About SecTutor

Project Description

This project aims to combat one of the most significant cyber security challenges we have today: the failure to practice defensive, secure, and robust programming by individuals. Furthermore, to introduce a software called SecTutor designed for developers to understand the foundational concepts of secure programming.

Most institutions and computing programs today lack secure programming training for students resulting in a need for a mechanism that will allow students to learn more about secure programming. With this concern, SecTutor was developed to provide students and instructors with a platform that will enable them to learn more about secure programming. In SecTutor, students engage in a series of misconception quizzes designed to test their secure programming knowledge and skills. Upon completion of quizzes, SecTutor's implemented Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) will assess the student's level of understanding and provide feedback along with quiz recommendations seeking to help increase student's retention and foundational understanding of secure programming.

This project also proposes the development of a dual-purpose testing and tutoring system which would aid students in learning about secure programming at their own pace while in an extra-curricular environment. This would be done with continuous access to secure programming knowledge through an online system called the SecTutor. The SecTutor uses an assessment-driven approach for individuals to learn about secure programming through a personalized learning system with rigorous assessments to determine a learner’s level of knowledge and skill, which is used to personalize instructions for the learner.

The team’s prior research work has been used to create a taxonomy of misconceptions in challenging areas in secure programming, develop a bank of test items, and develop a concept inventory that meticulously tests for misconceptions and foundational knowledge in secure programming. The knowledge from previous research will be used to construct an adaptive test and intelligent tutorial system, integrate learning analytics, and test the system.

What is SecTutor?

SecTutor is an online learning tool for secure programming that allows learners to pursue knowledge at their own pace based on assessments that identify and structure education based on their current level of understanding. It can also be described as an intelligent tutoring system informed by an adaptive testing system.

What is the goal of SecTutor?

This project aims to design, build, and access SecTutor which will be achieved by constructing the adaptive test and the intelligent tutorial system, integrating the learning analytics, and testing the system.

Program Contributors:

• Ida Ngambeki (Professor at Purdue University)
• Matt Bishop (Professor at University of California Davis)
• Jun Dai (Professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute)
• Phillip Nico (Professor at California Polytechnic State University)
• Shiven Mian (Computer Science Graduate at University of California Davis)
• Ong Thao (Computer Science Undergraduate at California State University Sacramento)
• Tran Ngoc bao Huynh (Computer Science Undergraduate at California State University Sacramento)
• Zed Chance (Computer Science Undergraduate at California State University Sacramento)
• Motunrola Afolabi (Computer and Information Technology Graduate Student at Purdue, West Lafayette)
• Isslam Alhasan (Computer and Information Technology Graduate Student at Purdue, West Lafayette)
• Cooper Dean (Computer Science Graduate Student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute)