Sexual well-being is fundamental to physical and emotional health, and the ability to achieve it depends on access to comprehensive sexuality information and high-quality sexual health care from evidence-informed, nonjudgmental providers. Adequate and timely delivery of these components to individuals who are at high risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV, and unintended pregnancies promotes sexual health and mitigates consequences arising from risky sexual behavior. Brief interventions that allow health care providers to improve the information available to clients and motivate and help them to develop risk-reduction skills are seen as efficient ways to improve knowledge, change client behavior, and reduce provider stigma regarding sexual health.The aim of the study is to evaluate five aspects of feasibility  of a brief sexuality-related communication (BSC) intervention based on motivational interviewing and behavior change techniques in primary health care settings in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).This protocol outlines a multisite, multiphase study of feasibility of a BSC intervention in primary health care settings in LMICs that will be examined across four phases of the study. Phases I through III involve the collection of formative, qualitative data to examine provider and client perceptions of the feasibility of the intervention, adaptation of the intervention guide, and training providers on how to implement the final version of the BSC intervention. During phase IV, the feasibility of the intervention will be tested in a nonrandomized pre-post test trial where providers and clients will be followed for 6 months and participate in multiphase data collection.Phase I is currently underway in Moldova, and phases I and II were completed in Peru in late 2019. Results are expected for the feasibility study in 2021.This feasibility study will determine whether the implementation of brief intervention programs aimed at improving sexual health outcomes is possible in the constraints of LMIC health systems and will add to our understanding of factors shaping clinical practice among primary care providers.DERR1-10.2196/15569 Sexual health is fundamental to the physical and emotional health of individuals, couples, and families and the social and economic development of communities and countries ,2. SexuaBrief interventions are seen as efficient ways to improve knowledge, change behavior -12, and However, much of the evidence on brief interventions comes from countries with highly developed health care systems ,16. TherTo address the limitations of the literature, we propose a multisite, multiphase feasibility study of a brief intervention designed to improve sexual health in various settings. The feasibility study is grounded in the information-motivation- behavioral skills (IMB) model . This moInformation is a necessary but insufficient precursor to preventive behavior and risk reduction ,30. It cMotivation is a function of two components that influence incentive to practice preventive behaviors: behavioral intention and subjective norms . These cThe IMB model stipulates that information and motivation work primarily through behavioral skills to influence behavior. Associations between information and motivation theoretically lead directly to behavior change, although these pathways are less robust in structural equation modeling analysis than the indirect pathways via behavioral skills .The BSC intervention itself is based on techniques of MI. Developed by Miller and Rollnick , MI is dThe aim of the study is to evaluate 5 aspects of feasibility  of a BSC intervention based on MI and behavior change techniques in primary health care settings in LMICs.This document is a generalized protocol, applicable to all potential study sites. Study locations will be chosen at a later date in consultation with in-country researchers and providers. This will lead to the creation of country-specific protocols developed over a series of 2-day site meetings with officials from the national, regional, and local Ministries of Health to clearly delineate roles, responsibilities, and alterations to the general protocol that may be necessary in each selected study community. This paper outlines the master protocol: the overall research approach that will be used to determine the feasibility of the BSC. The protocol will be adapted accordingly for individual countries.The purpose of this study is to test the feasibility of a BSC intervention. Feasibility in this study will be guided by 5 technical principles: acceptability, willingness, safety, satisfaction, and process (study logistics). These aspects of feasibility will be examined across all phases of the study. This study was approved by the Ethics Review Committee (ERC) of the World Health Organization (WHO).The feasibility study will follow a 4-phase, iterative design. These phases are structured to refine the intervention for optimal implementation with providers and clients in primary care settings. Phases I through III will involve the collection of formative, qualitative data to examine provider and client perceptions of the feasibility of the intervention and their attitudes toward sexual health and perceived sexual health information needs. Data will be collected using an iterative approach, with data from the previous phase being analyzed and the study refined before beginning the subsequent phase. After phase III, providers will be trained on how to implement the final version of the BSC intervention. After the final phase of formative, qualitative work (phase III), the feasibility of the intervention will be tested in a nonrandomized pretest-posttest trial of the BSC intervention (phase IV).The feasibility study will be implemented across multiple countries and multiple study communities within each country. For the purposes of this protocol, the term study site refers to an individual primary health care center. Study populations in each study country will be selected according to national sexual health priorities within the bounds of the proposed client population and sexual health outcomes. All research, training, and intervention documents will be translated from English to the appropriate local languages by local research teams and then backtranslated to English and compared for accuracy.Participants will include key informants in phase I and health care providers and clients across all 4 study phases. Key informants include stakeholders at local, regional, and national levels. Stakeholders will include decision makers and experts at health facilities and clinics, health departments, and other sexual and reproductive health organizations. In accordance with WHO guidelines on BSC , particiKey informants will be recruited using existing contacts of the in-country key stakeholders and study staff who, in turn, will reach out to possible key informants on local, regional, and national levels to invite them to share their expertise. Clients and providers will be recruited at each phase of the feasibility study. That is, while clients and providers will not be prevented from participating in more than one phase, additional clients and providers will be recruited at each stage of the feasibility study. Recruitment of providers and clients will occur through primary health care sites and organizations. To avoid the potential coercion that may occur with the unequal power balance between provider and client, providers will not recruit their own clients into the study.Recruitment sites may include those that address the specific needs of the selected study populations, such as general primary care clinics, health care clinics, organizations addressing issues of STIs and unintended pregnancy, pharmacies, and mobile outreach clinics. Recruitment of providers and clients in these sites will occur with the assistance of a key stakeholder at each site; recruitment of clients will also be facilitated by study staff. Potential provider participants will be approached by study staff and brought to a room at the health care site with audio and video privacy to explain the study, establish eligibility, and provide informed consent if the participant agrees to participate.For recruitment of clients, the key stakeholder will assist by identifying appropriate times to approach potential client participants with study recruitment materials in the waiting areas of the primary health care sites. Study staff will be stationed in these waiting areas and, using a predetermined protocol, will approach every fourth person who enters the waiting area. Study staff will take the potential participant to a space in the same building with audio and visual privacy to screen the participant for eligibility, explain the study, and provide informed consent should the potential participant agree join the study.All participants (including providers and client populations) will receive locally appropriate reimbursements for their time and effort participating in research activities; reimbursements are not meant to be a motivating factor for enrollment in the study.Sample sizes are approximate and will differ by study country, study community, and study site. As the goals of this study are to inform the feasibility, willingness, and acceptability of the BSC protocol among providers and clients, sampling is not intended to maximize external validity or provide data that are generalizable. However, it is important that the feasibility data are reflective of a diverse range of opinions and lived experiences. In sampling for the feasibility study, a diverse sample will be sought in terms of age and locally specific race/ethnicity in order to gather a range of opinions regarding both the formative qualitative (phases I to III) and quantitative (phase IV) portions.The study will be jointly implemented by an international team of researchers, key stakeholders in each study country already known to the international research team, and in-country study staff who have specific knowledge of the study populations and health care system in each study community. This implementation strategy will occur across all phases of the study.During the first phase of the study, 3 study activities will take place: key informant interviews with stakeholders in each study community, individual in-depth interviews with health care providers, and focus group discussions with client populations.Key informant interviews are in-depth, qualitative interviews used to better understand the contexts in which the intervention will be implemented: to address the appropriateness and safety of the intervention in facility settings, perceived usefulness of the intervention, special considerations for adaptations to study communities, and barriers and facilitators for implementing the intervention. Key informant interviews will be conducted by the national research team with approximately 10 local, regional, and federal stakeholders in each community for about 30 minutes. Interviewers will use a semistructured interview guide that will be identical across study sites but adapted based on the stakeholder level .Individual in-depth interviews will address provider perceptions around participating in the research study, participating in the intervention training, and providing the intervention. In-depth interviews will assess attitudes toward providing sexual health information to clients and providers’ perceived sexual health needs of their clients and their comfort in working with vulnerable populations . In-depth interviews will be stratified by study site and provider type , with approximately 15 in-depth interviews for each study site (5 per group). Interviews will be conducted using semistructured interview guides, occur in locations with audio and visual privacy, and last approximately 45 to 60 minutes. Addressing