The Case for Immersive Education: Part II; What is Immersive Education?
By Bret Fund, CEO and founder of SecureSet
In my last post, I outlined some context for why we are experiencing the talent gap crisis in the fields of information security and cybersecurity. In this post, I want to dive deeper into the philosophy of Immersive Education and why I believe this third alternative approach will get us further down the path of solving the talent gap than the traditional education approaches we see in the industry today. In my last post I stated it this way:
Most security roles require some hands-on experience and there are not enough people in the marketplace with that experience who can fill those roles. Traditional educational approaches do not provide adequate hands-on experience to make individuals workforce ready and most corporate training is focused on professionals who are already in the field with some experience.
Given the foregoing, our thesis is that a third approach is needed here to make some gains on the crisis problem today and to better prepare ourselves for meeting the needs of tomorrow. That third approach is an immersive (clinical) education approach. In a nutshell, it requires educational organizations like ourselves (and traditional education providers as they follow suit), to mimic real world environments and problems so that they provide not only the background knowledge for specific job functions, but also a level of experience needed for entry-level positions in the marketplace.
Breaking Down the Approach
So what does an immersive education approach look like, relative to the traditional approaches in the marketplace today?
From the above table, it should be easier to distinguish the various educational approaches that are out there in the marketplace. Each has its place and each has its benefits to the learners. What I also hope is clear with this chart, is the relative strength of the immersive approach, when looking to provide hands-on, experiential education to individuals with limited direct experience with a job or function.
The Whole Picture
The problem that we have been discussing, and are trying to solve, is how to help educate more individuals and provide them with some real-world experience so that they can qualify for and operate in a security role.
Traditional approaches will provide learners with a base set of knowledge, but limited experience. This means that those individuals (and their employers) will have to invest in further education and training to get them to a place where they are able to be productive as an employee. This takes additional time and money, both of which are costly.
Corporate training is more narrowly focused and works great for product training and test preparation, but it struggles to deliver when it comes to providing a comprehensive base for the learners to utilize when performing a WHOLE role vs. PARTS, or aspects, of the role. It also struggles to provide relevant hands-on experience relative to any specific job or function.
Of the three available approaches, Immersive Education provides the best learning environment to assist learners in getting a comprehensive set of knowledge and skills, forged by mimicking real-world settings through labs and operations.
The Key to Breaking In
In order to effectively operate in a cybersecurity role, some experience is required. Individuals looking to shift from their current career to a cybersecurity career will find the move difficult without a means to acquire some direct experience.
Some individuals acquire this experience by getting involved in local security communities. Slowly, over time, they teach themselves some skills and aspects of the job. While this can be effective, it can also leave gaps in important aspects of knowledge and experience relative to the desired security role.
Traditional education and corporate training approaches can provide knowledge bases and certifications that help the individual better understand the role and how to approach it, but they provide little to no direct experience.
Immersive education provides the best alternative for individuals with little to no direct experience in security roles/functions that are looking to break into the industry by allowing the learner to obtain both the knowledge and hands on experience necessary to actually perform in the job function post-graduation.
In my next blog post, I plan to compare and contrast where we are (with Immersive education) with where we need to go, to make it even more effective as a learning pathway for individuals to gain both comprehensive knowledge and direct experience.
There are many clinical models that already exist that can be repurposed to provide the experiential benefits needed for helping individuals break into the cybersecurity industry alongside of providing a foundation of requisite knowledge.
The world needs better educated security people to defend against the rising tide of threats. The only way we will get there is to reevaluate what skills are needed and provide individuals with a path of obtaining them.
This is the second of a three part blog series written by SecureSet Academy Founder and CEO, Bret Fund. This series will take an in-depth look at the origins of the cybersecurity professional shortage as well as make a case for immersive education as an industry remedy. Part one was a brief recap of how we’ve arrived at the current cybersecurity talent deficit. Part two features an elaboration into why immersive education is the much-needed solution for the employment woes that the industry currently faces. Part three illustrates the outcomes of immersive education and how it has already changed the blueprint of cybersecurity professional education.
Dr. Bret R. Fund brings a wealth of knowledge to this subject through his experience in cybersecurity in parallel with his years as a University professor. Bret’s passion for providing quality education as well as his mission to secure the future have formed the solid foundation that SecureSet Academy has been built upon.
