Cyber security education has evolved over the last decade to include new methods of teaching and technology to prepare students. Instructors in this field of study often deal with a subject matter that has rigid principles, but changing ways of applying those principles. This makes maintaining courses difficult. This case study explored the kind of teaching methods, technology, and means used to explain these concepts. This study shows that generally, cyber security courses require more time to keep up to date. It also evaluates one effort, the NxSecLab, on how it attempted to relieve the administrative issues in teaching these concepts. The proposed framework in this model looks at ways on how to ease the administrative burden in cyber security education by using a central engine to coordinate learning management with infrastructure-as-a-service resources.

Allt fler kommuner införskaffar idag lärplattformar att användas i skolor, men ofta saknas kunskap kring hur elevens lärande påverkas. Denna studie undersöker detta utifrån tre olika aspekter; kontext, ansvar och självreglerat lärande. En sociokulturell teori och en teori för självreglerat lärande används för tolkning och analys. Undersökningsmetoden är en enkätsstudie med både lärare och elever som informanter. Studiens resultat styrker i hög grad tidigare forskning på området och visar att elevers och lärares uppfattning är att lärplattformen har möjligheter att underlätta lärandet för elever och att detta i sin tur kommer att innebära ett större ansvarstagande i de egna studierna.

The digitalization of Swedish preschools can be shown by three different indicators. First, the on-going revision of the national curriculum for preschool where children’s digital competences will be added. Second, the research about how digital devices (e.g. tablets) are used in preschools (e.g. Kjällander & Moinian, 2014; Petersen, 2015). Third, the introduction of learning management systems (LMS) designed for preschools.In a recent article, preschool principals in Swedish municipalities are shown to be the group of principals with the largest amount of employees (Hägström, 2017, March).Therefore, this study’s aim is to get a better understanding in which way preschool principals experience that they can use their LMS in conjunction with performance appraisal interviews with their employees. Four research questions have been developed: (1) How do principals describe their use of a LMS?, (2) What do they experience the system give insight in and what not?, (3) To which extent do they regard that the performance appraisal interviews change while using a LMS? and (4) Which ethical dilemmas do preschool principals experience by using a LMS for performance appraisal interviews?Five preschool principals in one southern Swedish municipality have been interviewed. All respondents have been using their learning management system for performance appraisal interviews. The results have been analyzed by activity theory, in particular Engeström’s (2001, 2015) activity system and his cycle of expansive learning (Engeström, 1999, 2001).The findings show that preschool principals are part of an activity system with both resources and limitations. Resources by delegating tasks and discussing and sharing in groups, while their decisions can be limited by national laws and municipal orders. In this activity system, the learning management system can be used both as a communication and an administration tool to realize two of the principals’ outcomes with performance appraisal interviews: to increase the speech time for the employees and to give them possibility to see their own professional development.

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Sammanfattning:Lärplattformar har kommit att integrera informationsteknologi med det traditionella lärandet. Det ger ett flexibelt sätt att ta till sig kunskap för studenter, där de inte är lika beroende av tid, plats eller andra frågor som kan hindra deras lärande.Syftet med vår undersökning är att få en djupare förståelse om It's Learnings funktioner och dess utvecklingsprocess. Vidare undersöks om Malmö Högskolas användande och utformning av It's Learning möter studenternas krav på användbarhet och funktionalitet och om resultatet i så fall kan härledas till beprövad teori inom området. En av undersökningarna fokuserar på första- och tredjeårsstudenters erfarenheter vad gäller användning av It's Learning. För att besvara syftet används två olika metoder. Kvalitativa intervjuer används för att få all den information som behövs om It's Learning som lärplattform och kvantitativ enkätundersökning har används för att studera användbarhet och funktionalitet hos Malmö Högskolas lärplattform. Den kvantitativa undersökningen baseras på Jacob Nielsens användbarhetsheuristisk och Marc J. Rosenbergs centrala funktioner utifrån i vilken omfattning It's Learning följer dessa.\\ Resultatet som framkom från vår enkätundersökning visar att det finns skillnader mellan de båda studentgruppernas upplevelser av hur It's Learning uppfyller deras krav på användbarhet. En av de största skillnaderna som framkom var att förstaårsstudenterna upplever It's Learning både mer svår att hantera och förstå i förhållande till tredjeårsstudenterna. Båda studentgrupperna upplever att It's Learning följer de flesta riktlinjer utifrån Nielsens användbarhetsheuristik. Våra genomförda intervjuer visar vidare att It's Learning följer vissa riktlinjer utifrån Rosenbergs kärnfunktioner för en lärplattform. / Abstract:Learning platforms have emerged to integrate information technology with the traditional learning. This provides a flexible way of learning for students who would not be dependent on time, place or other issues that would prevent their learning. The purpose of this thesis is to gain knowledge about It's Learning and its developing process. And to investigate if Malmö University's learning platform, It's Learning, meets students' demands on usability and functionality and that could result in a case derived to a proven theory in the field. The investigation focuses on the first and third year students' experiences in the use of It's Learning.To answer the purpose, two methods are used. An interview is used as a qualitative method to get all needed information about It's Learning. Further, a questionnaire is used as a quantitative method to study the usability and functionality of Malmö University's learning platform. This investigation is based on theoretical perspective Jacob Nielsen's usability heuristic and Marc. J Rosenberg's core functions and how much It's Learning followed them. The results that were conducted from the survey and the interviews shows that there is a difference between the two student groups and their experiences also whether It's Learning meets their demands for usability. One of the biggest differences is that first year students experience It's Learning as more difficult to manage and understand in comparison to third years students. However, both case groups showed that It's Learning followed to a certain degree, Nielsen's usability heuristic. However, the results that are conducted from the interviews shows that It's Learning follows most of Rosenberg's core functions of a learning management system.

Utbildning och undervisning har förändrats genom tiderna och många olika redskap har använts. Digitala lärplattformar är ett av dessa redskap. KTH:s lärandemiljö har utvidgats med en digitallärplattform, där Canvas är en del. KTH:s instans av Canvas förvaltas inom vad som benämns förvaltningsobjektet e-lärande (Institutionenför lärande (1), 2020).Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur studenter på KTH som använder Canvas uppfattar den digitala lärandemiljön och speciellt Canvas. Frågeställningen som använts för studien är: Hur upplever studenterna Canvas funktionalitet i samband med sina studier? Hjälpmedel för att förmedla kunskap har tagit steget från att endast vara i den fysiska världen till att delvis ha flyttat in i den digitalavärlden. Detta ger flera nya möjligheter till kommunikation och anpassning. Datorernas och Internets intågande i vardagen och utbildning, har accelererat under den senaste tiden. Internet har kommit att bli ett självklart verktyg för kommunikation med varandra och omvärlden. Studenter tillbringar inte bara tid i den fysiska miljön utan även i den digitala. Förstadiet för den första centrala digitalaplattformen på KTH för lärande föddes på mitten av 90-talet i en av KTH:s egna kurser för att senare utvecklas till Bilda/PING PONG. Canvas är en digital lärplattform (engelska: LMS, Learning Management System) och kan användas för att aktivera studenterna i sina studier, bland annat med funktioner som automaträttade frågor (quiz), betygsuppföljning, diskussionsforum med mera. Övergången till Canvas, startades med ett pilottest hösten 2016 (Stenberg, 2017). Sverige har undertecknat Agenda 2030 målen vilket påverkar KTH som är ett svenskt statligt universitet. Det fjärde målet är det som framförallt är riktat till skolor, universitet och högskolor. "Mål 4.Säkerställa en inkluderande och likvärdig utbildning av god kvalitet och främja livslångt lärande för alla" (Agenda 2030, u.å., s. 12). Agenda 2030 går väl att koppla ihop med delat av KTH:s värdegrund (KTH, u.å.) samt KTH:s policy för hållbar utveckling (Policy förhållbar utveckling för KTH, u.å.) Denna rapport är en liten del på vägen mot dessa mål. För att ta reda på hur studenter uppfattar den digitala lärandemiljön med avseende på funktioner och navigation, har en sekventiell explorativ ansats med blandade metoder valts. Studien baseras på en förstudie med semistrukturerade intervjuer och en kvantitativ enkätundersökning. Förstudien utgjordes av fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer samt en tematisk analys av transkriberingen av dessa intervjuer. Även om det handlar ett bekvämlighetsurval (Denscombe, 2019) kan gruppen som urvalet gjordes ur anses som representativ, då samtliga utbildningar på alla KTH:s campus var representerade där. Detta gjorde att förstudien inte kunde ses som allmängiltig utan mer orienterande, för att veta vad som var intressant att undersöka vidare i en enkät. Grunden för enkätens frågor skapades utifrån en analys av förstudiens intervjuer. Tematisk analys har använts på både innehållet i transkriptionen av intervjuerna och på fritextsvaren i enkäten. För att få en snabb överblick skapades en färgning av resultaten. Avidentifierade transkriptioner av intervjuerna samt valet av enkätfrågor följer "principen om uppgiftsminimering" (allmän dataskyddsförordning, 2016/ 679 , Skäl 156). Förstudien identifierade två starka teman. Den med flest kodningar var "läsa och hantera filer" med och "Användning" med tre underteman vardera, dessa utgjorde grunden till påståendena i enkäten. Enkäten har 614 svar, vilket var 4,5 procent av 2019 års, 13 514 helårsstudenter. (KTH Årsredovisning 2019.pdf, u.å., s. 4). Svarsfrekvensen planade ut mot slutet av svarstiden vilket visar på en mättnad av svarsvilja hos studenterna. Sammanfattningsvis svarade flertalet att de hade en positiv upplevelse av Canvas och att de hjälper dem i deras studier. Generellt fanns det utmaningar i kommunikation både meddelanden och forum. Enkätsvaren tyder på åsikten att plattformen har potential till skillnad från informanterna i förstudien som var mer kritiska och frustrerade över systemet. Genom att komplettera den fysiska undervisningen kan studenten utvecklas mer kontinuerligt, då lärandet inte är låst till undervisningstimmarna. Lärplattformen är ett digitalt redskap i undervisningen, för att stödja studenterna i studierna. Forumet och direktmedelanden kan vara en möjlighet för studenterna att bryta isolationen av att studera på egen hand och att få stöd av både lärare och andra studenter. Genom inlämningsuppgifter och automaträttade frågor (quiz) kan studenten öva och få förstärkning på kunskapsinhämtningen. Digitala plattformar kan öka tillgängligheten, oavsett om studenten behöver talsyntes eller studerar bättre på olika tider på dygnet. Områdena med utmaningar är diskussionsforumet, Canvas meddelandefunktioner, filhantering: att snabbt och enkelt hitta dokument och filer samt att Canvas delvis bara används för de obligatoriska momenten. Ändå svarar studenterna sammantaget med en positiv ton i de flesta svaren på enkäten. / Education and teaching have evolved, and todays teaching environment utilises many different tools and methods. A digital learning platform, such as Canvas, is one of those tools. KTH:s instance of Canvas is administrated by E-learning management object (The Department of Learning in Engineering Sciences, u.å.). The aim of this study was to investigate how students at KTH, who use Canvas, perceive the digital learning environment, especially Canvas. The focus question used for the study is: How do students experience Canvas' functionality in conjunction with their studies? Tools for conveying knowledge have moved from existing only in the physical world to having partially moved into the digital world. This provides several new opportunities for communication and adaptation. The use of computers in everyday life and studies has accelerated recently. The computer has become an obvious tool for communication within the world. Student life is not limited to the physical environment; it has expanded to the digital one. The start for one of the first digital platforms for learning at KTH was born in the mid-90s in one of KTH:s own courses and later to become Bilda /PING PONG. Canvas is an LMS (Learning Management System) which can be used to support students in their studies, and includes functions such as quizzes, grade follow-up, discussion forums and more. The transition to Canvas began with a pilot test in the autumn of 2016 (Stenberg,2017). The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is something that Sweden has signed, which in turn affects KTH as a Swedish state university. The fourth goal is that which is primarily aimed at schools, universities and colleges: Ensure an inclusive and equal education of good quality and promote lifelong learning for all (Agenda 2030, u.å.,s. 12). The goals go hand in hand with KTH:s values (KTH, u.å.) and KTH:s policy for sustainable development (Policy för hållbarutveckling för KTH, u.å.). This thesis is a small step on the path towards fulfilling those goals. In order to survey how students perceive their digital learning environment, with regard to functions and navigation, a sequential exploratory approach with mixed methods was used. This study contains a pre-study with semi-structured interviews and a quantitative survey. The pre-study consisted of four interviews and a thematic analysis of the transcription of the interviews. Even if the selection is made for convenience (Denscombe, 2019), the group from which the interviewed students were selected from had all branches at all KTH:s campuses represented. Therefore, the group could be considered representative. This meant that the pre-study could not be seen as universal but gave an indication of the direction for the survey. The majority of the survey's statements was created by the themes that emerged in the analysis of the pre-study interviews. Thematic analysis has been used on both the content of the transcript of the interviews and for the free text answers in the survey. To get a quick overview, an indicative colouring of the results was created. The source data was deidentified at the time of transcription and the questions for the survey were carefully selected so that "the principleof data minimisation" (GDPR, 2016/ 679 reason 156) was adhered to. The pre-study identified two strong themes: "read and manage files" and "Usage", each with three sub-themes. These formed the basis for the statements in the survey. The survey had 614 answers, accounting for 4.5 percent of the 13,514 full-time students in 2019 (KTH Årsredovisning 2019.pdf, u.å., s. 4). The response rate slowed down towards the end of the response time, which shows a saturation of students' willingness to respond. In summary, the majority responded with Canvas being a positive experience and that it helped them in their studies. In general, there were challenges in communication both in messaging and forumfunction. The survey results indicate that the students were quitepositive about the platform and thought the platform had potential, unlike the informants in the pre-study who were more critical and frustrated with the system. By extending the physical classroom with online resources, the student can continuously develop, as the tutoring is not confined to the teaching hours. The forum and direct messages can be an opportunity for students to break the isolation of studying on their own and to receive support from both teachers and other students. Through assignments and quizzes, the student can practice and gain reinforcement in the acquisition of knowledge. Digital platforms may increase accessibility, regardless of whether the student needs speech synthesis, or studies better at different times of the day. The areas with challenges are the discussion forum, ease and efficiency of retrieving documents and files, and Canvas messaging functions. In addition, the survey showed that some students only used Canvas for the mandatory steps. Nevertheless, the students answered with a positive tone in most of the survey.

