Review - Penn State World Campus, MPS: Cyber & Info Sec

jamthat

As promised to a handful of you, here's a quick review of the first course I've taken towards the MPS in Information Sciences, Cybersecurity and Information Assurance degree from Penn State World Campus.

A little background - I started my M.S. in Applied Information Technology - Network Security from another school. I took 3 courses (9 credits), and all of those transferred to PSU as electives. So, I only have to take the prescribed courses (24 credits) to complete the degree..yay money saving!

General
The course I took was IST 554 - Network Security and Management. This is the first required course, and a pre-req to other courses in the program. I have somewhat of a networking background and am currently making a career in IT security, so I really honestly learned nothing - it was an easy A for me with experience and probably would still be an easy A for someone with moderate experience that can put in a little work/effort in addition to the time it takes to just grind out the assignments. This course is probably on par with Net/Sec+ content at best, if I had to compare it to certs.

Teams of 2-4 are formed during the first week of class. Since this course is open to anyone in any Information Sciences track (for example, an EA student can take it as an elective), the material might be completely new to some people. Make sure you get a good team early with members that have similar experience to yours.

The material is, in some cases, pretty out-dated. Labs in Windows XP/Backtrack 4, etc.. All material is provided via the course website, no book or extra materials are required.

Assignments/grading
- writing assignments (n=4): 2 page opinion-based papers based off of short articles. not bad.
- quizzes (n=13): for the most part, very annoying. old info, vague questions, etc...but fairly graded. these make up a large portion of your grade (~50%) and are the 'most difficult' part of the class
- discussion activities (n=4): easy. each group does 1 presentation (VoiceThread) and all other groups comment.
- labs (n=6-7?): easy. virtual labs with step-by-step instructions..I was disappointed by these, because I would have like to have had to figure out more on my own. these are supposed to be completed with your groups.
- term project - a few different options - case study, demonstration, etc. requires a few different deliverables of a written report (proposal, phase 1, phase 2, final) and a couple VoiceThread presentations. topics can really be anything relating to network security

Overall, it seems like if you do the assignments in full and on time, you'll get a good grade.

Faculty
The professor was a life-long academic. Little (if any?) real-world experience, and his knowledge was pretty dated. I didn't watch any of his lectures and barely used his powerpoint slides. That said, he was very responsive and tried to help when people needed it. His TA was pretty helpful overall.

Online Format
For this course, we used the internal course site, PSU's ANGEL course management system, Yammer, and some awful service called VoiceThread. VoiceThread was annoying at first, but after one or two assignments I got used to it and it wasn't too bad.

To sum up my experience, I was a little underwhelmed by this course but that is hopefully due to it being an ~intro course and the first course in the program. Hopefully as I get a little further into the degree it'll get a little more challenging, and I'll try to keep anyone interested up-to-date on the way.


Side note/rant:
- I previously stated that it was exciting being enrolled in a course with a number of people holding high-ranking titles, etc.. Spoke to soon..this is a good example of how titles, etc..really can mean nothing. For example, Senior Cyber Security Architect (self-proclaimed technical expert; everything IT security) at a LARGE defense contractor that didn't understand even the most basic assignments? Whaaaaat?

Khaos1911

Awesome stuff, Jam. I'm starting the program in the spring, but have been thinking about knocking out 3 grad courses at Fort Hays then transferring to Penn to save a few dollars, but hell....knowing me I'd end up staying at FHSU and finishing the Masters degree. That tuitions is just so damn reasonable compared to PSU.

jamthat

Khaos1911 wrote: »

Awesome stuff, Jam. I'm starting the program in the spring, but have been thinking about knocking out 3 grad courses at Fort Hays then transferring to Penn to save a few dollars, but hell....knowing me I'd end up staying at FHSU and finishing the Masters degree. That tuitions is just so damn reasonable compared to PSU.

Yeah, it's definitely not cheap. Luckily most of the financial burden is placed on my employer..I don't have to cover too much out of pocket.

If you plan on transferring classes in ahead of time, compare the FHSU course descriptions with the core courses for PSU and check with the program director (contact info is on their site) to see if they could be a 1:1 transfer. Some of the electives look pretty cool, so I was bummed when I found out my transfer credits ate up all of the elective spots, leaving me only with cores.

Danielm7

That's unfortunate that their coursework for that class in particular was so far behind. Labs in WinXP at this point isn't something I'd expect to hear about from somewhere like PSU. I'm considering them as one of my MS options though so any other feedback you have along the way would be helpful.

GDI

I took that course 5 years ago, and XP was old then! But again, IIRC, it was the clients that were XP and our targets were Server 2008/2010 or Linux machines, so I didn't see that really getting in the way of the course objectives - it was a intro course focusing on basics.

I finished my MPS in 2012, before they had the Cybersecurity concentration - so my degree is in HLS/ Info Sec & Forensics. Overall, I found the program very valuable - the later core courses may challenge you more. But several things that I didn't like, were that the group projects were always a challenge ( a few team members with terrible writing skills, and low motivation), grade inflation with most profs, and Angel. The first thing I would like to have seen retired was that archaic LMS!

jamthat

GDI wrote: »

I took that course 5 years ago, and XP was old then! But again, IIRC, it was the clients that were XP and our targets were Server 2008/2010 or Linux machines, so I didn't see that really getting in the way of the course objectives - it was a intro course focusing on basics.

I finished my MPS in 2012, before they had the Cybersecurity concentration - so my degree is in HLS/ Info Sec & Forensics. Overall, I found the program very valuable - the later core courses may challenge you more. But several things that I didn't like, were that the group projects were always a challenge ( a few team members with terrible writing skills, and low motivation), grade inflation with most profs, and Angel. The first thing I would like to have seen retired was that archaic LMS!

Nice! I know a guy who was in that program at around the same time (might have graduated a year or two earlier) and he's the one that kinda pushed me towards PSU. That, and I have a ton of ties to PSU plus about 75% of my family went there...still kicking myself for not going there for undergrad. It'll be nice to finally be an alum*, haha..

And yeah, I doubt much (if anything) has changed in the 554 content since you took it...but like you said, I think that's just because it's intro and gets the points across well enough.

PC_Load_Letter

Khaos1911 wrote: »

Awesome stuff, Jam. I'm starting the program in the spring, but have been thinking about knocking out 3 grad courses at Fort Hays then transferring to Penn to save a few dollars, but hell....knowing me I'd end up staying at FHSU and finishing the Masters degree. That tuitions is just so damn reasonable compared to PSU.

Did you finish at FHSU? I just started the MPS Cyber Security and I am really enjoying it. You can't beat the price and so far the courses are good.

mgeoffriau

PC_Load_Letter wrote: »

Did you finish at FHSU? I just started the MPS Cyber Security and I am really enjoying it. You can't beat the price and so far the courses are good.

What am I missing? The page for that program states that it requires 33 credits and credits are $854 each, for a total of $28,182. That seems fairly typical for a Master's program, but not on the cheap end like you're suggesting.

Penn State Online | Information Sciences - Cybersecurity and Information Assurance Master of Professional Studies

EDIT: After doing a little more research, I guess I can see that it would be on the low end for a traditional master's program. But it seems on the higher end for an online program.

PC_Load_Letter

mgeoffriau wrote: »

What am I missing? The page for that program states that it requires 33 credits and credits are $854 each, for a total of $28,182. That seems fairly typical for a Master's program, but not on the cheap end like you're suggesting.

Penn State Online | Information Sciences - Cybersecurity and Information Assurance Master of Professional Studies

EDIT: After doing a little more research, I guess I can see that it would be on the low end for a traditional master's program. But it seems on the higher end for an online program.

I am referring to the MPS in CyberSecurity at Fort Hays. It is the much cheaper one and it is on the NSA/DHS list for centers on excellence.

Cyber Security concentration curriculum - Fort Hays State University

yoba222

jamthat wrote: »

. . . The professor was a life-long academic. Little (if any?) real-world experience, and his knowledge was pretty dated. . .

I know old thread and I know a little off topic, but this statement pretty much sums up why I'm skeptical in regards to colleges offering degrees in highly specialized subjects like information security/cyber security.