“Cyber World” as a Theme for a University-wide First-year Common Course

While living in a cyber-connected society provides students with unprecedented connectivity and convenience, it also has the potential to expose them to a variety of threats and manipulations. Internet security on college campuses has become a primary concern of those tasked with protecting campus networks. We developed a “Cyber World” version of our team-taught first-year experience course at the University of New Haven with the intent of introducing students to important cybersecurity concepts. In comparison with other topics taught during the same semester, students reported a greater level of knowledge in topics of identity theft, safe practices for online transactions, fake news, and information oversharing. A pilot online module related to lectures and class activities was well received and supports the increased use of online modules in future semesters. Students’ self-selected project topics indicate that in future semesters the topics explored in lecture should be expanded beyond cybersecurity issues to include social media topics, particularly cyberbullying body image issues.