all key domains of feasibility , the interviews will examine: (1) overall attitudes about the intervention, (2) willingness and motivation to participate in the research study and implement the intervention, (3) logistics of implementation, (4) ability to implement the intervention, and (5) attitudes about providing sexual health services.Focus group discussions with clients will be used to increase understanding of clients’ general perceptions about the intervention. Three focus group discussions will be conducted in each study community with approximately 24 to 30 clients seeking to alleviate concerns regarding stigmatization and discrimination that may occur in some study communities  and explore similarities in sexual risk behavior and sexual health needs. Focus group discussions lasting approximately 60 to 90 minutes will be conducted by trained moderators  using a semistructured focus group discussion guide. Guides will be the same across study communities and translated into the local language. During focus group discussions, the moderator will describe the process of the BSC intervention and illustrate how the intervention works by conducting a short role play with an example of the intervention. Participants will then be asked about their reactions to the process and logistics of the research study, the intervention, and the general content of the intervention. Participants will be asked to rate specific aspects of the intervention based on its perceived importance and usefulness, comfort with the intervention, perceived safety of the intervention, and willingness to participate in the intervention. Participants will also discuss their perceived sexual health information needs and their comfort in talking about sexual health with their providers.Phase II uses cognitive interviewing, in which feedback is sought regarding the language, phrasing, and delivery of the BSC guide to each of the study populations . The aimPhase III consists of theater testing commonly used to gauge participant responses to an intervention session  and willFour to six providers per study community will participate in theater testing. For clients, groups will be stratified based on the population of interest. There will be three separate groups per study community (n≈8-10 participants per group), with one group for each study population. During these client theater testing sessions, the standardized client persona in the mock BSC session will be matched to the population of that particular focus group.After revisions to the intervention based on phases I to III are complete, training will take place at each study site with recruited providers. The training package consists of 12 modules delivered over three days, covering the burden of STIs in the local context, the WHO sexual health framework , importaPhase IV will test the feasibility of the intervention. During phase IV, trained providers will deliver the intervention as revised in phases I to III as part of regularly scheduled consultations with clients in one of the study populations. To test the feasibility of the intervention during this phase, providers and clients will be followed for 6 months and participate in a variety of study activities. Providers will participate in knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) surveys, and a subset will participate in intervention observations. Intervention observations are intended to assess the fidelity to the intervention. Clients will participate in pre-post surveys and exit interviews upon completion of an intervention session. Separate measures are used to elicit data on the intervention from providers and clients .Prior to beginning training, providers will complete KAP surveys that will serve as the pretest for the intervention. Follow-up KAP surveys will be administered to providers at 3 and 6 months posttraining in order to examine changes in the measures of interest. A 6-month follow-up period was chosen to facilitate measurement of short-term gains in MI techniques and identify changes in attitudes and perceptions about providing sexual health services to client populations. The surveys will cover 6 domains of the provider experience with the intervention, provider-client interaction, and the providers’ perceived utility of the intervention to both the provider and the client, including sociodemographic information, provider skills, efficacy and autonomy, competency and capacity, implementation, and attitudes. Provider intervention measures include indicators such as willingness to deliver the intervention and comfort with MI techniques (willingness), perceptions of the intervention’s impact on client behavior (satisfaction), perceptions of the intervention’s fit with the facility’s culture and clinical requirements (acceptability), and ability for the study site to continue delivering the intervention after the research study concludes (intervention logistics).During phase IV, in-country study staff will observe 10% of BSC sessions to independently assess provider knowledge, practice, and fidelity to the BSC protocol as written. The goal of the intervention observations is to assess the degree to which providers retain fidelity to the study protocol and provide nonjudgmental care consistent with the technical principles of MI. In-country study staff will use a standardized checklist to determine fidelity to the BSC guide. The checklist will include all the behavior skills taught in the training and the expected steps of the BSC session. During the observations, staff will be positioned so as not to interfere with the client-provider interaction, and the client will be asked if they consent to having the study staff member present. Intervention observations will collect quantitative data regarding provider ability to deliver the intervention protocol as written. Staff will check off skills as they are observed and record whether the steps of the BSC intervention are followed and are followed in order. At least two intervention observations per client type will be performed at each study site. Any issues regarding cultural sensitivity for key populations will be noted by study staff during the intervention observations. Providers who consistently demonstrate nonadherence to the intervention will be offered a 1-day refresher training for the intervention.A convenience sample of clients from each study community will be recruited, and pre-post surveys will be administered prior to participation in the intervention (at baseline) and at 3 and 6 months postintervention. Adaptive, computer-assisted self-interviewing software with audioenabled playback will be used to address language barriers and issues of client literacy. The survey will take approximately 20 minutes to complete and include questions that assess (1) client sociodemographics and willingness, satisfaction, safety, and acceptability of the intervention (domains 1 to 5) and (2) client sexual health, including sexual competency and sexual behaviors (domain 6). Approximately 90% of questions will be the same across the key populations of clients; however, there will be some differences in questions regarding sexual behaviors depending on whether the outcome of interest is prevention of STIs, unintended pregnancy, or both.Exit interviews will qualitatively assess client reactions to the intervention and the research study. Interviews will be completed upon receiving the intervention in order for clients to discuss their immediate feelings and attitudes toward the intervention. Approximately 24 interviews lasting 45 to 60 minutes will be conducted per study community, approximately 6 per key client population, by a member of the local research team. Interviewers will use an identical semistructured interview guide translated into the local language. Exit interviews will address client satisfaction with and willingness to use the intervention and client perception of intervention acceptability and safety.Data will be collected regarding the recruitment and retention of clients and providers. These data will be collected by in-country study staff at each site using standardized checklists that track the number of clients and providers approached, number of those who agree to participate in the study, number who refuse, and the main reason for refusal. Participant contact information will be collected in order to provide reminders for the follow-up surveys. During the follow-up period, client and provider subject identification numbers will remain consistent in order to track retention through the 6-month follow-up period. In case of attrition, an attempt will be made to collect data on the reasons for discontinuing the study.The core BSC protocol was first submitted to the WHO Research Project Review Panel; after its technical approval in 2016, WHO ERC was consulted for a special evaluation of the ethical components, with the following approval in 2017: prior to participation in any study activities, all participants  will provide written informed consent at all stages (phases I to IV) of the study. The informed consent forms are explained in detail, and participants are asked to read them in full before agreeing to sign. If the individual chooses to participate, they sign the informed consent form and are offered a copy of the signed form. They can choose to decline taking a copy of the form if there is any concern that this would create additional risks.Phase I is currently underway in Moldova, and phases I and II were completed in Peru in late 2019. Results are expected for the feasibility study in 2021.All focus group discussions and in-depth interviews will be audiorecorded, transcribed verbatim, and deidentified. For the focus group discussions, a notetaker will be present and will indicate the order of speakers and the first few words that each speaker says in order for the transcriber to be able to differentiate between speakers. For all activities in phases I and III with the exception of cognitive interviewing, a thematic analysis of these transcripts will be completed, using elements of grounded theory  and builA preliminary codebook will be developed with provisional definitions for each code. A team of 2 to 5 data analysts will apply the provisional codebook to a single transcript, and the coded transcripts will be merged for comparison. Analysts will examine and discuss discrepancies in coding, and the code definitions will be revised based on an examination of coding disagreement. The process will be repeated with the revised codebook until consistent agreement among coders is attained. This process will occur with transcripts from all data collection activities using the same codebook for transcripts across all data collection activities. Once the final codebook is established, codes will be applied to all transcripts, with at least 2 analysts coding each transcript.Based on systematic close readings of coded text, analysts will create thick descriptions for each theme. These descriptions will identify common concepts, patterns, and unique statements that appear in the transcripts. Specific themes arising in phases I to III regarding content and delivery of the intervention will be used by the research team to further refine the intervention for phase IV, determine the best way to present content, and better understand provider/client attitudes and willingness to participate. While small changes will be site-specific in order to promote cultural sensitivity, larger changes will be implemented universally across study sites.Analysis of phase II will be completed separately from the in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. For each interview, interviewer notes will be synthesized and grouped into themes based on the content of the participant feedback. These themes will be used for making recommendations to improve the