Prof. Callahan Co-Authors Article on AI, Peer Learning, and Cybersecurity Pedagogy

Brian Robert Callahan, Ph.D., specialist professor in Monmouth University's Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering has co-authored a new journal article that examines how hands-on, team-based learning can help students use generative artificial intelligence productively without letting it do the work for them. The article appears in the Journal of The Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education.

Titled "A Case Study for Combating Student Overuse of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity Educational Activities Using Augmented Reality Capture-the-Flag Development," the paper presents a project in which undergraduate students working in his research lab built an augmented reality cybersecurity game. The authors argue that this kind of active, collaborative work can strengthen learning while discouraging students from treating AI as a shortcut.

"This project showed that generative AI can play a constructive role in cybersecurity education when faculty design learning experiences that keep students actively involved in the work," said Callahan. "Students found that engagement in peer learning acted as a counterbalance to the temptation to offload their learning to an AI. In the study, success was defined through the students' ability to teach one other the material."

The project turned a college campus into a simulated computer network, with buildings assigned digital roles and students moving through the physical environment to solve geolocation-based cybersecurity challenges. The article presents the model as a way to make cybersecurity education more active, collaborative and memorable using the pedagogic lenses of the "see one, do one, teach one" method and peer learning.

The study also addresses a broader question facing colleges and universities across disciplines: how to encourage responsible use of generative AI without allowing the technology to replace critical thinking. In the article, the authors suggest that students learn more deeply when courses ask them to build, explain and share knowledge with others.

The research took place during the 2024-25 academic year at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where Callahan previously served as the graduate program director for, and senior lecturer in, the Information Technology and Web Science program, and as the director of the Rensselaer Cybersecurity Collaboratory. His research interests include cybersecurity education and use of quantum computing and generative AI in cybersecurity contexts.