New Initiative Way Of Teaching Data Communications And Networking Class Online With Networking Virtual Labs ABSTRACT

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1 New Initiative Way Of Teaching Data Communications And Networking Class Online With Networking Virtual Labs Ronald Mashburn West Texas A & M University 2402 N. 3 rd Ave Canyon, Texas (806) rmashburn@wtamu.edu ABSTRACT When faced with a decision to teach courses online, the challenge came to how to keep the hands-on experience labs that are required for data communications and networking classes using the online delivery system. The question looms as to what the purpose of each lab is. In addition, the technology to put the labs online is expensive and the effort required to set up the lab, define its pedagogical focus and prepare task that help achieve this focus can be a daunting task. However, modern technology in the form of simulated software that incorporate state of the art networking technologies into its foundation provide an opportunity for students to learn by doing. This paper presents the results of such creation of a networking virtual lab online including its setup, discusses the obstacles faced during its implementation and how they were overcome, and provides a roadmap for educators interested in adding a similar lab to their school. The lab is intended for students majoring in Computer Information Systems who must be prepared to administrator and set up the implementation of networks and servers. INTRODUCTION In the Computer Information Systems curriculum, the networking course stands out by virtue of its requirements. The course requires that a lot of difficult subject matter be delivered to the students. I believe that some of this material needs to be delivered via hands-on experience active learning activities. Active learning and hands-on experience in a networking course is typically done by examining a network and configuring servers that run on that network. Unfortunately, network experimentation requires access to equipment that students don t have at home. Having the ability to examine a network from home thru some remote access would be possible but quite expensive for the institution to setup and maintain. Ability to allow general purpose experimentation to analyze network data at home seems to be quite a large investment in equipment and effort. There are alternative methods that could be used to teach networking concepts and analysis by using simulation programs a platform that delivers visual hands on view of networking task. I want to introduce my students to a networking lab whose focuses is on the important issue of what a network administrator really does. Activities conducted by students in the lab helps them learn how to understand the needs of the network as to how to configure and maintain it. There are several obstacles to overcome in order to create an effective networking lab. The first is cost. Because the technology is not cheap, acquiring the necessary hardware and software and maintaining it may prove to be prohibitive for some institutions. Another obstacle is the support required to prepare the labs. The labs will affect the 531

2 software and hardware needed in the lab and they must be selected so that they cover the subject adequately. They must also be pre-tested so that the time required to perform them is manageable and that any unanticipated problems the students might have as they work through them can be identified and dealt with prior to the students beginning work. Lab material for this type of setting covering the important topics for students are few so additional effort may be required in creating these labs from scratch. The currency of the technology is yet another obstacle that affects decisions regarding the lab. That is, is the hardware and software that we utilize current? How current does it need to be? Does it have the blend of functionality to be able to demonstrate the concepts covered in the classroom? Although these issues can be significant impediments, they need not be prohibitive, and in fact they can be overcome with some effort. The results can be an effective networking lab that enhances both technical and managerial topics. I want to address these issues and describe a lab setting for networking for Computer Information Systems students. I will open with a description of the online classroom environment that is used for delivery of course material. The issues of lab needs are addressed within this discussion, because simulation software will be used the cost and support is less. The lab activities are discussed and shown how they support the dual objective of learning the technology and relating the technology to the needs of industry. Finally, the results of the lab are used as feedback to students and to instructors as indication of student progress. THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOM West Texas A & M University (WT) has an online content management system called WTonline. WTOnline 1 is the course management system that was developed to provide WTAMU students and faculty with a high quality distance education delivery system. WTOnline was developed in-house by the WTOnline Programmers using open-source code. The first WTOnline class was offered in the summer of 1997 and had 24 students. Since then the numbers of classes and students has expanded to 152 courses and 5,083 students in this spring semester 2005 while the WTOnline interface and tools have continued to evolve in response to faculty and student needs. WTOnline s user-friendly interface contains a variety of electronic learning tools that enable students and faculty to collaborate and develop knowledge in a learner-centered environment. Some of the tools that make WTOnline effective are the electronic bulletin board, online chat rooms, a file repository, electronic exams, an electronic grade book, an internal mail system and a built-in web page editor. Students logging into WTOnline are able to access their courses as well as information about student services. WTOnline training classes are held throughout the year for faculty who wish to develop online classes. WTonline will be used to deliver the classroom concepts for the Data Communications and Networking course. WTonline has the management tools that compare with other online delivery tools such as WebCT and BlackBoard. As it is practiced today, WTOnline focuses on developing and supplying education materials via the Internet in the form of books, instructional materials, visuals, explanations, and other forms of traditional and modified online materials. Course content is continually updated to increase the effectiveness of learning. Interactive group discussions, collaborative class projects, and on-line help are being offered to give the student the feeling of being in a traditional classroom. The teacher assigns work in much the same manner as assignments are given in an on-campus to gauge the extent of learning by the student. Fundamentally, the method of teaching adopted in virtual education can be classified as synchronous or asynchronous in that each approach offers a unique advantage. Synchronous teaching contributes to collaborative learning through joint problem solving scenarios and can be used in threaded discussion through active participation of the guide or teacher. Asynchronous teaching frees students from the 532