Universities and colleges are embracing and utilizing technology to a rapidly increasing extent, responding to its cost-effectiveness and efficiency as well as the regularity with which 21st century students rely upon it in their everyday lives. Chief amongst the technology used in higher education are Learning Management Systems (LMS), such as Blackboard, Sakai, and CANVAS. Urban community colleges have also embraced LMS, but with student bodies that often lack regular access to or extensive experience with using technology for socio-economic or generational reasons, the outcomes from using LMS can be very different to those experienced at four-year institutions that generally serve a more affluent, traditionally-aged demographic. In particular, students in developmental courses, or those courses designed for individuals who could not test into college-level courses, can be particularly challenged when it comes to using LMS in their studies as it is an additional component to which they must acculturate in higher education whilst attempting to rectify their skills deficiencies. For faculty teaching developmental students, this can raise the question of whether it is important to acclimate students to the technology they will be called upon to use in the 21st century classroom or whether the sole focus should be remediating students’ lacking academic skills. This qualitative, interpretivist, constructivist-activist/pragmatic study uses interviews with urban community college professors who use or reject the college’s LMS (i.e. CANVAS) to varying extents in their classrooms, non-participant observations of the course components those professors who use CANVAS post online, and course artifacts to examine and reflect upon professors’ experiences with employing or eschewing such technology with their students. / Urban Education

This dissertation illuminates patterns across disparate university data sets to identify the insights that may be gained through the analysis of large amounts of disconnected student data on first-year engineering (FYE) students and to understand how FYE instructors use data to inform their teaching practices. Grounded by the Academic Plan Model, which highlights student characteristics as an important consideration in curriculum development, the study brings together seemingly distinct pieces of information related to students' learning, engagement with class resources, and motivation so that faculty may better understand the characteristics and activities of students enrolled in their classes. In the dissertation's first manuscript, I analyzed learning management system (LMS) timestamp log-files from 876 students enrolled in the FYE course during Fall 2013. Following a series of quantitative analyses, I discovered that students who use the LMS more frequently are more likely to have higher grades within the course. This finding suggests that LMS usage might be a way to understand how students interact with course materials outside of traditional class time. Additionally, I found differential relationships between LMS usage and course performance across different instructors as well as a relationship between timing of LMS use and students' course performance. For the second manuscript, I connected three distinct data sets: FYE student's LMS data, student record data, and FYE program survey data that captured students' motivation and identity as engineers at two time points. Structural equation modeling results indicate that SAT Math was the largest predictor of success in the FYE course, and that students' beginning of semester engineering expectancy was the only significant survey construct to predict final course grade. Finally, for the third manuscript I conducted interviews with eight FYE instructors on how they use student data to inform their teaching practices. Ten themes emerged which describe the limited explicit use of formal data, but many instructors use data on an informal basis to understand their students. Findings also point to specific, existing data that the university already collects that could be provided to instructors on an aggregate, class-level basis to help them better understand their students. / Ph. D.

This thesis sets out to answer the question “How does Persuasive Technology influence the User Experience in a Learning Management System?”. The aim was to further the understanding of Persuasive Technologies (PT) within Education and better the insights in how PT affects the User Experience (UX) due to the increasing number of online students in Sweden. By using a mix-method approach the thesis focuses on understanding how the Dashboard within Linnaeus University’s Moodle environment interacts with Persuasive Technology. By combining both quantitative and qualitative methods such as the System Usability Scale (SUS), Usability Testing with Concurrent Thinking Aloud as well as Retrospective Probing Questions the aim is to better understand the effect. The study indicated that PT has the possibility to affect the User Experience both positively and negatively. The results suggest that if the adaptation of persuasive elements have not been thoroughly thought through the LMS runs a risk of being seen as unlikable and untrustworthy. This thesis’s result shows that the Persuasive Design Principles Liking and Trustworthiness are key Principles when it comes to affecting the user’s experience.

This research comprises three interconnected studies, all anchored in the usability evaluation of mobile education applications, with guidance from the well-established Jakob Nielsen factors to heuristic evaluation. The first study delves into the analysis of mobile application reviews using a deep learning model and machine learning to unearth usability issues. In the second study, we examine the usability of two prominent educational applications, Canvas and Blackboard, integrated within Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University (PSAU) and at the University of North Texas (UNT) from a student-oriented perspective. Through the synthesis of findings and insights from antecedent studies, we seek to augment the current body of knowledge and offer realistic recommendations for the enhancement of mobile education application usability. Our findings have the potential to improve the efficacy of platforms, offering developers a roadmap to refine application features and optimize the learning experience for both educators and learners.