intervention. Specifically, these recommendations will involve possible changes to the phrasing and language of the intervention, with the goal of improving comprehension and acceptability of the intervention among providers and clients. While small changes in the language, phrasing, and delivery of the intervention will be site-specific in order to promote cultural sensitivity, larger changes will be implemented universally across study sites to maintain protocol fidelity.t tests, chi-square tests, analyses of variance) will be used to determine differences in the primary (feasibility) and secondary  outcome measures between time points. Although this phase is not powered to detect statistically significant differences in the sexual health outcomes, this analysis will provide information on whether the intervention is associated with differences in these outcomes from baseline to 3- and 6-month follow-up. Once collected by in-country study staff, the quantitative data from the intervention observations will be deidentified and entered into the study database.Data (client and KAP surveys and client exit interviews) will be deidentified and entered into the study database at each time point . At each time point, descriptive statistics will be computed, and 3- and 6-month follow-up data will be compared with previous survey data. Appropriate tests of comparison . The data will also highlight factors shaping clinical practice among primary care providers and allow for the creation of more concrete, effective action plans designed to reduce sexual risk behaviors.This feasibility study will determine whether the implementation of brief intervention programs aimed at improving sexual health outcomes is possible in the constraints of LMIC health systems. Understanding the ability of primary health care providers to deliver brief interventions and factors shaping clinical practice that will be investigated in this study is an important step in the improving the quality of sexual health services in resource-limited settings. While both provider and client perceptions of the feasibility of the intervention will be examined, adaptation of the intervention guide based on the feedback of the study populations and training providers on how to implement the final version of the BSC intervention will be performed during the study. However, careful attention will also be needed to the sustainability of the intervention. The current protocol will establish whether the integration of a BSC into routine patient visits is feasible. If proven feasible, strategies will need to be in place for sustainability, including routine trainings, training refreshers for providers, and close collaboration with key stakeholders . Brief interventions will allow health care providers to improve the information available to clients, motivate and help them to develop risk-reduction skills that are seen as efficient ways to improve knowledge, change clients’ behavior, and reduce provider stigma regarding sexual health.


Internet of Things (IoT) has become a fundamental content of any engineering program due to the emerging need of experts in this field. However, the complexity of technologies that interact in IoT environments and the amount of different professional profiles required to design, implement and manage IoT environments, considering cybersecurity as a must, has led to a huge challenge in the educational world. This paper proposes an integral pedagogical strategy for learning IoT cybersecurity structured in three different stages, in a higher education institution. These stages focus not only on the content about IoT and cybersecurity but also on the competencies to acquire, the most suitable learning methodologies and the expected learning outcomes. The association of these concepts in each stage is detailed. Examples of courses are explained, the related competencies and learning outcomes are specified, and the contents and methodologies to achieve the expected results are described. An analysis of student results and stakeholder evaluations is provided to verify if the pedagogical strategy proposed is suitable. Furthermore, students’ feedback is included to corroborate the innovation, the suitability of the acquired skills, and the overall student satisfaction with the related courses and consequently with the proposed IoT cybersecurity pedagogical strategy. The IoT (Internet of Things) paradigm has gained importance in recent years, mainly because of the benefits it provides, as it can improve our quality of life by helping us make difficult decisions more efficiently, or provide intelligence to the devices around us to perform daily tasks with minimal human intervention. IoT turns homes, buildings, hospitals, cities, and industries, among others, into intelligent systems capable of obtaining knowledge of the environment, and applying it for adaptation according to the needs of the inhabitants.In order to obtain these benefits, IoT interconnects people, objects, and devices  so that they can communicate smartly with each other, or with people. IoT devices acquire data from the environment, understand what is happening, and respond according to current needs. Therefore, it is necessary to process the data which can be carried out on the devices themselves or more commonly in spaces such as the Cloud, where computing power is higher (necessary if there is a lot of information to process in a short time). As a result of processing this data, devices are able to make autonomous decisions or provide information to people so that they can make better decisions about their daily activities .Interconnected ‘Things’ can collect very sensitive information from people or work environments and, therefore, the privacy of data and the security of all their traffic on the Internet has become a major concern. For this reason, cybersecurity in the IoT environment has become increasingly important in recent times.IoT has come to stay, and given the importance it currently has, along with the complexity of the environment needed to obtain the aforementioned features, learning how to develop secure IoT systems has become a significant challenge. There is a high demand for professionals with both IoT and cybersecurity skills in today’s world.In order to prepare university students with these new technologies and their use, education needs to be able to incorporate effective learning techniques.Teaching these two topics is a challenge today, given the variety of existing techniques that can be applied.Various techniques and approaches have been used to transfer the necessary IoT and cybersecurity skills to university students. In , a modelRegarding cybersecurity, different approaches for teaching and learning exist. Authors in  present The participation and motivation of students in their learning process are some of the great challenges to be achieved by instructors. Thus, gaming experiences are gaining ground for the teaching of cybersecurity. Researchers in  present Acquiring cybersecurity competencies is not only attractive in higher education. Secondary education institutions are also beginning to incorporate initiatives so that younger students begin to gain knowledge on this topic. Authors in ,8 presenThere are multiple alternatives to training university students in IoT and cybersecurity. Still, most of them detail specific methodologies to address specific concepts and objectives during a subject or a short period of time. At La Salle (Ramon Llull University) , we concThis paper presents an integral pedagogical strategy for teaching and learning IoT cybersecurity for network architectures in a higher education institution. In Within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), all undergraduate or postgraduate university programs must have, in their study plans, a set of competencies that must be practiced and evaluated. In fact, the competency model should be the pillar where all the degrees develop their teaching-learning programs ,11,12. IThe evaluation by competencies has gained more traction in teaching as an important element to be able to have a more in-depth knowledge of the student and their aptitudes and abilities. The competencies have been implemented as an evaluation method both in primary and secondary education, as well as in university studies. Quality agencies, those performing the evaluation, accreditation, and certification of quality in the field of universities and higher education institutions, have published a lot of documentation, with guidelines on how to apply a competency-based assessment. For example, in Spain, there are guides for evaluation by competencies in areas as diverse as Technology and Architecture , Social Although much work has been done in the development of competencies within the curricula of undergraduate and postgraduate university programs, their evaluation continues to be an unsolved aspect. Probably, there are different causes that lead to this situation. Perhaps the main one is that the emergence of competencies and learning objectives clashes head-on with the heritage of curricula that are content-centered. Additionally, most undergraduate and postgraduate programs focus on the development and evaluation of the specific competencies of their degree. If the focus is on postgraduate programs, where most of these have a professionalization character and are oriented to good job placement, we should ask ourselves if these specific competencies defined in each of them are those that the market demands.●Generic instrumental competencies; this type of competencies includes cognitive, methodological, technological, and linguistic abilities.●Generic interpersonal competencies; these competencies describe social skills related to personal skills and ethical commitment.●Generic systemic competencies; this type of competencies combine the understanding, the awareness, and the knowledge that allow students to see how the different parts of a whole are related and grouped.As stated before, Project Tuning , since iOne of the main challenges that exist in university studies is the need to transmit and evaluate these competencies accurately. Many of the technical degrees are focused on specific contents closely linked to the curricula, while leaving aside this type of more transversal skills. However, many of the jobs offered in the market require people trained in not only the most technical aspects but also employees with transversal skills that help the successful development of the different projects carried out in an industry. It is going to be analyzed in the following section.Once the different typologies of competencies are explained, some references are presented to see what is demanded from the industrial sector and what future perspectives exist in this sense. If the competencies that graduate degrees could offer are to be contrasted with the so-called transversal skills most valued by employers, also known as soft skills, we find many reference reports that can indicate future trends in the sector.The National Career Service, the government agency of the United Kingdom, released a report that cited the transversal skills most valued by employers. Reports like “Trabajar en 2033”  allow usTransversal skills are related to making decisions, commitment, interpersonal communication, flexibility, time management, leadership, creativity and problem solving, teamwork, responsibility, and capability to work under pressure. In other words, the ability to make decisions in an agile, informed and consistent manner is an essential skill for any job. Highly committed profiles do not usually require a lot of supervision to give the best and fulfill their tasks with reliability. Likewise, communication skills, oral and written, are highly valued qualities.At the same time, knowing how to adapt to the circumstances