The Cybersecurity Packet Control Simulator: CSPCS

Games have been used as a learning tool for centuries. Through game-based learning, students actively learn and practice the right way to do things. A project team at Marshall University created a web-based application to visually represent networking and cybersecurity concepts by using “gamification” techniques such as linear levels and visualization. The goal of this project is to assist the instruction of Computer Science students in internetworking and cybersecurity subjects through game-based learning and measure its effectiveness. The application has users control a simulated network environment and direct computer messages to explain internetworking and cybersecurity concepts. An experiment was conducted with a test group taking a pre-test and post-test after using the applications. These two sets of data were compared and analyzed to measure the effectiveness of the application. Testing results shown that the application improved the self-evaluated confidence of students by approximately 45%, regardless of the students’ self-reported learning style.