2-5-2023 EDU - Flipbook - Page 5
The Baltimore Sun | Sunday, February 5, 2023
5
SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT
Students in UMGC's cybersecurity program benefit from having instructors who are working professionals in the field.
Educating and training the next generation
of cybersecurity leaders
University of Maryland Global Campus
I
n many technology fields, it’s vital to stay current on not only technical skills but also the
necessary credentials to succeed. In the field
of cybersecurity, this is especially important,
as the field evolves at a rapid pace. Students
in the bachelor’s, master's and certificate programs
in cybersecurity at University of Maryland Global
Campus benefit from learning from professors
who are engrained and engaged in the field and
are knowledgeable on the latest developments.
“The goal for all cybersecurity programs is to
combine work-related skills with soft skills and
critical thinking skills. While the traditional college student is 18 years old, the average age of our
students is 30, so we have a greater emphasis on
workforce issues since our students are older,” says
Daniel Mintz, chair of the department of information technology in the School of Cybersecurity
and Information Technology at UMGC. Mintz
notes that at UMGC, the faculty is predominately
working professionals who teach parttime.
“Cybersecurity is a practical application, so we
want people teaching who are currently working
in the field who know what type of competencies
and skills that UMGC students need in order to
be successful in jobs, where the job opportunities are, and how we can properly train them for
these opportunities,” adds Mintz. “When you are
learning about cyberattacks and hackers, it’s helpful to have a professor who has lived through that
experience.”
Students also gain real world experience
and are able to network with employers through
UMGC’s Cybersecurity Competition Team, which
has had success in cybersecurity games around
the world. The Cybersecurity Competition Team
is composed of students, alumni and faculty representing the cybersecurity and IT programs at
UMGC.
He notes that students in the graduate-level
cybersecurity programs at UMGC are a combination of professionals in the field who need extra
credentials or are looking to move into a management position as well as career changers. “One of
our challenges is to ensure that we can provide
career paths for both those already in the field and
those career changers,” he says.
UMGC has a long history of providing education and training to military veterans, and
cybersecurity is a field that can be a good fit as
many skills learned in the military parlay into
the cybersecurity workforce. Mintz says that the
online and asynchronous formats allow students
the flexibility to work at their own pace.
UMGC offers assistance with time management and setting career goals since many of these
students are juggling school, work and possibly
a family. Mintz notes that the average age of students in the program has decreased lately. “We
have found that younger students are increasingly
drawn to UMGC,” he says. He adds that “with
more and more programs being delivered online,
why not go to a school that has a long history of
teaching online like UMGC?”
All students at UMGC benefit from complimentary, lifelong career services and student sup-
port, ranging from webinars to resume assistance,
interviewing skills, mentorship via a UMGC alum
and tools to make your LinkedIn profile more discoverable. “Even during Covid, we had virtual job
fairs with thousands of students and hundreds of
employers present with many students receiving
job offers via these job fairs,” says Mintz.
Mintz is also excited to be involved in an
innovative new pilot program at UMGC utilizing
virtual reality and artificial intelligence. “Using
an Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset or a
personal computer, students will enter a ‘metacampus’ and interact with instructors and fellow
students in a classroom experience. Students can
form small groups and work on projects together,
regardless of where they are located,” according to
a UMGC announcement of the pilot.
“In 2022, University of Maryland Global
Campus (UMGC) launched a two-year pilot program with VictoryXR to build a digital twin
campus. Students in Speech 100 are learning
how to create meaningful communications to
an auditorium of listeners without feeling the
physical pressure of stage fright. During one synchronous class meeting, they learned about effective informational speeches while soaring over
the Matterhorn in Switzerland and hearing the
facts about the famous mountain,” according to
UMGC. Mintz recalls that one speech student was
agoraphobic who – thanks to the virtual reality
format – felt comfortable giving a speech in front
of fellow students. Another student suffering from
PTSD also was able to comfortably share personal
experiences via the new format.
Mintz credits the strong relationships UMGC
has with industry leaders and local companies as
one of the reasons for the success of the cybersecurity programs.
“We work with corporations both in terms of
educating their employees and to get advice on
what job skills are needed in today’s workforce.
Also, they help us when designing certificates,
credentials and micro-credentials that deal with
a specific set of competencies that are needed for
a specific job. Cybersecurity is very credential
driven, so we tailor our training and education to
meet those credentials,” he says.
UMGC has been designated as a National
Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense
Education by the National Security Agency and
the Department of Homeland Security and as a
Center of Digital Forensics Academic Excellence
by the DC3 Academic Cyber Curriculum Alliance.
“Maryland has one of the largest concentrations of security companies and defense institutions in the country, and we are one of the largest
– if not the largest – producer of cybersecurity
degrees nationwide,” Mintz says.
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