and not fear new challenges is evidence of a flexible nature, capable of leaving one’s comfort zone and facing difficulties with a positive attitude. In this sense, the capability to know how to prioritize the most important tasks and delegate those that are not so important and the ability to understand how to respect deadlines, deal with crises and face the changes that may arise at the last moment are also well-valued by the employers.Regardless of the job position, it is also positively valued to know how to motivate colleagues to give the best of themselves, how to work in a team, in an open, transparent and constructive way, and knowing how to assume one’s own mistakes, as well as successes. Finally, related to creativity and problem solving, the ability to address problems by trying to find solutions in a logical and creative way is an important factor in the recruitment stages.If we cross the demands that come from the labor sector with the competencies described in the academic model, it is observed that there is a huge correlation between the two. So, why do we not face programs that focus on the capacities that the industry demands beyond the technical or specific capabilities that are considered to be included in the degree itself?Universities are facing significant challenges. On the one hand, students should not stop acquiring the specific competencies related to their field of knowledge, but on the other hand, it is necessary that other qualities, many of them represented in transversal competencies, can be developed in class.As explained in the previous section, university education grapples with the challenge of preparing professionals for a technological world in more competitive and globalized work environments. This new paradigm will require cross-disciplinary skills, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, resilience, and agile work in teams formed in a heterogeneous way. University must prepare our students for this looming scenario, for example, by strengthening the connection between what students learn and what the outside world is going to require from them .To achieve this goal of teaching IoT cybersecurity and assure that our students acquire the needed competencies for this globalized world, a complete pedagogical strategy that involves several learning methodologies is defined. These methodologies are applied through several subjects and activities performed inside the curricula programs. As we can see in In our university, we have a wide range of undergraduate programs in the field of engineering, in total seven different specialties . All curricula are designed so that students acquire both general competencies desirable for a valued engineer in the global market and specific competencies associated with their field of knowledge. Among all the programs, three stand out, to which the competencies for IoT and cybersecurity are directly associated; Computer Engineering, Network (Telematics) Engineering and ICT Management Engineering. Moreover, being somewhat more precise, Network Engineering students are those who acquire more competencies for IoT and cybersecurity learning since it is the program that prepares students to work specifically in the Network and Internet Technologies sector. In the early stages, apart from achieving technical competencies, the strategy proposes the assimilation of transversal competencies through joint work, in groups, between students from these three different specialties.Research Group on Internet Technologies and Storage (GRITS) is very effective for the acquisition of some specific competencies, but especially for the acquisition of valuable transversal competencies. The GRITS research group  collaborates in a series of projects, both European and national, in which students participate intending to acquire a more profound knowledge of a specific area of interest. Then, they use this knowledge to elaborate on their final undergraduate thesis. This joint work provides the student with general competencies, such as the ability to make decisions, improve their interpersonal communications, manage the suitable scheduling of tasks, prioritize and/or delegate tasks meeting delivery deadlines, perform qualified oral and written communication, among others.Moreover, at our university, different research groups are dealing with several technological fields; internet technologies, data science, storage and big data, technologies applied to learning, and multimedia technologies, among others. Within the proposed pedagogical strategy, in the medium stages, the collaboration with the Additionally, in the advanced stages, due to the close relationship of La Salle (Ramon Llull University) with companies, the university provides the opportunity of collaboration activities where these companies propose competitive challenges to students (requiring different student profiles and disciplines to be solved). These challenges reveal to postgraduates the real needs of the job market and, therefore, the competencies to be acquired, especially from the group of transversal competencies.DEVICES send and receive data interacting with the NETWORK where the data is transmitted, normalized, and filtered using EDGE COMPUTING before landing in DATA STORAGE/DATABASES accessible by APPLICATIONS which process it and provide it to people who will ACT AND COLLABORATE. As shown in The specific competencies associated with IoT cybersecurity that the university wants students to acquire are defined taking the IoT World Forum Reference Model as a starting point . This reSpecific competencies are detailed below :●SC.01: Ability to build, exploit and manage telecommunications networks, services, processes and applications, understood as systems for capturing, transporting, representing, processing, storing, managing and presenting multimedia information, from the point of view of telematic services.○SC.01-1: Ability to build, exploit and manage IoT network architectures, services, processes and applications, understood as systems for capturing, transporting, representing, processing, storing, managing and presenting information, from the point of view of telematic services.●SC.02: Ability to apply the techniques, on which the telematic networks, services and applications are based, such as management, signaling and switching systems, routing, security , traffic engineering , pricing and reliability and quality of service, both in fixed, mobile, personal, local and long-distance environments, with different bandwidths, including telephony and data.○SC.02-1: Ability to apply management, signaling, switching and routing techniques on which IoT network architectures, services and applications are based.○SC.02-2: Ability to apply security techniques to IoT network architectures, services and applications .●SC.03: Ability to design network architectures and telematic services.○SC.03-1: Ability to design IoT network architectures.●SC.04: Ability to program telematic, networked and distributed applications and services.○SC.04-1: Ability to program telematic, networked and distributed applications and services for IoT environments.●SC.05: Conceive and develop centralized or distributed computer systems or architectures integrating hardware, software and networks.○SC.05-1: Conceive and develop centralized or distributed computer systems or architectures, integrating IoT hardware, software and networks.●SC.06: Original exercise to be carried out individually and presented and defended before a university court, consisting of a project in the field of specific technologies of Telecommunications Engineering of a professional nature in which the skills acquired in the learning process are synthesized and integrated.○SC.06-1: Original exercise to be carried out individually and presented and defended before a university court, consisting of a project in the field of IoT technologies, in which the skills acquired in the learning process are synthesized and integrated. ●SC.07: Ability to function in contexts that provide imprecise specific information.●SC.08: Ability to identify key issues that need to be addressed to solve a complex problem.○SC.08-1: Ability to identify key issues that need to be addressed to solve a complex problem in IoT environments.●SC.09: Ability to design, create, develop and carry out new and innovative projects in the relevant areas of specialization.○SC.09-1: Ability to design, create, develop and carry out new and innovative projects in the IoT technological area.●SC.10: Ability to integrate knowledge, deal with complexity, and formulate opinions with limited information.As mentioned above, the preparation of the curricula includes the definition of the technical competencies that the students must assume. These competencies are detailed so that they are able to adapt to technological changes. This gives rise to the definition of a subset of specific competencies for IoT cybersecurity (as is done with the rest of the technologies and concepts taught in university programs). As shown in the definition of the above competencies, they are defined so that different subjects or activities may fulfill them. For this reason, all subjects in one curriculum of a university program define their subset of specific competencies, adapting to the learning that is transmitted to the student. This is the exercise carried out for the acquisition of IoT cybersecurity competencies within the presented strategy.The following table  shows thSome of the reference model levels have no competencies assigned because our main learning objective is focused on network architectures that support IoT environments considering cybersecurity in communications. Generic competencies are detailed below. These are included with the specific ones, although they are not directly related to IoT or cybersecurity, because a professional worker with knowledge in these topics who has no communication skills, does not know how to work in a team, is not self-critical, indecisive, and does not have the most generic skills mentioned in Earlier in this document, the importance that students assume some transversal competencies is explained, preparing them for the global market. ●GC.01: Know and apply basic elements of economics and human resource management, organization and planning of projects, as well as legislation, regulation and standardization in telecommunications.●GC.02: Ability to work in a multidisciplinary group and a multilingual environment, and to communicate, both in writing and orally, knowledge, procedures, results and ideas, related to telecommunications and electronics.●GC.03: Know how to apply the knowledge to a job or vocation in a professional way and possess the competencies that are usually demonstrated through the elaboration and defense of arguments and the resolution of problems within the area of study.●GC.04: Ability to collect and interpret relevant data  to make judgments that include a reflection on relevant social, scientific, or ethical issues.●GC.05: Transmit information, ideas, problems and solutions, to both a specialized and non-specialized audience.●GC.06: Develop those learning skills necessary to undertake further studies with a high degree of autonomy.●GC.07: Critical ability and intellectual defense of solutions.These generic competencies are not assigned to the IoT World Forum Reference Model. They are competencies that are not directly related to the IoT and cybersecurity topics, but rather to the creation of valuable engineers, and consequently considering them is important.The set of defined competencies is acquired through the application of different learning methodologies. For a long time, we have applied methodologies in which the students are jointly responsible for their learning. We introduce students in their own learning context so that they are more aware of the process gaining commitment, dedication, and satisfaction. Below the learning methodologies used in this pedagogical strategy are described.