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Exactly! Someone with focus will eat their TikTok loving lunch while they watch their videos and complain how long the Food Bank line is...smh

Excited for this, recently passed version 3 myself so be intersted to see the changes.

Gregory Childers said:

If they can't focus, they may not be cut out for this line of work.

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Yah, but we don't get much of a choice on who we teach, we just have to teach them to the best of our ability. And focus is a thing, do you have any ideas on how to improve focus for students? Could they put on some lo-fi concentration music, maybe from YouTube?

Dan.Morrill said:

Hello Everyone,
So I do teach at a couple of colleges, one full-time and one part-time, and both are heavily CompTIA A+, N+, and Sec+. Like all colleges I've seen lately, it's all Cengage and Jill West all the time.
If this forum is still alive and anyone is interested, do you want to compare notes?

The biggest challenges I'm seeing right now are having students do the labs, which can take 20 minutes to an hour (ACI Labs), depending, and in a world of TikTok-induced ability to focus, that might be an issue.

If not, just saying Hi!
Dan

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If they can't focus, they may not be cut out for this line of work.

My A+, Network+, Security+, CySA+, PenTest+, and SecurityX expire in 2031.

Golf courses, both domestically and globally, use more water than data centers. Agriculture uses 5300 times more water than data centers.

It's not about water. It's about hype.

Yay!

Hi Dan! I'm alive and would love to compare notes

Gregory Childers said:

AI , the cloud, and datacenters are not going away, regardless of their opinions. They can either embrace the technology or be left behind in the workplace.

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I hear you, and for the most part, I agree (though I teach one class that has students from a wide variety of industries, and some of them genuinely do have a choice in the matter--for now). As @jason_wood pointed out, students also have some valid concerns that deserve to be addressed. I'm a research geek and can throw all kinds of authoritative sources at the conversation if needed. I guess I'm more curious how other instructors are handling these conversations with students and what points they've been able to make that help to settle their concerns... if that's even possible. When there are data centers being built within my students' own communities, they can bring some pretty strong emotions--and also well-thought-out arguments--to the conversation.

Hod Berman said:

Hi, I think I remember you writing on here that you really enjoyed studying for v1. Any major changes that you can discuss?

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One thing I was pleasantly surprised about is how the exam has candidates apply broader concepts (like networking or security) specifically to databases. So for example, do you understand how databases rely on DNS to function? Do you understand how to configure a firewall for database protection?

I was also impressed with how well it tested an understanding of SQL without necessarily requiring that I be able to write SQL code. Same for the scripting methods, too. For example, do you know when you would use Perl script vs. using Python, if given a scenario?

Personally, having taken CompTIA exams for many years, it feels like they have more skilled question writers for this exam than what I've seen in some other exams. Some of the questions were very low level, of course, but many of them required sophisticated thought and knowledge even within the constraints of a MC question. The exam also felt like a fun and intriguing challenge to bridge my knowledge from networking and security into supporting databases. Not to mix metaphors, but I felt they did an excellent job walking that line. DataSys+ is a natural extension from the CompTIA Trifecta into database admin.

Stephen Schneiter said:

Be on the lookout! I heard that the Data+ vouchers will be sent out via email tomorrow, Wednesday, February 18th.

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Hello Stephen, Happy Monday
I can say Spring did come to the frozen North in Prince George, BC
I do not think I received my DATA+ voucher from Oct TTT in February.
I did change my CINS account email from when I did the TTT, but I did complete all the lessons.
The email address I used for the training was [email protected].
I am on summer break, so I am looking at writing this and the Linux+ this round.
Thank you so much for your time.
Positive Thoughts
~Ben

Stephen Schneiter said:

Join us for the CIN TTT series covering the next release of the CompTIA CySA+ certification. Our guest instructor, @Nick Pierce , will lead us through the eight-session series covering the exam objectives and provide hands on examples as you strengthen your cybersecurity analysis skills. We will discuss how to cover the content with students and suggest various labs to let students gain hands-on experience as they prepare for certification.

CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) is the premier certification for cyber professionals tasked with incident detection, prevention, and response through continuous security monitoring. It validates a tech professional's expertise in incident response and vulnerability management processes, emphasizing the critical communication skills necessary for effective security analysis and compliance.

Skills covered in this series:

• Enhance security operations processes, differentiate threat intelligence and threat hunting, and identify malicious activity using appropriate tools.
• Conduct vulnerability assessments, prioritize vulnerabilities, and recommend effective mitigation strategies for vulnerability management.
• Apply attack methodology frameworks, perform incident response, and understand the incident management lifecycle to handle security incidents effectively.
• Utilize communication best practices to report on vulnerability management and incident response, providing stakeholders with actionable plans and meaningful metrics.

What: CIN TTT Series CySA+ V4
When: June 8 through July 1, 2026, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm CT
Who: Nick Pierce
Where: ON24
Register Here
(Please note, registering will automatically register you for all 8 sessions. You will be able to add each session to your calendar on from the confirmation email.)

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I am really looking forward to this. I've tried to do this using Udemy so it will be interesting to see how those two match out.

I'm in thanks @Stephen Schneiter.

Congratulations!