Electronic commerce virtual laboratory

Abstract

Website security is essential for successful e-commerce ventures, but the vital "how-to" components of security are often lacking in academic courses. This paper describes our attempt to instill an awareness of security concerns and techniques by having the students develop an Artist eXchange website, a social networking site that permits the posting and sharing of pictures, music, and text, including an end-user rating system. The six-homework set progresses through HTML, JavaScript, PHP, MySQL, file uploads, and security testing. An innovative feature is that each assignment is evaluated via automated testing, which guides the student toward detecting and correcting mistakes, especially with regard to common attack vectors.

Implementation of Virtual Laboratory of Electronic Commerce Into University Course

“…Our virtual laboratory was designed in the form of cooperating modules as suggested by Coffman and Weaver [25] and also supported providing feedback during the course to the students. Possibilities of simple modifications and changes in the design of the virtual lab are included according to the recommendations in [28] so that it is possible to react to changing external conditions in the field of ecommerce.…”

“…It enables students to practice completing e-commerce transactions without taking on the dangers involved in real purchases. Typically, the virtual laboratory is made up of several modules that address different facets of e-commerce, including website design, online marketing, payment methods, and customer support [25]. Users may engage with the topics and practice what they are learning while getting feedback and direction as they navigate through the virtual lab.…”