Relevancy: The Fifth ‘R’ of Resilience in Cybersecurity Curricula

Relevant cybersecurity curricula is a critical component of cybersecurity resilience. ‘Relevant’ cybersecurity curriculum a) is pedagogically and technically correct b) provides learning experiences directly applicable to the learners’ interests, aspirations, and cultural experiences, c) uses real-world problems and contexts, and d) is resilient against rapidly advancing threats (i.e., up-to-date). While much attention has been paid to developing cybersecurity curriculum, a formal process for keeping curriculum relevant has not been explored. This presentation will outline a new model for reviewing, assessing and maintaining curriculum relevance. We will demonstrate a multi-phase “relevancy process” which includes time-stamping, triaging, technical review, editorial review and mapping to curricular standards. We will share lessons learned from implementing a cybersecurity curriculum relevance review for over two hundred publicly available cybersecurity learning modules.