Which Teaching Strategy is Better for Enhancing Anti-Phishing Learning Motivation and Achievement? The Concept Maps on Tablet PCs or Worksheets?

Introduction The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of the integration of concept maps and tablet PCs into anti- phishing education for enhancing students' learning motivation and achievement. Phishing is a kind of attack whereby criminals trick Internet users into providing their personal information. According to statistics provided by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), losses arising from identity theft, prepaid card fraud, etc., amounted to US$485 million in the United States in 2011. Previous studies have claimed that users are not interested in learning what and how to anti-phish until they get phished (attacked) (Cranor, 2008; Kumaraguru et al., 2007b). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop sound strategies for enhancing learners' motivation to learn about anti-phishing so that they can learn before they get phished, and ultimately the number of victims can be reduced. Existing anti-phishing education is mostly carried out through contextual training (e.g., written narratives), generally online (Kumaraguru et al., 2007b); however, most people are unwilling to spend time reading anti-phishing documents, so the display of this information on websites or learning materials often yields very limited results (Sheng et al., 2007). Further, this existing anti-phishing education mostly consists of passive learning, in that students browse the websites and learn independently without a dedicated curriculum or articulated teaching-learning approach; therefore, to achieve better results, this study seeks to propose a set of strategies for anti-phishing education that can be applied in a classroom setting. Furthermore, most of the existing anti-phishing studies are focused on teaching university students (Jansson & von Solms, 2013; Yang, Tseng, Lee, Weng, & Chen, 2012). To target lower age group learners, role-play was used to impart education on Internet information safety and investigate whether the learners remembered key safety measures (Wishart, Oades, & Morris, 2007). It was found that further research is needed to analyze courses designed for teenagers as the target group and to impart anti-phishing knowledge in a structured manner. The 2012 and 2013 Horizon Reports indicated that tablet PCs have seen increasing use as a medium of education recently (Johnson, Adams, & Cummins, 2012; Johnson et al., 2013). Mock (2004) proposed that tablet PCs are an effective tool for assessing students' performance, preparing lessons, and giving in-class presentations. Compared to personal computers (PCs) and smartphones, the size of tablet PCs better suits small group in-class learning. This is because tablet PCs are more portable than PCs, and the larger screen size of tablet PCs (compared to smartphones) allows multiple users to share them. They may also provide new opportunities for students and their teachers to interact; however, even if this is the case, an organized communication process for questions and answers during the knowledge construction process will be needed for the effective consolidation of knowledge. Therefore, this study adopts the concept map learning strategy proposed by studies working from the perspective of constructivism (Roth & Roychoudhury, 1993), with an integrated, interactive real-time feedback-based system on tablet PCs for the curriculum design. The hope is that, compared to the traditional curriculum, this approach will more effectively enhance students' learning motivation and knowledge of phishing and how to handle anti-phishing behaviors, and thus mitigate the damage caused by phishing to individuals and to society as a whole. In conclusion, with regard to anti-phishing education, a low willingness to learn was commonly observed among students, resulting in the limited effectiveness of existing educational websites and materials (Cranor, 2008; Kumaraguru et al., 2007b; Sheng et al., 2007). In addition, there has been research on anti-phishing education with university students as the target group (Jansson & von Solms, 2013; Yang et al. …