●LM.01: Laboratory Activities. It involves the student solving a problem or making decisions using the knowledge learned in theory. Specific equipment from a laboratory or workshop is used. Laboratory tutorials, simulation exercises, field study, computer practice, company visits, or field trips are some activities that can be performed.●LM.02: Self-Paced Learning. Methodologies where the student learns new content on their own, from the teacher’s guidelines or by means of didactic material designed for this purpose. Autonomous learning, self-learning, directed study, tutorials, virtual network work, individual or group work outside the classroom, or personal study are some activities than can be performed.●LM.03: Challenge-Based Learning. The methodology is focused on five key points: (1) pedagogical approach that actively involves the student, (2) based on a real problem, (3) close to the student environment, (4) demand a specific solution, and (5) within the experiential learning.●LM.04: Project-Based Learning. It involves the development of the subject, based on solving a project or various projects  where the student discovers the concepts as they are necessary for its development.●LM.05: Case Method. It consists of several stages: (1) preliminary phase: reading and study of the case for awareness of individual work, (2) phase of expression of opinions and judgments: individual reflection and the detection of descriptions of individual work, (3) contrast phase: joint analysis of the analyzed data, with work in small groups and sharing in the whole group.●LO.01: Master the concept of network, its architecture, deployment and services for IoT environments.●LO.02: Know and differentiate the concepts of transport and access network, including the most important protocols and interfaces.●LO.03: Mastery of the design, configuration and implementation of the equipment that forms an IoT network architecture.●LO.04: Master the analysis, diagnosis and resolution of network problems for IoT environments.●LO.05: Analysis and design of security in networks for IoT systems.●LO.06: Know the security technologies and their application in data systems and networks.●LO.07: Have deepened in a specific subject of the area of study of the degree, applying the knowledge learned throughout it, with the ability to analyze and solve problems in an original or novel way.●LO.08: Have the ability to organize and plan, searching skills and information management.●LO.09: Having communicated the work performed in writing, and publicly presenting it in front of experts and non-experts in the field.●LO.10: Have demonstrated the ability to conceive, design, implement, and adopt a research process of considerable scope with academic integrity.●LO.11: Have demonstrated critical analysis, evaluation and synthesis of new and complex ideas.Once the students carry out and successfully pass the activities proposed in the learning methodologies, they obtain the following learning outputs, guaranteeing the acquisition of the defined competencies:To conclude this section, the mapping between stages, competencies, learning methodologies and learning outcomes is presented in In the following sections, the application of the methodologies used in each stage will be detailed, and the competencies and learning outcomes will be related according to the assessments carried out.In this section, the competency acquisition in the early stages is presented through two subjects used to bring students the basic knowledge about IoT and cybersecurity. Information gathered from IEEE Internet of Things , ISECOM This section describes the employed methodology in the ‘Networking Laboratory’ subject. In it, students (in pairs) face a different lab each week during the semester. These students are Telematics Engineering and ICT Management undergraduate students between 20 and 23 years old. They have learnt the basics of networking in the previous courses, and this subject aims to complement their knowledge, with new skills related to advanced routing, advanced architectures like those developed for IoT environments and introduce cybersecurity concepts focusing on networking. Each of the labs focuses on a specific IoT topic, most of them related to the lower layers of the IoT Reference Model . Depending on the type of equipment and technologies used, labs can be deployed in one or more of the following ways: (1) physical implementation, where students use real-world devices ; (2) emulation, where students use emulating software to implement more dense and complex scenarios , and a few practical scenarios that must be configured and implemented during the class (LM.01 methodology). Once students complete them, they have learnt and consolidated the concepts of a specific IoT topic in an eminently practical way. Each lab can be seen as a puzzle piece of the IoT network architecture and security, which leverages the consolidation of both theoretical and practical skills upon its completion. These puzzle pieces are combined together at the end of the semester, when students individually face a final hands-on project and a final hands-on exam. Both of them consist of a 100% practical scenario that merges different technologies, equipment, and concepts seen throughout the semester, which the student must correctly combine to make the proposed scenario work. Students prove the acquisition of the required competencies and skills upon the successful completion of both the project and the exam.Each lab consists of a theoretical explanation that students must read prior to class , LANs  and WANs (Wide Area Networks). Some of the most relevant protocols for IoT presented are Zigbee, Sigfox, 6LoWPAN, LoraWAN, NB-IoT, 802.11, LTE, 5G, and Bluetooth, among others. From all these protocols, a more detailed explanation is given for the 802.11 standard, which will be used for the practical scenarios.The practical scenarios focus on two approaches for deploying a WLAN (Wireless LAN): using a physical wireless controller to manage the Access Points (APs) (with Netgear equipment) or using a cloud-based wireless controller to control the APs (with Cisco Meraki equipment). The scenario that students must deploy with the physical wireless controller is shown in On the other hand, there is the cloud-based wireless controller scenario with the Cisco Meraki AP. At last, there is a final scenario which merges both topologies and asks students to successfully communicate end devices connected to the Meraki AP with the devices connected to the Netgear APs, as shown in This lab focuses on the advanced features that Palo Alto firewalls can offer to control and monitor IoT network architectures. The scenarios are composed of three main zones: the External Zone (Internet), where devices must be protected from; the DMZ Zone, where data processing servers are placed; and the Internal Zone, where the IoT devices are connected see . The basFirst, the student must be able to interconnect the three zones together, while performing NAT (Network Address Translation). This helps to hide the internal devices and sensors from the outside, so external users cannot know which is the internal topology and the real addressing from these devices. Once inter-zone connection and NAT are configured, students have to apply policies to control which applications and services are permitted . In addition, threat detection must be configured to analyze and counteract against possible malicious attacks from both external users and bogus internal devices. Furthermore, SSL inspection policies are added to decrypt the traffic that the firewall must inspect in order to apply policies correctly. When students successfully configure all these requirements, they can pass to the next phase.After that, students are introduced to the concept of High Availability (HA) and how to configure it on the firewall. They learn that, by implementing HA, they remove a single point of failure at the edge of the IoT network and minimize the risks of a critical failure. Once it is configured and its functioning is verified, students move to the next phase, where the concept of Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) is presented. VRF is very useful when the same firewall  must connect to independent IoT networks serving different purposes. As these networks do not need to know each other, they must be able to use the same private addressing. Students configure VRF in the firewalls, so these networks are isolated, and the same IPv4 private addresses can be used, learning the main advantages of this technology. To move to the next phase, students must prove that both internal networks can communicate with the DMZ and External zones, but they do not reach each other.Finally, students have to include the use of a VPN into the scenario. By implementing a VPN, they gain access to internal resources from the external network, and they learn the main advantage of it, which is that there is no need to expose IoT devices or services to the public to access them, minimizing the related potential security risks. As has been mentioned earlier, an important task has been conducted to adapt the’ Networking Laboratory’ subject, due to the health alert caused by COVID-19. The new skills that students gain, learning how to work on a cloud platform, may help them acquiring relevant knowledge for hosting and managing IoT application instances in Cloud environments.This lab is a key component for all the semester, as students learn how to set up the AWS platform that they have to use for the rest of the labs. Each student has its own account to access AWS, where they can configure their own scenarios. This fact gives students a lot of flexibility, so they can choose when to complete the required activities, and there are not time, availability or resource limitations.This section describes the design and implementation of the learning platform for IoT security training that was developed at La Salle (Ramon Llull University), our learning platform that helps IoT security trainers to teach knowledge on security testing and auditing IoT architectures by using hands-on technological training. The IoT learning platform is composed of several parts, including the testbed, the eLearning platform, the management interface, the learning material, and the proposal of challenges offered to students.The testbed has been designed to replicate real infrastructures where students find and experiment with several and diverse IoT platforms, Operating Systems (OS), network topologies and protection equipment, all organized in several and different scenarios. The students use this testbed to implement the labs proposed in the different lessons of the Learning Materials, where a specific scenario is designed for each of the lessons, to accomplish the defined objectives.The design and implementation of the testbed are based on the concepts of virtualization and cloud computing on the University Campus’ assets, with three main parts: (1) network virtualization based on Virtual LANs concept to implement the different scenarios, providing the required flexibility to change the topology just by configuration, (2) server virtualization built in a server farm running a hypervisor that supports the needed Virtual Machines (VM), and (3) storage virtualization by using a Network Attached Storage (NAS) to centralize all the VM disks in a single place, allowing the movement of VMs between servers to accomplish the requirements of high availability and flexibility see .Our students use the management interface, or front-end, to log into the environment and check the different scenarios that they must implement. Once they are logged in, an access firewall allows them to access the corresponding scenario of the testbed. The access to the testbed is supervised by the instructor, who controls the activity of each student, using the information obtained by a monitoring system. Using this information, the trainer can certify whether each student has accomplished the objectives for each lesson or not. The objectives defined for each scenario are specified in ●Training: In the first part of the course, students are trained throughout all the lessons described previously using the “student’s workbook”, composed by around forty different labs (LM.01 and LM.02 learning methodologies). These labs are performed in pairs of students from Telematics and Computer Engineering undergraduate programs (between 20 and 23 years old). They have learnt the basics of networking, operating systems, and programming languages in the previous courses. ●Challenge: After the initial training period, students must demonstrate the knowledge and skills acquired. In order to motivate them and get the best of them, our proposal for the development of the security course is to challenge them in a kind of competition or hacking contest. Based on the Project Based Learning (PBL) methodology (LM.04), we propose them a Challenge Based Learning (CBL) activity (LM.03), where they must compete in groups to demonstrate who the best ethical hackers of the year are.