| Summary: | Distance education and e-learning in the field of information security is gaining popularity. In the field of information security education, virtual labs have been suggested to facilitate hands-on learning in distance education. An internet-based information security lab is an artifact which involves a collection of systems and software used for teaching information security, and which is accessible through the Internet. This research is motivated from an on-going information security lab development initiative at Luleå University of Technology. A literature review on the online educational information security laboratories (InfoSec labs) in the academic literature was conducted. The current literature about online InfoSec labs still lacks well-specified pedagogical approaches and concrete design principles. It hinders the accumulation of technically and pedagogically rigorous knowledge for the implementation and use of online educational InfoSec labs. Moreover, the literature focused mainly on details of technical lab implementations whereas the pedagogical elements of the curriculum and rationale behind them were ignored. This leads to inadequate guidance about how the instructor and the learner can make use of the lab to pedagogically align the course objectives, teaching / learning activities and assessment methods.A theoretical framework comprising the Constructive alignment theory (Biggs 1996) and Conversational Framework (Laurillard 2002) was proposed to further guide the research process and analyze the case of an internet security course and e-learning platform. The framework suggested that the MSc program and individual courses in information security should be developed based on specific pedagogical principles in order to improve the quality of teaching and enhance the e-learning platform for flexible hands-on security education. Therefore, to design an online InfoSec lab to improve flexible hands-on education and security skills development in the courses; Action design research (ADR) was chosen as ...
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