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Capture the Flag (CTF) games improve learners’ engagement and diversify pedagogy for education and training. We design and build a novel CTF game that includes coordination and interaction between the (virtually participating) participants to build fellowship and facilitate networking. Our work builds on the existing CTF components with educational benefits but differs from the traditional CTF approach which presents either an individual game with no participant interaction or a team-based game where the members already know each other and have formed teams. More specifically, we incorporate real-time interactions between participants who are new to each other and engage the participants to collectively solve the CTF challenges. We apply our CTF in both a cybersecurity scholarship program and an academic conference. This paper describes and explains the design, implementation, execution, and validation of our CTF, particularly focusing on the novel goal of including coordination and interaction in order to build fellowships with the participants. We validate our CTF design and build using multiple channels, including the real-time data provided by logging during the session, post-CTF survey, and interviews from the beta-testing session. Our evaluation results show that our novel CTF focusing on coordination and interaction aids in building fellowship and a collaborative environment. We envision our CTF design to help with the rapport building and collaboration among participants in classroom/course settings, workshops, conferences, or technical training sessions. 

Recent trends in the cybersecurity workforce have recognized that effective solutions for complex problems require collective efforts from individuals with diverse sets of knowledge, skills, and abilities. Therefore, the growing need to train students in team collaboration skills propelled educators in computer science and engineering to adopt team-based pedagogical strategies. Team-based pedagogy has shown success in enhancing students' knowledge in course subjects and their motivation in learning. However, it is limited in offering concrete frameworks specifically focusing on how to teach team collaboration skills. As part of an interdisciplinary effort, we draw on Transactive Memory Systems Theory-a communication theory that explains how individuals in groups learn who knows what and organize who does what-in developing a Team Knowledge Sharing Assignment as a tool for student teams to structure their team collaboration processes. This paper reports a result of a case study in designing and facilitating the assignment for cybersecurity students enrolled in a scholarship program. Students' evaluations and the instructor's assessment reveal that the assignment made a positive impact on students' team collaboration skills by helping them successfully identify their team members' expertise and capitalize on their team's knowledge resources when delegating functional roles. Based on this case study, we offer practical suggestions on how the assignment could be used for various classes or cybersecurity projects and how instructors could maximize its benefits.