Security Education Using Second Life

Institutions of higher education, government agencies, and private organizations are working to provide information security skills. Current security education is failed to deliver effective learning experiences for its narrow focus on technology and de-contextualized learning. Security education need to be developed around the real-world scenarios to provide students real-life security threats. Education based on real-life problems can help a student to develop technical security skills and promote safe online behaviors. Discovery learning allows students to become active participants in the learning process as they interact with the environment and other students. Virtual environments with 3D simulations are used to provide learning experiences with realistic contexts. Second Life is a 3D virtual environment that can simulate everyday real-world activities and can be an ideal platform for integrating realistic scenarios and discovery learning into security education.