The target audience for this course was Florida State University students. University students are one of the most commonly targeted groups by cyber-criminals, therefore the lesson content is highly relevant to them. Understanding the prior knowledge and entry skills of learners was an important consideration for this project, due to the technical aspects of some of the content. 

I completed all of the analysis, design, development, and evaluation work, and managed this project. I was responsible for all content, objectives, assessments, materials, and graphics. I worked on this project from start to finish, and upon completion, the course was user-tested and evaluated, but has not been implemented in any other capacity. 

After identifying the instructional goal (Florida State University students will be able to identify if there are characteristics of phishing present, and determine if the email presents a risk and should be reported), instructional analysis was performed to determine the domain of learning as well as the major steps that the learner must complete when performing the goal. The major steps were as follows: 

1.  Read email body to identify phishing warning signs 

2. Check that the sender address matches the domain name of the sender/institution 

3. Check any link or button URLs for consistency with sender/institution domain 

4. Verify email authenticity (if needed) 

5. Report suspected phishing attacks 

From these major steps, I was able to determine sub-steps and subordinate skills. Learner analysis (data collection via interviews) helped determine entry skills and prior knowledge, as well as their attitudes and motivational factors related to the content area. 

The completed analysis guided the creation of learning objectives, assessments, content, and the strategies used in the design of the course. 

Eight participants were recruited for a small group evaluation, with characteristics such as age, gender, education, and prior knowledge collected. The participants acted as user testers, completing the module including the pre- and post-test, as well as a reaction survey that consisted of Likert scale and short answer items. Achievement data was collected within the Articulate Rise system, with the average post-test score increasing by over 45% from the pre-test. The data from the reaction survey illustrated a very positive reaction to the course across factors such as usefulness, clarity, and satisfaction. The evaluation also offered some excellent recommendations, such as more variety among the examples used and a downloadable certificate of completion, which could guide a revised version of the course.