att lära säkert : IT-säkerhet i Nätuniversitetets distansutbildningar

The current higher education, both distance education and traditional campus courses,relies more and more on modern information and communication technologies (ICT).The use of computer systems and networks results in a wide range of security issues thatmust be dealt with in order to create a safe learning environment. In this work, we studythe security status within the Swedish Net University, where several universitiescollaborate in order to offer ICT supported higher education distance courses. The totalICT-security is defined as a combination of computer security and information security,and the focus in this work is on the information security. The four main components ofthe information security that are used in the study are: confidentiality, integrity,availability and accountability.The data gathering was made in two steps: first preliminary interviews then themain questionnaire. The interview respondents were a small number of students,teachers and ICT-experts at various universities, and the results of this preliminary studywere then used to complete the questionnaire. The main questionnaire was sent toapproximately 700 students, 100 lectures and 50 ICT-pedagogues. The answers wereanalysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. However, due to a relatively lowanswering rate, we must point out that the conclusions made are based on these limitedresults, and are therefore not necessarily generally applicable within the distanceeducation.The results show that both teachers and students involved in distance educationconsider that they have relatively good basic competence regarding the use of various ICT-resources. In addition, they consider that the computers and network connectionsthey are using have adequate technical standard. However, the respondents also expressa need for more information and training in various areas that are directly connected toinformation security issues. What is more, both students and teachers require thatadequate computer support is constantly available. Several respondents have notdeveloped procedures for backing up files in a regular basis. There seems also be someuncertainty concerning which measures should be taken in order to protect computersystem from viruses and also what should be done if the computer is infected. Manyteachers consider that the risk for cheating, especially for plagiarism, is greater in thedistance education than in campus courses. These teachers also spend more time toprevent this problem in distance courses, and may have special procedures in order todetect plagiarism.Even if several security issues are indicated, most of the respondents considerthat the general ICT-security in distance education has a relatively high standard. Thismay be a sign of some discrepancy between the users’ knowledge and their actualbehavior when they use the computer systems.Nummer: