The document proposes changes to the format of the Connecticut Higher Education Roundtable for Information Security (CHERIS) to provide more regular professional development opportunities for information security staff across various higher education institutions in Connecticut. The key changes proposed include: - Establishing an ongoing coordinating council and annual reviews to ensure consistency. - Increasing engagement opportunities through bi-weekly online meetings, asynchronous discussions forums, and collaborative tools. - Continuing quarterly in-person meetings and adding recordings and archives for remote participation. - Evaluating engagement and participation annually through metrics like meeting attendance, website usage, and member surveys. The goal is to establish a self-sustaining community of practice through more

1. University of Connecticut
Professional
Development Plan
For the Connecticut Higher Education Roundtable for Information Security
Pufahl, Jason
7-10-2015

2. Purpose/Needs Assessment
There are 23 highereducationinstitutionsin Connecticutwhich varyinenrollmentand
subsequentlyvaryaccordinglyintheirsecurityresources. GiventhateachCollege/Universityis unlikely
to hire theirowndedicatedInformationSecurityOfficerorothersecurityspecificstaff itisimperative
that the Universitiesworktogetheranddevelopthe resourcestheyhave chosentomake available.
The ConnecticutHigherEducationRoundtable forInformationSecurity (CHERIS) hasloosely existedfor
the past 24 monthsas a resource run fromthe University of ConnecticutInformationSecurityOffice
(ISO) incollaborationwithQuinnipiacUniversityISO. A more rigorousformatneedstobe createdto
provide additional andadequate developmentof staff acrossthe state.
Current Format
To date the CHERIS grouphas metquarterlyat 6 differentUniversities. The meetingshave been
well attended,averagingapproximately40participantspersession. There hasbeennoexecutive or
managerial requirementtoparticipate andall but1 institutionhasattended. The Universitythathosts
the meetings providesaroom,lunchand assistswiththe agendacreation. The original makeupof the
groupwas staff that had an informationsecurityfunctionattheirUniversityandhassince expandedto
include asmall groupof auditors,attorneysandtechnical staff fromlargerk-12institutions. There are
86 memberscurrently.
Communication hasbeenmanagedthroughalistservrunbythe Universityof Connecticut,and
has low(20 messages/month) traffic.
Proposed Format
Whenthe group wasformeditwas determinedthatthe structure be revisitedafterthe second
yearwitha decisionmade whetherornotto continue the group. The membershave expressedan
interestinidentifyingmore frequentopportunitiesforgroupengagement, andwouldlike todetermine
the shape of future content. The expectationthatthiswill be aparticipantcentered(Ican’treallycall it
studentcentered) astheynowhave the foundational languageandskills,asa resultof having
participatedoverthe past2 years, to identifywhatcontentwillbe mostbeneficial. Thisimplementation
isdesignedtoalignwithboth the constructivisttheory,specificallyacommunityof practice andthe
cognitive theory,specifically situatedcognition. It’sthe expectationthatthiswill produce acollective of
people thatlearnfromeachotherand is rootedas much as possible inauthenticevents.
The followingchangesare beingrecommended:
Timeframe
CHERIS will be an ongoingactivity withnoproposed enddate. There will be anannual reviewto
adjustschedulesasnecessary.
Coordination
There isa needfora coordinatingcouncil drawnfromdifferentschools. The council would
serve asthe steeringbodyof the group. Thiscouncil wouldbe critical tothe successof the professional
developmentasitwould be requiredtocoordinate activitiesandthatprogramcoordinationis notthe

3. responsibilityof asingle individual. The council will serveafunction of triagingand coordinatinginputs
fromthe group,butis not expectedtobe responsible forestablishingthe contentdirection.
The council wouldhave the followingresponsibilities:
 Ensuringconsistencyof meetingschedules
 Identifyingandcoordinatingmeetingsponsors
 Identifyingguestparticipants thataddressrequesteddevelopment areas
 Coordinatingagendas
 Generate case-basedlearningopportunities
 Act as a focal pointto coordinate ad-hocgroupsto assistinreal-worldincidents
 Pairup highperformingandlowperformingschools toincrease competencies
 Identifyexternal trainingopportunitiesandresources
 Maintainwebcontent
Professional Development Framework
There wouldneedtobe a varietyof mechanismsforpeople toengage withthe group. Ithasbeenmade
clearthat people have needsthataren’tbeingmetwiththe regularquarterlymeetingandthatthere
are opportunitiesbeingmissed. Itisalsolikelythatnoteveryone iswilling/able totravel to all
destinationsites. The followingare the proposedengagementanddevelopmentopportunities:
Synchronous Discussions
 Quarterlyin-personmeetings –These meetingwouldbe vendorsupported andinvolve atleast1
vendorpresentation,1case study and 1 memberpresentation. There will be scheduled‘free
discussion’time ateverymeeting. These will runfrom9am-3pm. The meetingswill be
recorded andarchived,butnot streamed.
 Google On-Air–Utilize Google On-Airforbi-weekly meetings. Thiswill provide amore regular
opportunityforthe groupto engage live. These will be nomore than90 minutesandwill have a
30 minute guestpresentationandamembergeneratedagenda. Itisexpectedthatthese
meetingswillbe guidedbyacommittee member,will have aloose agendaandthatproductive
conversationswill trumpanestablishedagenda. These meetingswill be archived. The
frequencyof meetingswillallow forconversationconsistencyandcontinuity.
 Google Chat– Smallerformatad-hocconversationscanbe conductedthroughGoogle chat
 Telephone Conference Bridge- A persistentconferencebridge will be establishedforgroup
communication
 There are opportunitiestoengage the group
Asynchronous Discussions
 Website –cheris.uconn.eduexists,butispoorlymaintained. The site needstobecome more of
a resource to include
o Eventscalendar(CHERISeventsandlocal trainingevents)
o Listservarchives
o Archives
o Trainingcases
o Curatedresource Links

