Anyone who’s tried to teach cyber ethics knows the frustration: you can lecture about moral frameworks and legal principles all you want, but until students grapple with scenarios where “who we want to be” conflicts with “what we feel is right or wrong,” they’re not really prepared for the ethical complexity they’ll encounter in practice.
That’s the challenge I’ve been wrestling with for years teaching CYBV 329: Cyber Ethics, and it’s what led me to develop Cyber Dimensions, both an Open Educational Resource Toolkit and a textbook. Scheduled for publication in August 2025, this project represents my attempt to bridge that gap between theoretical ethics and the messy reality of making moral decisions in cybersecurity contexts.
The core idea is pretty straightforward: instead of presenting cyber ethics, law, and policy as discrete academic topics, why not embrace the interconnected moral complexity through immersive fictional case studies where students wrestle with competing values and stakeholder interests? (It’s been anything but straightforward to implement, but more on that in a bit.)
The Approach
Here’s what I’ve learned from my time working with cybersecurity professionals and trying to translate that into educational experiences: college students learn best when they’re confronted with ethical dilemmas that feel real, even when they’re fictional. The methodology I’ve developed centers on five principles that I’ve found actually work in practice (after plenty of trial and error):
Immersive fiction means creating scenarios that feel authentic without being actual organizational data. Students can explore moral and legal complexities freely without worrying about breaching real confidentiality agreements or accidentally causing actual harm. The fiction gives us ethical safety while maintaining that sense of “these are the kinds of decisions I’ll actually have to make.”
Interconnected narratives acknowledge something we all know but rarely teach: cyber ethics, law, and policy don’t exist in isolation. A company’s decision about data collection affects not just their customers, but their employees, competitors, regulators, and society at large. Students need to see these ethical ripple effects, not just the immediate decision at hand.
Multiple perspectives force students to consider how different stakeholders experience the same ethical dilemma. The privacy officer sees potential regulatory violations. The marketing team sees lost competitive advantage. The legal team sees liability risks. The CEO sees shareholder concerns. The customers see trust and autonomy issues. Students who understand all these moral viewpoints are better prepared for the reality of making ethical decisions in organizational contexts.
Realistic complexity is probably the most challenging principle to implement well. Traditional educational approaches favor clean, simplified scenarios where the “right” ethical choice is clear. But in cyber ethics, competing values often conflict—privacy versus security, individual autonomy versus collective benefit, transparency versus competitive advantage. The challenge is scaffolding this moral complexity so it enhances ethical reasoning rather than overwhelming students.
Flexible assessment reflects the fact that different institutions have different constraints and goals. Rather than prescribing specific assessment methods, the toolkit provides frameworks that instructors can adapt to their specific contexts and learning objectives. A few developed assessments are provided.
The Technical Side
I built the toolkit using Quarto (which I’ve become increasingly fond of for academic publishing and which this site is built upon) because it enables multi-format output—HTML, PDF, DOCX, and ePub. This flexibility matters because different institutions have different preferences, and students have different accessibility needs. Speaking of accessibility, the resource meets WCAG 2.1 AA standards, which is something I care deeply about given the cybersecurity field’s ongoing diversity challenges.
The cross-referencing systems help students understand connections between different case study elements, which supports the methodology’s emphasis on systems thinking. And here’s something I’m particularly proud of: the toolkit is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. High-quality cybersecurity education shouldn’t be locked behind paywalls that prevent smaller institutions from accessing it.
The Textbook Connection
The methodology gets demonstrated through a companion textbook I’m publishing with Kendall Hunt: “Cyber Dimensions: Immersive Case Studies Across Digital Domains” (ISBN: 979-8-3851-8653-2). This textbook provides ready-to-use case studies that show the toolkit’s approach in action, which is helpful for instructors who want to see examples before developing their own materials.
The first edition specifically targets post-secondary cyber ethics, law, and policy education, though I’ve found the methodology’s principles work well across disciplines that grapple with ethical complexity. I’ve seen it work particularly well in cybersecurity programs, information systems, business ethics, philosophy, and policy studies—anywhere students need to wrestle with competing moral claims and understand how ethical decisions intersect with legal requirements and organizational realities.
One thing I’ve learned from years of educational technology projects: if you don’t provide comprehensive implementation support, even the best methodology will gather digital dust. So the toolkit includes detailed guidelines, case study development processes, and assessment framework suggestions. But I’ve tried to avoid being prescriptive—these are flexible resources that instructors can adapt to their specific contexts.
The GitHub repository serves dual purposes: distribution platform and collaboration space. Faculty can share adaptations, contribute new cases, and refine the methodology based on their classroom experiences. This collaborative approach reflects something I believe strongly: effective educational innovation requires ongoing development informed by real-world implementation, not just theoretical frameworks.
What Comes Next
Beyond the initial publication, I see Cyber Dimensions as establishing a foundation for expanded case study libraries, enhanced digital features, and (hopefully) empirical research on educational effectiveness. The open architecture and community focus create opportunities for collaborative content development while maintaining quality and pedagogical consistency.
If you’re at a higher education institution looking to enhance your cyber ethics, law, or policy curriculum, you can access preliminary materials through the GitHub repository and start experimenting with the methodology. As we approach the August 2025 publication date, I’m excited about the opportunity to advance how we prepare college students for the ethical complexity and moral decision-making they’ll encounter as cybersecurity professionals.
Project Links
- GitHub Repository: github.com/ryanstraight/cyber-dimensions-oer
- Companion Textbook: Available through Kendall Hunt (ISBN: 979-8-3851-8653-2)
- License Information: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
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Citation
@book{r._m.2025,
author = {R. M. , Straight},
publisher = {University of Arizona},
title = {Cyber {Dimensions:} {Open} {Educational} {Resource}
{Toolkit}},
date = {2025},
url = {https://github.com/ryanstraight/cyber-dimensions-oer/},
note = {Open Educational Resource},
langid = {en},
abstract = {Cyber Dimensions represents a groundbreaking approach to
cybersecurity education through the development of an Open
Educational Resource (OER) toolkit scheduled for publication in
August 2025. This comprehensive methodology guide provides educators
with the tools and frameworks necessary to create immersive,
fictional cybersecurity case studies that engage learners through
interconnected narratives and realistic complexity. Grounded in
constructivist learning theory and problem-based learning, the
project offers a systematic approach to developing educational
scenarios that support diverse institutional learning objectives
while maintaining pedagogical rigor. The toolkit emphasizes five
core methodological principles: immersive fiction, interconnected
narratives, multiple perspectives, realistic complexity, and
flexible assessment. Built using the Quarto platform with WCAG 2.1
AA accessibility compliance, the resource supports multi-format
output and includes comprehensive cross-referencing systems to
enhance the educational experience.}
}