AI in Cybersecurity Program Design

Goal: Use ChatGPT in the first AI-assisted curriculum build for the org and build a new program faster than ever.

PROJECT SNAPSHOT

Role
Lead Instructional Designer

Project
AI in Cybersecurity Program Design

Program Length
2 months

Program Goal
Teach cybersecurity professionals how to leverage AI in their jobs

Project Duration
6 weeks

Stakeholders
Head of Portfolio Management Office, Director of ID, Manager of ID, Content Manager, Editor, Program Manager, Student Support, Product Manager

Tools & Platforms
Custom LMS (Contentful), ChatGPT, Tableau, Microsoft Office Suite, SharePoint, Miro, screen recording + GIF tools, Jira, Slack, Zoom

Accreditation Support
Maintained program documentation to support higher education accreditation standards

PROBLEM

  • Design and launch a new AI in Cybersecurity program in six weeks.

  • We’d never built a program for working cybersecurity professionals.

  • These challenges required more advanced strategy and careful research to meet learner expectations than other AI programs being developed at the same time.

  • The first application of a new AI-assisted curriculum development process.

PROCESS

After co-leading the group that created the org’s AI curriculum development process, I was one of the first to use it in practice—while simultaneously supporting IDs across other in-progress programs.

At every stage, I used the QA checklists that I helped create.

Because the audience was more advanced than typical learners, the approach differed significantly from other concurrent AI builds. I:

  • Verified our strategy with additional field research

  • Designed use cases that reflected real-world AI applications for cybersecurity pros

  • Included ChatGPT instruction on practical cybersecurity outputs like documentation, security plans, and executive presentations

  • Used multiple modalities—text, image, video, interactive assessments—to maximize engagement

SOLUTION & IMPACT

  • Program completed 40% faster than usual builds

  • First org-wide AI program designed for experienced professionals

  • Proved the value of the new AI-assisted design process

  • Simultaneously trained and supported other IDs using the new process

  • Modeled advanced use of ChatGPT in the field of cybersecurity

  • Helped shape a new category of AI curriculum for cybersecurity that went beyond fundamentals and prompt engineering