Dr. Reiher, jointly with researchers at several other institutions, is conducting a research study on the effectiveness of using practical exercises performed on a remote testbed to help students learn important concepts in computer security. The goal of the study is to provide evidence on whether students learn these concepts effectively by performing realistic exercises, as opposed to merely reading about the concepts and hearing about them in lectures and recitation sections.
As part of the class grade in CS 136, students take short multiple choice quizzes associated with each exercise they are assigned. If a student volunteers for this study, the results of these quizzes will be also used in this study. These quizzes are intended to test the students' knowledge of important security concepts related to the subjects of the exercises. Whether a student volunteers to participate in this study will have no effect on his grade. The questions asked on the quizzes are purely concerned with the computer security concepts covered in the exercises. No personal information (other than the name of the student taking the quiz) will be gathered.
The results of volunteers' quizzes will be anonymized for use in the study, so student names will not be made available to those analyzing this data.
Participation in this study is purely voluntary. Students wishing to participate must sign a consent form and return it to Dr. Reiher or Peter Peterson, the class' TA. If a participant later changes his mind about the study, he need merely inform Dr. Reiher or Mr. Peterson of his desire to withdraw from the study. Participation or non-participation in the study will have no effect on student grades.
Questions about this study can be directed to Dr. Reiher. If you wish to ask questions about your rights as a research participant or if you wish to voice any problems or concerns you may have about the study to someone other than the researchers, please call the UCLA Office for Protection of Research Subjects at (310) 825-7122 or write to Office for Protection of Research Subjects, UCLA, 11000 Kinross Avenue, Suite 102, Box 951694, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1694.