●Presentations: Before finishing the course, students must present their results, not only to the rest of the groups, but also to trainers and, most importantly, to IoT security experts from external companies. Across this activity, they get in contact with real enterprises, and these corporations could evaluate new candidates to hire.The teaching process of the ‘Cybersecurity’ subject carried out in the second semester of third academic year, is divided into the following course development phases:At the end, the obtained results have been exposed. Moreover, motivated, skilled and valued engineers are obtained through the security course developed. The aim of the ‘Cybersecurity’ subject is to complement students’ knowledge, with new skills related to cybersecurity and ethical hacking to be applied afterwards in IoT and non-IoT environments, and provide a nearby experience to the cybersecurity labor market . Nevertheless, the IoT platform is in constant evolution and improvement, where not only the students in their last year contribute to its development , but the students enrolled in the security course also participate, increasing the number of learning materials and resources available on it.LM.01 and LM.02) to meet the objectives defined in For this subject, no examples are presented, because the labs are made up of a large set of exercises that follow the same methodology (LM.03) and implementation.On the other hand, it should be noted that the hacking contest carried represents an incentive challenge for students due to its methodology  is a group of academic researchers from different disciplines who focus on addressing the following technological areas:●○Next Generation Networks ○SDN/NFV/DevOps ○Transport ○Web of things ○Cybersecurity Future Network Architectures●○○Cluster computing○High-performance computing○Grid computing○Parallel computingCloud computing●○NVIS systems/remote sensing○Innovative types of antennas and compact antennasRemote IoTThe The acquisition and renewal of knowledge in these areas is carried out by performing European and national projects, that are usually done jointly with other academic institutions and companies. In this way, the knowledge acquired is subsequently transferred to the different undergraduate and postgraduate programs and, therefore, to university students. In addition, two types of collaborations are carried out with students, to bring them closer to the world of research and to allow them to participate in realistic projects: (1) performing the final thesis of under- or postgraduate programs within the research group and (2) collaborating with the research group to increase and focus student learning. In fact, many students begin collaborating in the early stages, and end their collaboration by carrying out the final thesis on that topic in which they have specialized for at least one year .●Learn the basic research abilities so that they carry out the correct execution of the required work.●Learn to differentiate valid sources of knowledge to support coherent work.●Learn to transmit and transfer knowledge through the elaboration of documentation.●Learn to express their work and ideas orally by periodically presenting their work progress.●Learn to focus their work on the topic of interest.These collaborations are focused on helping students to:LM.04) is applied throughout the process . Everything is done through continuous tutoring that controls the evolution of the student and helps this student to improve throughout the process.The starting point for achieving these objectives is based on a specific topic related to one research group’s technological area and which is also of interest to the student. The student must solve a problem , where he/she must use that topic or topics of interest. Typically, the student performs both individual and group tasks to improve soft skills. A Project-Based Learning methodology  very cheap, with a single mode of operation and a basic network connection that does not have the power, storage capacity, computational capacity or memory to support the current encryption protocols. In order to overcome this problem, new schemes capable of running on IoT devices, based on current encryption algorithms, must be achieved.●Learn about current cryptographic schemas and their functioning . A state of the art on cryptography schemas is carried out comparing Symmetric Key Cryptography (studying block ciphers like CLEFIA and stream cyphers like MICKEY v2) and Asymmetric Key Cryptography . Additionally, MATLAB simulations of these schemas are performed to learn which cryptographic algorithm seems the most suitable for IoT devices (focusing on performance parameters).●○Computational cost.○Data transmission rate.○Battery cost.Perform a fair comparison in a well-defined framework that would help to determine which schema is the best under the following premises:The main objective of the thesis is to compare different solutions and draw conclusions, on which one best adapts to the current IoT devices’ limitations. To meet this main goal, several phases are performed in the thesis:A set of probes is implemented to test cryptographic algorithms functionality in IoT devices performing various transmissions of encrypted data. The devices used are Zolertia Z1 mote and Sky mote with Contiki OS (one of the most frequently used IoT OS focused on cryptography). The motes are implemented in the Cooja simulator. The data messages sent are encrypted using the AES standard (an encryption standard that is successfully emulated in various platforms/motes). This simulation shows, under the same scenario and algorithm usage, which case suits the IoT world best, through a well-defined closed framework . ●Enhance student’s ability to research information, filter it, understand it and apply it. Specifically, from a scientific point of view.●Learn to draw valuable conclusions from the performed work. For this thesis, the student concludes that current cryptographic algorithms are ready and suitable to use in IoT devices, in terms of performance. Each application and device will have its own limitations, so it is complicated to find a specific algorithm that will ensure correct performance, while fulfilling all the limitations.SmartCampus project, which consists of creating a proof of concept of an architecture that will use IoT and Cloud/Fog computing technologies for the comfort and energy efficiency measurement, control, and visualization. The project will show the feasibility of its implementation throughout the Barcelona university campus, to provide various benefits on a day-to-day basis, for students, teachers, and university staff. An architecture like this must be scalable and robust. Additionally, it must support various communication protocols and ensure the transmissions of the messages that are sent. The GRITS research group is carrying out the SmartCampus project aims to design a proof of concept to (1) store heterogeneous data in one  clouds, using the Social IoT paradigm, (2) offer a single access point for the different services of the SmartCampus Barcelona  can access the collected data, and (3) offer a holistic and centralized view of events that are being monitored on campus. In the future, it will serve as a testbed for a Facility Manager of the Barcelona university campus.The SmartCampus architecture. Accordingly, different phases are carried out:●Approach to key IoT challenges, such as interoperability and security, necessary in the design of any IoT network. These characteristics and how to implement them are studied.●Search for interoperability solutions between communication protocols. Different approaches are found in the use of IoT Gateways to address this challenge: (1) One Gateway–Various protocols, (2) One Gateway–One protocol, and (3) a merging of the two previous alternatives.●Search for security solutions for communications. An analysis of the application layer and M2M (machine-to-machine) protocols is performed, as they are considered a key component for communication between IoT devices and their applications. The MQTT (Message Queue Telemetry Transport) protocol is chosen because it meets the characteristics of being light, flexible, and easy to implement, in addition to being a very widespread protocol in applications such as healthcare, energy, and social networking.●Make a proposal for a secure communications system. MQTT is chosen to encrypt the data using asymmetric AES encryption (128 or 256) in CBC (Cipher-Block Chaining) mode. An intermediate layer of security is incorporated within each of the MQTT PUBLISH messages (the payload of each message is encrypted). This is an easy implementation solution, which does not require many resources, and serves as a test to apply the same idea to other protocols, such as CoAP. Implementation with the One Gateway–One protocol approach adapts to the current vision of the SmartCampus .●Implement the proposal. Implement a set of tests to see the feasibility of the proposal. Two possible implementations are proposed: Middleware-based implementation and client-based client. The tests are performed for two different scenarios: (1) device-to-device communication, with a C ++ based client implemented in an Arduino MEGA and information encrypted with AES128, (2) communication between internal network and external network, with a Java SDK 1.8 client-based and information encrypted with AES 128.●Extract conclusions on the work done. Students draw their own conclusions. This proposal presents an MQTT-based solution for communications between IoT devices. This protocol is adapted to the needs of the SmartCampus, but it has certain security limitations that must be overcome. So, a secure communications solution based on AES encryption mechanisms is proposed, and the feasibility of this solution is tested in a test environment.In this project, the collaboration with students (regarding the security part) aims to present a first approach to the security of internal communications between the IoT devices that make up this The competencies and learning outcomes defined for medium stages are distributed between the different activities performed in this stage, as shown in In this section, the competency acquisition in the advanced stages is presented through real case challenges from companies.According to Currently, this type of interdisciplinary projects facilitated by the collaborating companies requires the involvement of different engineering profiles, since the research master thesis involves more than one topic  within the field of engineering. Carrying out transversal projects through the different university masters by using a specific methodology for the development of a research master thesis is proposed, as well as the acquisition of the competencies established within this framework. The goal of this initiative is to provide an enriching work environment for the development of large interdisciplinary projects in the context of a real project proposed by leading companies in Innovation and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) see .