Date
Publisher
arXiv
Cybersecurity education is facing more challenges as AI-driven attacks are becoming increasingly realistic and difficult to detect. Traditional video-based cybersecurity training in higher education often suffers from both low engagement and limited effectiveness. This dilemma motivates educators to explore innovative approaches, such as AI-powered gamification, which can deliver engaging, meaningful, and personalized learning experiences. By presenting content in a more interactive and user-friendly way, these methods have the potential to significantly improve both learner engagement and educational outcomes. This paper explores AI-powered gamification in cybersecurity education through the development of several short, mobile-friendly games. These games cover a range of topics from password security to text and phone scam recognition, incorporate multiple gamification strategies, including quiz-based, narrative-based, and simulation-based designs, as well as interactive formats such as TikTok Mini-Games. We conducted a two-tiered evaluation with 59 college students (comprising 9 technical experts and 50 general users), and the results indicate the potential of AI-powered gamification to improve engagement and increase attention to cybersecurity topics in higher education.
Why it matters
As AI-driven attacks become increasingly realistic and difficult to detect, traditional video-based cybersecurity training often suffers from low engagement and limited effectiveness. Educators need innovative approaches that deliver engaging, meaningful, and personalized learning experiences.
Key findings
- In an evaluation with 59 college students, AI-powered gamification showed potential to improve learner engagement in cybersecurity education.
- The AI-powered games indicated potential to increase student attention to critical cybersecurity topics like password security and scam recognition.
- Interactive and user-friendly AI gamification formats showed potential to provide personalized learning experiences and significantly improve educational outcomes.
Summary drafted with AI from the paper’s abstract and may contain errors. See the full paper for details.
What is the application?
Who is the user?
Who age?
Study design
