Cybersecurity, IT-aided Education, and TeLEs: Nexus, Vistas & Realities

Background: The current decade has witnessed rising spates of threats and attacks that have threatened the safety and security of cyberspace, thereby giving rise to contemporary discourses pertaining the realities that these ominous trends portend for technology innovation and digitalisation, in the emerging global digital society. In the process, the technological capabilities that have been used to effectively harness the efficiency that this virtual space provides for contemporary education and learning have been defamed. Aim/Purpose: This exploratory research interrogates the possible relationships between the contemporary concerns of global cyber security, and the realities and prospects of IAE and TeLEs, while elucidating the crucial factors that impose on such relationship(s). Methodology: This research adopts the qualitative research methodology with an exploratory approach to interrogate the various contemporary concerns of global cybersecurity as contained in existing literature, especially as it affects the proliferation and adoption of IT-aided education and Technology-enhanced Learning Environments (TeLEs); based on a systematic correlational analysis of key interposing concepts. Contribution: The research presents an overview of the current status and prospects of development of IAE and TeLEs, as well as the nature of the realities associated with contemporary concerns of global cybersecurity; then also discussing how these cybersecurity concerns impact on the wider adoption and implementation of IAE and TeLEs. Findings: The contemporary concerns of global cybersecurity that were discovered to impact on IAE and TeLEs include: Academic Dishonesty, Misconduct and Malpractice, Fake News, Steganography & Malware, and Cyberbullying. The interrogation of these concerns lead to an elucidation of the associated factors and interactions that have hampered the wider development and adoption of IAE and TeLEs for education, teaching and learning in the 21st century. These are properly positioned in reality by drawing on evidences and deductions from existing researches, and supported with real-life case studies to explain the implications of the portended realities for the emerging global information society. Recommendations for Practitioners & Researchers: The EMINDA cybersecurity framework for TeLEs is presented as a better way forward for lifting the future of IAE and TeLEs out of the quagmire it has been plunged into by the contemporary concerns of global cybersecurity. This framework synthesizes aspects of existing security strategies that have been deployed successfully to insure cybersecurity for various other digital and technological application domains. Impact on Society: The revolutionary impact of technology and digitization of teaching and learning in the modern era has come to stay, with exciting prospects for the future of the emerging global information society. At the same time, the realities of global cybersecurity have equally come to stay with rather daunting consequences and debilitating future prospects. This research presents a way forward even in light of these debilitating concomitant realities. Future Research: Future research would focus on implementing the EMINDA cybersecurity framework in a prototype TeLE, and evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of the framework in guaranteeing cybersecurity for a test case sample of participants that would feature in the evaluation.