How to pitch HTB to your professor

Over 840 universities use Hack The Box (HTB) to cultivate market-ready cyber skills in students. This results in higher average graduate employment rates and promising careers. 

The problem you’re likely having is that your university, college, or educational institution doesn’t use our platform and you’re not sure what you can do about it. I’ll help you solve that problem. Below are the essential points to mention when pitching HTB to your professor or program manager. 

(Not-so-subtle hint: You can also share this blog post with them!) 

Assess (and teach) practical skills with CTFs

Capture the flag (CTF) events are powerful learning and assessment tools because they test students’ practical abilities and domain knowledge in realistic low-stakes environments. From a teaching perspective, they capitalize on active recall (or practice testing), which according to modern scientific literature, is one of the most effective ways to learn anything. 

Compared to passive studying (such as re-reading, highlighting, and re-writing notes) and passive assessment techniques (e.g., multiple choice exams), practical tests accelerate learning by forcing students to recognize, retrieve, and wield information to answer questions and solve problems.

(Source) 

Macquarie University (recognized for having the highest graduate employment rates in Australia), for example, uses HTB’s Dedicated Labs to practice techniques covered in its curriculum. To test students at the end of each semester, a customized CTF event tailored around the course is used to assess the skills of students in a practical, fun, and competitive way.

It’s proven to be an extremely effective way of keeping students engaged, with gamified approaches to practical study and friendly competition - all of which contribute to their employability on graduation.

 

Alireza Jolfaei, Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity, Macquarie University