Appendix D: ABET Student Outcomes and Bloom’s Taxonomy Mapping

Appendix D: ABET Student Outcomes and Bloom’s Taxonomy Mapping#

This appendix maps each chapter to the relevant ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) Criterion 3 student outcomes and to the levels of Bloom’s revised cognitive taxonomy that the chapter’s activities (readings, worked examples, knowledge checks, labs, and projects) are designed to develop. It supports instructors in demonstrating outcome coverage for accreditation and in aligning assessments to the intended level of cognitive mastery.

ABET Student Outcomes (computing programs, Criterion 3)#

  1. Analyze a complex computing problem and apply principles of computing and other relevant disciplines to identify solutions.

  2. Design, implement, and evaluate a computing-based solution to meet a given set of computing requirements in the context of the program’s discipline.

  3. Communicate effectively in a variety of professional contexts.

  4. Recognize professional responsibilities and make informed judgments in computing practice based on legal and ethical principles.

  5. Function effectively as a member or leader of a team engaged in activities appropriate to the program’s discipline.

  6. Apply computer science theory and software development fundamentals to produce computing-based solutions.

Bloom’s Revised Cognitive Taxonomy (lowest to highest order)#

  1. Remembering - retrieving, recalling, or recognizing information from memory.

  2. Understanding - constructing meaning or explaining material from written, spoken, or graphic sources.

  3. Applying - using learned material or implementing it in new situations.

  4. Analyzing - breaking material into parts and determining how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose.

  5. Evaluating - assessing, making judgments, and drawing conclusions from ideas, information, or data.

  6. Creating - putting elements together or reorganizing them into a new form or product (the most difficult mental function).

Chapter Mapping#

For each chapter, the table lists the ABET outcomes most directly addressed and the Bloom levels the chapter’s activities target. Lower-numbered chapters emphasize the lower-order Bloom levels (remember, understand); hands-on offensive and defensive chapters and projects push into the higher-order levels (apply, analyze, evaluate, create).

Ch

Title

ABET outcomes

Bloom levels

1

Introduction to Cybersecurity

1, 4

1 Remember, 2 Understand

2

Cryptography

1, 2, 6

2 Understand, 3 Apply, 4 Analyze, 6 Create

3

Networking and Network Attacks

1, 2, 6

2 Understand, 3 Apply, 4 Analyze

4

Social Engineering

3, 4

2 Understand, 4 Analyze, 5 Evaluate

5

Risk Management

1, 3, 4

4 Analyze, 5 Evaluate, 6 Create

6

Penetration Testing Methodology

3, 4, 5

2 Understand, 4 Analyze, 5 Evaluate

7

Reconnaissance

1, 2

3 Apply, 4 Analyze

8

Scanning and Enumeration

1, 2, 6

3 Apply, 4 Analyze

9

Exploitation

1, 2, 6

3 Apply, 4 Analyze, 6 Create

10

Web Application Security

1, 2, 6

3 Apply, 4 Analyze, 6 Create

11

Network Defense

2, 6

3 Apply, 5 Evaluate

12

Intrusion Detection and Prevention

2, 6

3 Apply, 4 Analyze, 5 Evaluate

13

Digital Forensics

1, 3, 4

3 Apply, 4 Analyze

14

Incident Response

3, 4, 5

3 Apply, 5 Evaluate, 6 Create

15

Malware

1, 6

2 Understand, 4 Analyze

16

Capture the Flag

1, 2, 5, 6

3 Apply, 4 Analyze, 6 Create

17

Emerging Topics

1, 2

2 Understand, 5 Evaluate, 6 Create

18

Privacy, Law, and Governance

3, 4

2 Understand, 5 Evaluate

19

Security Governance and Compliance

3, 4, 5

5 Evaluate, 6 Create

20

ICS/OT Security

1, 2

2 Understand, 4 Analyze

Coverage Summary#

Across the twenty chapters, all six ABET student outcomes are addressed multiple times: outcome 1 (problem analysis) and outcome 2 (design/implement/evaluate solutions) recur throughout the technical chapters; outcome 6 (apply theory and software fundamentals) is exercised by the coding examples and labs; outcomes 3 (communication) and 4 (legal and ethical responsibility) are concentrated in the methodology, risk, law, governance, forensics, and incident-response chapters; and outcome 5 (teamwork) is developed by the team-oriented activities in penetration testing, incident response, capture-the-flag, and governance. Likewise, all six Bloom levels are represented, with the book deliberately progressing from remembering and understanding in the foundations to applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating in the hands-on offensive, defensive, and capstone chapters, so that a course assembled from these chapters can demonstrate both breadth of outcome coverage and a deliberate rise through the cognitive levels.