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Teaching computer networking with the help of personal computer networks

Published: 28 June 2004 Publication History

Abstract

This paper describes an "experiential" learning approach to teaching a foundational course on Computer Networking. In additional to the traditional laboratory sessions and analytical problem-solving, I have introduced a class project based on personal computer networks for the last three years. Each project group sets up and owns an IP private network throughout the course, and they perform various experiments on it to verify and test the networking principles learned from the textbooks and lectures. The students' feedbacks collected so far are extremely positive. Not only they can acquire practical skills during the process, they are able to better understand the abstract networking concepts and protocols through their working experience with the personal computer networks.

References

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D. Bertsekas and R. Gallager, Data Networks, Second Edition, Prentice-Hall, 1992.
[2]
A. Tanenbaum, Computer Networks, Fourth Edition, Prentice Hall PTR, 2003.
[3]
S. Keshav, An Engineering Approach to Computer Networking, Addison Wesley Longman, 1997.
[4]
L. Peterson and B. Davie, Computer Networks: A Systems Approach, Second Edition, Morgan Kaufmann, 2000.
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A. Leon-Garcia and I. Widjaja, Communication Networks: Fundamental Concepts and Key Architectures, Second Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2004.
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B. Forouzan, Data Communications and Networking, Second Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2000.
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J. Kurose and K. Ross, Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Featuring the Internet, Second Edition, Addison Wesley Longman, 2003.
[8]
ACM Workshop on Networking Education, Aug. 2002. Available from http://www net.cs.umass.edu/sigcomm/education/workshop1.html.
[9]
E. Chan, J. Chan, K. Lee, and P. Chu, A report on "Networking in an Unsafe World!", available from http://www4.comp.polyu.edu.hk/~csrchang/Edmond.pdf, May 2003.
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J. Chen, Y. Ye, and N. Jin, A report on "Networking in an Unsafe World!", available from http://www4.comp.polyu.edu.hk/~csrchang/Bill.pdf, May 2003.
[11]
Homepage of Computer Communications Networks (COMP312), Department of Computing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic Univeristy, http://www2.comp.polyu.edu.hk/~comp312/CCN/CCN.html.
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C. Wills, "Application of peer learning to the introductory computer science curriculum," available in http://www.cs.wpi.edu/~peercs.

Cited By

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  • (2023)Tools and Techniques for Teaching and Research in Network Design and SimulationSN Computer Science10.1007/s42979-023-01684-64:3Online publication date: 17-Mar-2023
  • (2014)Remote networking laboratory development2014 11th International Conference on Remote Engineering and Virtual Instrumentation (REV)10.1109/REV.2014.6784191(370-374)Online publication date: Feb-2014
  • (2013)Introducing Network Design to Students via a Dance ActivityProceedings of the 2013 IEEE Fifth International Conference on Technology for Education (t4e 2013)10.1109/T4E.2013.37(123-126)Online publication date: 18-Dec-2013
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Cheer-Sun Yang

The experience of teaching computer networking using hand-on lab projects is described in this paper. First, the author presents pedagogical issues in the area of computer networks. Then, the author briefly describes the lab projects. Finally, student evaluations conducted over three years are reported on. The major contributions of this paper are on the design, deployment, and evaluation of the hands-on projects. The idea of using simple local area networks (LANs), as well as the internetworking of many LANs, is invaluable. Some minor glitches exist in the style and the content of the paper, despite its merits. First, some of the pedagogical issues identified in the beginning of the paper (for example, the inconsistency of terms) are irrelevant to the proposed hands-on solution. Second, the tools used for various lab assignments are not described clearly. Third, the student evaluation does not point out one obvious outcome, namely, smaller class size makes this approach more effective; the result on the effectiveness for the class size of 46 students is better than that for the class size of 168 students. Finally, it may be difficult to conduct student evaluations with some teams presenting simple LANs and other teams presenting complicated configurations. In summary, this paper is a valuable resource for teaching computer networking with student labs. In particular, the lab experiments can be used to reinforce the principles of internetworking with transmission control protocols/Internet protocol (TCP/IP). Online Computing Reviews Service

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences
ITiCSE '04: Proceedings of the 9th annual SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
June 2004
296 pages
ISBN:1581138369
DOI:10.1145/1007996
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Publication History

Published: 28 June 2004

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Author Tags

  1. TCP/IP
  2. experimental problem-solving
  3. personal computer networks

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Overall Acceptance Rate 552 of 1,613 submissions, 34%

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Cited By

View all
  • (2023)Tools and Techniques for Teaching and Research in Network Design and SimulationSN Computer Science10.1007/s42979-023-01684-64:3Online publication date: 17-Mar-2023
  • (2014)Remote networking laboratory development2014 11th International Conference on Remote Engineering and Virtual Instrumentation (REV)10.1109/REV.2014.6784191(370-374)Online publication date: Feb-2014
  • (2013)Introducing Network Design to Students via a Dance ActivityProceedings of the 2013 IEEE Fifth International Conference on Technology for Education (t4e 2013)10.1109/T4E.2013.37(123-126)Online publication date: 18-Dec-2013
  • (2012)Making advanced computer science topics more accessible through interactive technologiesInteractive Technology and Smart Education10.1108/174156512112422339:2(89-99)Online publication date: 8-Jun-2012
  • (2009)Research on the Teaching Method for Computer Network CourseProceedings of the 2009 International Forum on Computer Science-Technology and Applications - Volume 0210.1109/IFCSTA.2009.223(414-416)Online publication date: 25-Dec-2009
  • (2008)VDEACM SIGCSE Bulletin10.1145/1597849.138431040:3(138-142)Online publication date: 30-Jun-2008
  • (2008)VDEProceedings of the 13th annual conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education10.1145/1384271.1384310(138-142)Online publication date: 30-Jun-2008
  • (2007)Developing realistic capstone projects in conjunction with industryProceedings of the 8th ACM SIGITE conference on Information technology education10.1145/1324302.1324309(27-32)Online publication date: 18-Oct-2007
  • (2005)A Virtual Network Laboratory for Instruction and ResearchProceedings. IEEE SoutheastCon, 2005.10.1109/SECON.2005.1423320(651-655)Online publication date: 2005
  • (2020)Methods in Teaching Computer NetworksACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/339496320:3(1-35)Online publication date: 16-Jun-2020
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