Security+ Course

[NikkiH]

I have been asked to teach a Security+ course. I have a couple of questions:

• How many class in-person meetings do you have for the full course? (or virtual if you are not doing in person)
• How long is each class meeting (hours)?

Thanks!

 

[Brian Callahan]

Is this a college course? I teach cert prep courses for undergraduate and graduate security students at a university.
I teach two styles of cert prep courses: a full-semester (15-week) course and a 2.5-week crash course over winter break.

The full-semester course is 29 meetings at 2 hours per meeting = 58 in-person hours (not all 58 hours are devoted to cert prep as I have an independent research requirement for the course, estimate about 48 hours of cert prep time).

The 2-week crash course is 2.5 weeks. It ends up being 12 meetings at 2 hours per meeting = 24 hours. This style however is an absolute sprint and I wouldn't recommend teaching this way if it is your first time teaching.

 

[Rick Butler]

In our college, we've taught Security+ to 120 contact hours (our schedule, pre-covid was a 5 hour day, four days a week, over six weeks) We also prescribed 1 hour of outside work per night. On average, students who were prepared and did well on the Network+ would be about 50-60% cert ready at the conclusion of the course. Usually they would need another three weeks of additional study to sharpen enough to challenge the Sec+.

Obviously, your mileage would vary, but this is what we've experienced.

I also would not teach Security+ in a Boot Camp setting unless the students already had Security+ experience and the Net+ in hand.

/r

 

[Tess Sluijter]

Comparing your answers, I actually feel Brian's course plan feels light compared to Rick's.

For Linux+ I have ~100 contact hours, with students needing 1-2h homework per week, plus suggestions for extra practice on the side. For Sec+ I would expect a similar work load if I'd teach it to young adults in a school setting.

 

[Brian Callahan]

Comparing your answers, I actually feel Brian's course plan feels light compared to Rick's.

For Linux+ I have ~100 contact hours, with students needing 1-2h homework per week, plus suggestions for extra practice on the side. For Sec+ I would expect a similar work load if I'd teach it to young adults in a school setting.

Ah, so that might be an important difference. Students will have 9-12 hours of homework per week in my class.

 

[Rick Butler]

Ah, so that might be an important difference. Students will have 9-12 hours of homework per week in my class.

Something else to keep in mind are these classes of activity that are more about pushing information vs. development of knowledge. Colleges weigh these things differently, which calculates into what the load of a course is - and how much education it would be, quantitatively.

First, some math:

Credit hours calculate the type of activity ratio, multiplied by the number of hours performing it, and dividing that by 30
Quarter Credits calculate the type of activity ratio, multiplied by the number of hours performing it, and dividing that by 45

1) Didactic - Things like lecture that are 100% one way pushes of information transfer (2.0)
2) Supervised Lab - Lab work that is under the direct management of an instructor (1.5)
3) Externship - Work that is performed in a professional environment (1.0)
4) Unsupervised Lab/Outside Work - Work that is done by the student with little to no input from the instructor. (0.5)

So if we take a class that met three times per week, twice for a two hour lecture, once for a one hour lab, for 16 weeks.

Lecture: 2hrs x 2 per week by 2.0 ratio = 8 - multiply that by 16 = 128
Lab: 1hr x 1 per week by 1.5 ratio = 1.5 - multiply by 16 = 24.

128+24 = 152/30 = about 5 Credit Hours for that course.

Meanwhile, if you had one 2hr lecture and two 1hr labs:

Lecture 1x2x2 = 4 -> 4x16 = 64
Lab 2x1x1.5 = 3 -> 3x16 = 48
48+64 = 112 -> 112/30 = 3.73

All that to say that how you arrange the course, at least according to the Carnegie system, would factor how accreditors would estimate the actual load of a course. While you can't quantify this on a student level, since every student is different, it generally holds true. One would expect, then, in the heavier class, a student would gain more knowledge.

And I didn't even factor homework, but you can figure that bit out - or just put the numbers in Excel and go to town.

/r

 

[Brian Callahan]

Very true. And I redid my own math. It's more like 4-8 hours of homework per week.
I knew the 9-12 number was too much as soon as I wrote it...

 

[Gregory Childers]

For Security+, CySA+, PenTest+, and CASP+, I teach the classes in 5 8-hour days for 40 contact hours.

A+ would be 10 8-hour days for 80 contact hours, although I have taught a bootcamp in 5 8-hour days several times.

I can't imaging spreading any CompTIA class over an entire semester. I have prepped for CompTIA exams on my own in a week's time.

 

[NikkiH]

Thank you to everyone who replied. And for all the insightful discussion. I really appreciate it.
This will be a course for an Army educational opportunity for their soldiers. It will be in the evenings. I needed to work out the number of weeks, meetings per week, and the hours per meeting. Y'all have given me a lot to work with.

 

[Tess Sluijter]

First, some math:

Whoa Rick! I had no idea that's how it works with credits! Thanks for that thorough explanation! That's awesomely useful to know.

 

[Tess Sluijter]

I can't imaging spreading any CompTIA class over an entire semester. I have prepped for CompTIA exams on my own in a week's time.

You on the other hand are no newbie, you've been around the block so many times!

 

[Rick Butler]

Whoa Rick! I had no idea that's how it works with credits! Thanks for that thorough explanation! That's awesomely useful to know.

Call that the benefit of a few hours of reverse engineering a few spreadsheets and learning about the Carnegie Credit system. Granted, this is germane to the US - other countries have their own credit systems which may or may not be comparable.

I recall having to look at this because one school would say, "This course is 3.0 credits" and another would say, "This course is 4.0 Quarter Hours", while another school would say, "this course is 7 hours". So the question arose, "What constitutes a credit, a quarter hour...".

But the utility I found was in how different activities were weighted. It's totally conceivable that didactic activities are going to be far more involved in acquiring new material than assigning a bunch of homework in hopes of making up the difference (which I've seen some schools attempt).

In the scope of this conversation, comparing activities of how we deliver content can reasonably predict how long of something can contribute to the outcome, at least a rough average.

/r

 

[Gregory Childers]

You on the other hand are no newbie, you've been around the block so many times!

I think I've just been accused of being old.

 

[Tess Sluijter]

I think I've just been accused of being old.

If you were, you'd be in good company!