Reform and Practice of Modern Cryptography Courses in Integrated Undergraduate–Graduate Cybersecurity Education: Science–Education Integration and AI as Dual Drivers

In order to tackle the problems that exist in integrated undergraduate–graduate cybersecurity education at provincial universities with significant differences in the level of student preparedness, lack of coherence between undergraduate and graduate programs, inability to transform the results of faculty research into instructional resources, and disjointed use of artificial intelligence, the given study uses the Modern Cryptography course which is provided to the undergraduate students, the academic master’s students and the professional master’s students in Cybersecurity at Heilongjiang University as a case study. Design-based action research methodology was employed in order to form a three-level curriculum chain of undergraduate foundations, undergraduate–graduate articulation, and advanced graduate-level research training. Moreover, a four-step mechanism for transforming research outputs into teaching resources was devised, consisting of selecting the research outcome, pedagogical adaptation, implementation in the classroom, and iterative feedback. AI-based learning diagnostics, literature assistance, and learning behavior recording were incorporated in the entire process of instruction. Five dimensions of process-oriented assessment were developed, namely: theoretical knowledge, practical skill, research-focused reading and participation in tasks, innovation capacity, and learning behavior. The initial pilot implementation involved using process documentation, laboratory reports, observation in the classroom and formative feedback as the main sources of evidence to determine the viability of the reform plan, the viability of collecting evidence and the completeness of the assessment chain. This paper has important practical implications to promote integrated undergraduate-graduate cryptography education and enhance the research-education integration reform in provincial universities.