●An intensive standardization work will be performed, using terminology and controlled vocabularies that will help for the interoperability of tasks and stakeholders.●An agreement on the participant’s goals and expectations, providing a partner/user-centered approach.●Assignation to different student groups for execution and for supervision of each task.●Collection of regular information significant for the enhancement of the design specifications and the possible long-term implementation plan.●Ensure and provide the most effective and reliable communication and monitoring process for each business case.Each of the individual tasks in each phase of the interdisciplinary master thesis requires its own research to provide the expected outcomes. However, some common methodological approaches are applied. The most relevant are:LM.03) and the Case Method (LM.05) methodologies. Students must face a real problem, and propose an agreed solution with colleagues from the assigned multidisciplinary group. The interdisciplinary projects proposed by companies in the MaaS initiative are affordably implementing Challenge-Based Learning  is a European Project that works on filling the existing knowledge gap training university students on Industry 4.0 topics.The project aims to achieve new skills and competencies for students, on one side directly related to the Industry 4.0 domain , and on the other side, supporting them in acquiring key competencies, such as entrepreneurship (or intrapreneurship), to foster their employability and professional development. Entrepreneurial skills and an entrepreneurial mindset are necessary for successfully working in the new paradigm, as redesigning an enterprise following a 4.0 approach means also being ready to reshape the traditional business model of a company. For such a reason, teaching entre/intrapreneurship methods and tools is a key asset that cannot be separated from the technology-based training.In the academic year 2018–2019, Selettra was the company that proposed the challenge. Selettra possesses over 400 production tools that can be used inside and outside the factory by collaborators. These tools, with the size of a shoe, are very expensive and critical for the production. At the moment, it is challenging to manage them, since it is hard to know if they are still inside the factory or not, because collaborators take them without any kind of control. Furthermore, nowadays, tools’ maintenance is done ‘on-demand’, which makes it very inefficient. The company claims that knowing the tools’ position and status would improve the precision of production and shipment planning as well as customer service. Moreover, having a model of predictive maintenance would decrease maintenance costs and increase production efficiency and quality. Therefore, Selettra proposes the implementation of a solution that covers these needs and helps them meet the mentioned impacts.To solve the mentioned problem, several interdisciplinary groups of students proposed different solutions. The winner solution was the use of a Real-Time Location System (RTLS). Using RTLS to locate assets and improve efficiency can be a financial and compliance lifesaver for today’s organizations. Electronically tracking assets allows organizations to better manage what they have, streamline staff efficiencies, and reduce loss, which in turn improves customer satisfaction and bottom-line savings.This solution uses a management and tracking software and pairs Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-enabled tags with BLE-enabled wireless access points (APs). These tags are small, low power wireless transmitters that broadcast 2.4 GHz radio signals at regular intervals. These signals are heard by BLE-enabled access points, which act as observers, and provide the sensory network. Tracking information is then sent to the management cloud-based platform, where location mapping allows for each asset to be viewed in its actual location. A diagram of the mentioned architecture can be found in To complement the mentioned system, the use of a box was also proposed, that reads the information of the tools placed inside, together with a QR code reader as the checkout method for collaborators. Before exiting the site, in order to open the door, collaborators must place the tools inside the checkout box, and scan their unique QR code. The system then registers that these tools are outside the factory at the collaborators’ site. When a collaborator wants to return a specific tool, the same process must be followed.In order to predict the maintenance of tools, a functionality that allows setting alarms, when a certain percentage of the Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) of the tools has passed, must be implemented in the Management and Tracking Platform. Furthermore, factory operators must register every time a tool is broken before the expected time, so that the percentage can be adjusted more precisely.There is no feasible solution without taking security into account. To secure the presented system, security has been considered in several parts. First of all, security has been integrated with the system inside the company by placing a Next-Generation Firewall at the edge of the Enterprise Network, thus providing perimeter security. Then, to transmit the data to the Management and Tracking Platform over the Internet, it uses the protocol TLS (Transport Layer Security) with the algorithm DHE-RSA for key exchange, AES CCM-256 for data encryption and AEAD for data integrity. Therefore, it will be running TLS over HTTP (HTTPS) for a secure data exchange. To access the Cloud, the App will have a Role-Based Access Control, so that only authorized personnel can access the private data. Finally, to make sure that exclusively authorized collaborators take out tools from the factory, collaborators will authenticate using their personalized username and password, to be able to log in to the customer mobile app.This students’ proposal implementing IoT cybersecurity topics was possible by combining the knowledge that each student obtained in the undergraduate and postgraduate studies .The competencies and learning outcomes defined for advanced stages are defined in ●Understand and use the technologies used to process big data.●Interpret the security risks associated with Industry 4.0 and apply the corresponding countermeasures to minimize these risks.●Categorize the technologies used for the administration of Industry 4.0 management systems.●Identify and analyze the requirements and needs of challenges posed by companies in the Industry 4.0 sector, and propose different solutions to these challenges, as would be done in real projects.Furthermore, as each challenge of the MaaS initiative is focused on specific topics, the additional learning outcomes are defined to be aligned to the objective of the challenge. The additional learning outcomes of SPRINT 4.0 are:It should be pointed out that activities proposed in the MaaS initiative are focused on providing the knowledge to apply and work with technology, instead of adding new basic concepts. Therefore, the MaaS initiative seeks that students will be able to recognize and practice the skills needed in the real world.In this section, the results obtained by the students and the feedback provided by them are analyzed to check if the pedagogical strategy proposed is suitable and to collect information needed for continuous improvement of the methodology applied.A substantial metric to evaluate the pedagogical strategy is the grades of the students. These grades are obtained through assessments performed using learning methodologies explained in this paper. The application of these methodologies helps students to acquire the desired competencies and therefore, successfully passing subjects implies their acquisition. All the evaluable activities carried out within a subject are graded from 0 to 10, passing them if a mark equal to or greater than 5 is obtained. Additionally, a subject is successfully passed if its final grade is equal to, or greater than, 5. For the early learning stages, we will analyze the academic results of the ‘Networking Laboratory’ and ‘Cybersecurity’ subjects.Another essential aspect of analyzing the new active learning methodology is to consider the evaluations made by stakeholders external to the university. During the early learning stages, companies have the opportunity to evaluate the final project done in the ‘Cybersecurity’ subject. From the 2015–2016 academic year, to the 2018–2019 academic year, 29 companies participated in this activity . These companies perform individual interviews to evaluate technical skills , and soft skills .These results fit with the feedback that companies gave to the professors of the subject. They showed immense satisfaction, both with the activity and the skills and competencies acquired by the students, and their desire to repeat the experience in the following years.Regarding medium stages, 12 undergraduate program final theses about IoT and cybersecurity topics have been presented since 2016. These final theses were focused on auditing methodologies applied to smart environments, monitoring and management of IoT environments, applying blockchain to social IoT, firewalling and security event management, and improving IoT security training platform of ‘Cybersecurity’ subject, with new labs and updated scenarios, among others. Some projects were performed in collaboration with the GRITS research group, but not the totality of them. ●Have studied, in depth, a specific subject of the area of study of the degree, applying the knowledge learned throughout it, with the ability to analyze and solve problems. The evaluation of this criterion depends on the originality of the way the student addresses the problem and how the work is orally presented.●Have the ability to organize and plan, search and manage information skills. The evaluation of this criterion depends on the tracking performed by the mentor and the project report presented.