4. o Upcomingmeetingagendas
 Listserv – There isalreadya listservestablishedthatreceives~20messages/month. Thisserves
as a straightforwardabilitytocommunicate tothe group.
 LinkedInwill be consideredasanalternative toListservforgroupconversations.Itwouldbe
useful todrive peoplethere more regularlytoassistdevelopingtheirprofessional networks.
Collaborative Tools
 Google Drive/Docs –Documentstorage will be providedforitemssuchascollaborative policy.
developmentandsharing,RFPcreationandsharingor otherartifactsthe groupmay co-author
 Socrative maybe used in quarterlyandbi-weeklymeetingsasa mechanismtogauge topic
understandingandadjustinreal time.
 Qualtricswill be usedforanysurveysthatare created.
Expected Outcomes
WhenCHERIS isreorganizedthere willbe,minimally,bi-weeklyopportunitiesforpeople toengage with
each other. The bi-weeklymeetingsare expectedtobe a little lessformalandbe more conversational.
Thiswill alsoprovide anopportunityforindividualstoidentifyopportunitiestocollaborate andworkon
authenticissues(like asecurityincidentforexample) andgainexperience aroundauthenticevents.
A betterorganizedCHERISwouldprovidethe followingbenefits:
 Professionalandtechnical skillsdevelopment
 Program consistency
 Sharedservicesandsecuritytools
 Cost Savingsthroughcoordinatedpurchasing
 Incidentresponse support
 Consistentawarenesstrainingmaterials
 Consistent/Uniformpolicymanuals
 Sharedriskassessmentdata
Engagement/Assessment Measures
Engagementisgoingtobe a more significantmeasure of effectivenessthananactual assessment,as
thisisdesignedtobe a resource more than a rigid trainingregimen. Professional developmentis
expectedasa natural outcome of regularand more formal discussionof securityissues.
An evaluationof will occurannuallyandwill consistof the following:
 Quarterlymeetingattendance analysis
 Website trafficanalysis –The committee will review overallsite trafficandtrafficrelated to
specificmaterialsusingGoogle Analyticsof itemssuchas meeting/on-air,archives,resource
utilization.
 Listservusage analysis –The committee will review listservuse fortrends
 Google On-Airparticipationanalysis
 Membersurveys – designed todetermine the following:
 Is the formateffective/identify potential improvements

5.  Qualityof guestspeakers
 Expectedparticipationinthe upcomingyear
 Value of resources
 Value of case studies
 Frequencyof authentic,collaborative,problemsolving
Potential Challenges
 Time constraintsforthe coordinatingcouncil
 Time constraints of members- Anincrease infrequency andformality isexpectedtoproduce
significantresultsbutmustbe balancedagainstworkloadsandothercommitmentstoensure
the organization doesn’tbecomeaburden.
 Budget– The hostinginstitutionshave afinancial responsibility. Thiscanlikelybe offsetthough
vendorparticipation
 Tools – Individualcomfortlevel of toolsmaypose anadoptionissue
 Policy/Privacy –
o Cloudservice policyrestrictionsmayexistforsome schools
o Considerationregardingcontentavailabilityshouldbe considered(public/private
website/socialnetworks andassociatedcontent)
Resources
The CHERIS website hasbeenimproved(asacomponentof thisPD developmentexercise) tomore
closelyreflectwhat will existin the future.
CHERIS Website –http://cheris.uconn.edu
Professionaldevelopmentresources - http://cheris.uconn.edu/training-resources/
ArchivedResources - http://cheris.uconn.edu/7242014-2/. Thisparticulareventwasone thatmost
closelyresembledwhatis envisionedforthe quarterlymeetings. Itwassponsoredbytwovendors,had
presentationbyUConnstaff,allowedforunstructureddiscussionandproduced materials(albeitlow
quality) thatcouldbe accessedafterwards.

6. References
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