Title :
Comparison of TwoVirtual education labs: Closing the gap between online and brick-and-mortar schools
Author :
Anderson, Roberta C. ; Romney, Gordon W.
Author_Institution :
Sch. of Eng., Comput. Sci. & Media, Nat. Univ., San Diego, CA, USA
Abstract :
The digital age has enabled many advancements in higher education. One such advancement is the ability to attend online universities. In the past, there was always the question of whether or not taking online classes was comparable to attending a brick-and-mortar school. Were the students getting the same type of lab experience and were they able to truly understand the concepts? Virtual Education Labs have provided the answer to this conundrum. Students attending a Master´s in Cyber Security program were able to use two versions of virtual lab environments, closing the gap between brick-and-mortar and online education. These virtual labs provided the ability for students to engage in experiential learning, while not being restricted to physical presence. Computer security, can be best understood when it is taught by hands-on learning.
Keywords :
computer aided instruction; further education; security of data; brick-and-mortar schools; computer security; cyber security program; digital age; experiential learning; hands-on learning; higher education; online education; online universities; two virtual education labs; Computer security; Educational institutions; Servers; Virtual machining; Virtualization; Virtual Education Labs; brick-and-mortar; experiential learning; online classes; online education;
Conference_Titel :
Information Technology Based Higher Education and Training (ITHET), 2013 International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Antalya
DOI :
10.1109/ITHET.2013.6671035