●Have communicated the work performed in writing and publicly presenting it in front of experts and non-experts in the field. The evaluation of this criterion depends on the project report presented and how the work is orally presented.The evaluation of the project presented is based on the following criteria :All students obtained marks above 8.5, except one who obtained a 7 three of them graduated with honors (the highest mark), and three other students with a mark of 10. The average grade of all these final theses is 9.25. These results are those expected according to the effort done by every student. Some topics addressed are quite novel, and students now have more specific knowledge about IoT and cybersecurity.Finally, regarding the advanced stages and the MaaS initiative, the most relevant activity done in the last three years related to IoT and cybersecurity is the mentioned example of the SPRINT 4.0. Other MaaS initiatives have been performed, but these topics were addressed separately. So, we consider that the results of the SPRINT 4.0 are the important ones to be shown.The final evaluation of the SPRINT 4.0 course was the presentation of the solution of the Selettra challenge. To solve this challenge, the 21 students of different postgraduate programs  participating in the SPRINT 4.0 course were divided into five groups, mixing these profiles inside each group. The following aspects  were takThe grades obtained for the items evaluated are presented in The final grades of the project are shown in Feedback is an essential part of the learning process and helps to improve the learning experience, by considering the opinion of the students about the subjects they have taken. This feedback allows professors to improve their subjects year by year, and it is a fundamental part of the quality system of our institution.Students from undergraduate program subjects answer a feedback survey for each subject they take. This feedback includes several questions regarding their satisfaction with the subject, the innovation and practical application of its content, and about the dynamics of the sessions. The following figures show a comparison of the last four-year feedbacks regarding these questions. The rating values range from 1 to 5, 1 being not at all satisfied, 2 being slightly satisfied, 3 being satisfied, 4 being very satisfied, and 5 being completely satisfied.The feedback results of the ‘Networking Laboratory’ subject, shown in The feedback results of the ‘Cybersecurity’ subject shown in Students from advanced stages in a multidisciplinary group were also requested to give feedback about their learning experience. The evaluation forms were mainly addressed to measure the satisfaction of the participants, the fulfillment of their expectations, and the usefulness of the training received in the Data & Security course SPRINT 4.0. The presentation of common parts was considered not very interactive, perhaps due to the master class methodology. Regarding the question: “How interactive was the lesson today?”, 75% of the students answered that it had been interactive enough, whereas 25% of the students responded that it had not been very interactive. However, this methodology was confirmed to be very useful in delivering contents. Regarding the question: “How clear were the course objectives?”, 30% of the students answered that they were super clear, 50% answered that they were clear, and the rest responded that they were clear enough.The audit methodology reached excellent results both in terms of clarity, results achieved, and competencies learned. The Trial explanation was evaluated as an excellent and stimulating case too.The three seminars, Management systems in Industry 4.0; The Big Data lifecycle; and The Cybersecurity challenges in Industry 4.0, reached a good level of satisfaction, a 65% rating. The work project dedicated to the challenge was evaluated very positively: overall, the evaluation was around 70% satisfaction, as Generally, the activities, contents, and effectiveness reached a high level of satisfaction among participants. Among the success factors, the origin of students from different backgrounds and the possibility to confront real and concrete cases, linking theory and practice, was emphasized. The most critical issue was a theoretical part that was too long, so mixing theory with more hands-on training will be considered for the next courses.IoT has become a crucial part of curricula in any engineering curricula related to information and communication technologies, not only in undergraduate programs, but also in master’s courses or any other courses. The cross-cutting nature of IoT needs a different learning approach, capable of fostering the ability to relate different concepts, technologies, and disciplines in an environment in constant evolution. An integral pedagogical strategy for learning IoT cybersecurity has been designed and presented in this paper. This strategy takes into consideration the different learning stages of students, depending on their knowledge level of the IoT and their learning maturity. Following the path across the different learning stages will let students gradually improve their knowledge about IoT, and will let them acquire not only technical, but also soft skills. Each stage has been designed to acquire different competencies regarding IoT cybersecurity, by implementing the most suitable learning methodologies. These specific competencies have been carefully designed and included in the learning outcomes of the related programs. The designed mapping between the specific competencies and the IoT reference model has also been presented in this paper, to show the close relationship between these two domains.This proposed pedagogical strategy needs the definition of the different competencies, but also must go hand in hand with the most appropriate learning methodologies. Therefore, different learning methodologies have been analyzed, and the most suitable learning methodologies have been selected and implemented. Moreover, the learning outcomes expected for each stage have also been defined. Finally, a mapping between the different stages, the IoT cybersecurity competencies, the most suitable learning methodologies, and the expected learning outcomes, has been detailed. Different subjects and courses involved in the programs are described in this paper in order to illustrate the effectiveness of this pedagogical strategy. Two different subjects included in the undergraduate degrees, classified in the early stage category, have been detailed: ‘Networking Laboratory’ and ‘Cybersecurity’ subjects. The content, related competencies, the applied learning methodologies, and the expected learning outcomes are specified in-depth for each subject. The student gradebook for the last four years has been analyzed. Student results are very good in both subjects and improve each year. Additionally, the satisfaction feedback provided by the students is included. It can be seen that these subjects are very highly rated, not only regarding the overall satisfaction, but also regarding the innovation, the practical learning outcomes, and the applied methodologies. Moreover, the assessment from other stakeholders, like the companies that are possible future employers and have interviewed the students, has been detailed. Companies marked students with very high grades and revealed an outstanding satisfaction, both with the interviews and the competencies acquired by the students.The acquisition of competencies in the medium stage is also detailed with the description of the undergraduate program’s final thesis related to IoT cybersecurity and the student collaboration in the Research Group of Internet Technologies and Storage, due to their integration in the different funded research projects of this research group. Finally, an example of an advanced stage experience is presented in the framework of the European Project SPRINT 4.0. The competencies and learning outcomes acquired in this advance stage are detailed. The satisfaction feedback shows very good results in terms of learning outcomes and methodologies. Additionally, the evaluation of the student results of the Selettra challenge shows a very good performance.The detailed learning experiences show that the presented integral pedagogical strategy for learning IoT cybersecurity adapts to the IoT reference model and integrates the most suitable competencies, methodologies, and learning outcomes.


Resource Discovery for the Twenty-First Century Library: Case Studies and Perspectives on the Role of IT in User Engagement and Empowerment offers an engaging overview of the discovery landscape through case studies, vendor perspectives, and speculative fiction. Editor Simon McLeish's enthusiasm for the topic is palpable throughout the monograph and adds another layer of engagement for readers.The book begins by outlining the current landscape, positioning the reader firmly in the “now” of discovery, which is helpful for those outside the resource discovery world. The foreword and introduction give high-level summaries of the role of discovery layers, mainstream search interfaces, and the complexities of creating a system that both meets and anticipates the needs of its users.Libraries are moving beyond locally acquired collections toward facilitating access to resources that are not yet licensed or owned, and discovery layers have become even more essential to finding a wide array of content. As Lorcan Dempsey points out in the foreword, “the acquired library collection is now actually only one resource among many of potential interest” (p. xxiii). Historically, library collections have driven discovery because users could find only what was already available; now discovery is starting to drive collections. Anything that may be of use to a researcher is reason enough to index it, and search results are starting to include records of unlicensed materials, free Internet content, library website pages, research guides, and librarian specialties (p. xxv).After establishing the landscape, the book moves into case studies from the Australian National University, the National Library of Singapore, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), EBSCO Discovery Service, and the University of Oxford. The case study from the University of Oxford is particularly useful to practitioners who are exploring the user experience side of resource discovery because it includes questions for conducting patron interviews. The juxtaposition of library case studies and vendor case studies was an interesting editorial choice. It is difficult to read the vendor case studies without seeing a sales pitch; however, both are well written and informative, if somewhat self-serving.The book moves on to confront the challenges of discovery via mainstream search engines, such as Google, and offers suggestions for how to optimize resource descriptions to ensure they are more visible to users who are looking for them. Resource discovery using Blacklight and linked data is covered in the next two chapters, and chapter 11 rounds out the book with a somewhat redundant recap of what is known about discovery and what the future may hold.The final chapter, however, deviates from the known and enters the speculative world of science fiction. Perhaps the most intriguing chapter in the book, chapter 12 begins with a poignant quote from Denis Diderot foreshadowing a time when the multitude of information will make uncovering the truth difficult, and something will have to be done to facilitate its discovery (p. 177). Authors Wolfram Horstmann, David De Roure, and Simon McLeish offer short vignettes of what the future of research and scholarship may look like: from a completely open access, collaborative future to one monopolized by a single publisher hoarding the world's scholarship. The authors offer this chapter as a way “to inspire interest in and thought about the future of discovery” (p. 179). It is a memorable and entertaining way to end the book, and the vignettes will stick with the reader long after.Overall, the title is well researched and expertly builds on and pushes forward the scholarship in the field. One of the book's shortcomings is its figures. About 40% of the book's figures are nearly unreadable due to extremely poor contrast or miniscule type. One chapter includes 10 figures of varying readability, most of which add little value. Another chapter uses 15 figures and tables across its 18 pages, which feels more like an attempt to fill space rather than illustrate the case study. Overall, the monograph would have been stronger if all figures were of higher resolution and contrast, and authors were limited in how many they could include.As with any text covering present-day technologies, the timeliness of the topic does not necessarily guarantee its timelessness. Some of the social media platforms mentioned in chapter 8 and insights of this book do prevail and prove useful to those working in all aspects of librarianship.