{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,19]],"date-time":"2026-06-19T16:11:47Z","timestamp":1781885507828,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,23]],"date-time":"2021-09-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1632355200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000006","name":"Office of Naval Research","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["N00014-21-1-2025"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["N00014-21-1-2025"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000006","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009226","name":"National Security Agency","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["H98230-20-1-0350"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["H98230-20-1-0350"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009226","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009226","name":"National Security Agency","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["H98230-20-1-0414"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["H98230-20-1-0414"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009226","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCP"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Recent years have seen a disconnect between much-needed real-world skills and knowledge imparted to cybersecurity graduates by higher education institutions. As employers are shifting their focus to skills and competencies when hiring fresh graduates, higher education institutions are facing a call to action to design curricula that impart relevant knowledge, skills, and competencies to their graduates, and to devise effective means to assess them. Some institutions have successfully engaged with industry partners in creating apprenticeship programs and work-based learning for their students. However, not all educational institutions have similar capabilities and resources. A trend in engineering, computer science, and information technology programs across the United States is to design project-based or scenario-based curricula that impart relevant knowledge, skills, and competencies. At our institution, we have taken an innovative approach in designing our cybersecurity courses using scenario-based learning and assessing knowledge, skills, and competencies using scenario-guiding questions. We have used the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Cybersecurity Workforce Framework and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Hiring Cybersecurity Workforce report for skills, knowledge, and competency mapping. This paper highlights our approach, presenting its overall design and two example mappings.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcp1040027","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,23]],"date-time":"2021-09-23T09:59:15Z","timestamp":1632391155000},"page":"539-552","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":20,"title":["Assessing Competencies Using Scenario-Based Learning in Cybersecurity"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"1","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1914-711X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tirthankar","family":"Ghosh","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Cybersecurity, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL 32502, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8088-2653","authenticated-orcid":false,"suffix":"III","given":"Guillermo","family":"Francia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Cybersecurity, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL 32502, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2021, March 31). 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Competency Map; Visualizing Student Learning to Promote Student Success. Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge, Indianapolis, IN, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/2567574.2567622"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hattingh, M., Marshall, L., Holmner, M., and Naidoo, R. (2019, January 17\u201318). Data Science Competency in Organizations: A Systematic Review and Unified Model. Proceedings of the ACM SAICSIT Conference (SAICSIT\u201919), Skukuza, South Africa.","DOI":"10.1145\/3351108.3351110"},{"key":"ref_12","first-page":"9","article-title":"Applying Competency-Based Learning Methodologies to Cybersecurity Education and Training: Creating a Job-Ready Cybersecurity Workforce","volume":"1","author":"Watkins","year":"2018","journal-title":"Infragard J."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101607","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cose.2019.101607","article-title":"A Framework for Competence Development and Assessment in Hybrid Cybersecurity Exercises","volume":"88","author":"Brilingaite","year":"2020","journal-title":"Comput. Secur."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"(2021, March 31). Competency-Based Learning or Personalized Learning, Available online: https:\/\/www.ed.gov\/oii-news\/competency-based-learning-or-personalized-learning."},{"key":"ref_15","unstructured":"Pandey, A. (2021, April 15). 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Rubrics Scoring the Level of Student Performance, ABET, Inc."}],"container-title":["Journal of Cybersecurity and Privacy"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2624-800X\/1\/4\/27\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T07:03:34Z","timestamp":1760166214000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2624-800X\/1\/4\/27"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,23]]},"references-count":21,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,12]]}},"alternative-id":["jcp1040027"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/jcp1040027","relation":{},"ISSN":["2624-800X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2624-800X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,23]]}}}