3 anxieties associated with group learning and permits self-paced study through repetition. Both modes are popular among the students and universities and are used extensively. This realization that distance education needs no on-campus facilities gave rise to virtual classrooms. The term virtual indicates that the university may or may not have an existing campus course. Thus, virtual classroom have emerged as an equally acceptable alternative to conventional courses. If students and teachers maintain proper interactivity, the concept of the virtual classroom is likely to be successful. The tools for successful delivery of concepts theory for data communications and networking are there. It has only been identified that online classes (as well as campus classes) need to engage students in the learning process. The hands on experience with networking labs delivered via internet will engage students in the learning. CREATING A VIRTUAL NETWORKING LAB Despite the tremendous success in the development of distance learning and its anticipated future, one major challenge remains that leaves some specialized fields of education far from being ready to go online. In engineering programs where laboratory sessions are indispensable, students would not be able to complete degree requirements without attending real campuses that provide real lab facilities. The primary solution to this challenge has been software simulations. While the comprehension of study materials can only be a question of time for any student, the student can learn through easy-to-use hands on experiences. However, the problem is not so easily amenable when the student understands of the networking concepts through the required technology and material is the principal goal. Many institutions have recognized the challenge of offering lab courses over the Internet and have spent significant efforts to overcome this weakness. I have explored different methods to place laboratories online. Among these schemes, Simulation Software has been identified as the best alternative, because it is highly portable and cost effective. Simulation Software is designed for the purpose of bringing the laboratory facilities to the door of the student. Simulation software is seen as one way of imparting practical knowledge by allowing the student to conduct experiments on the computer simulating all the steps, which a student would take in real laboratory of computer servers while performing the configuration steps. Constant improvement is made in the software to make the whole experience nearer to reality. The simulation needs to visually look and operate as near to the real operations to be considered for use in the virtual networking lab. I first looked at Boson NetSim. Boson NetSim is a simulation tool in training CCNA and CCNP candidates. The Boson Virtual Packet Technology used in the Boson NetSim is offered in a number of different ways depending on your budget and certification needs. I liked the network simulations in this product for my data communication course. It had configuration of routers, hubs, switches and gateways. All simulation was done at the prompt level. It allowed using netstat, ping etc. commands to test the configurations. It had an easy way of constructed labs and configuring activities for students to use. All labs and configurations were based around the Cisco equipment and certifications. The next part of networking course needed implementation and configuration of servers. I noticed on the Microsoft web site the TechNet Virtual Lab 2. This was software simulation of certain task to untaken for management and configuration of Microsoft Servers. The types of labs were of the upper level material and were directed towards the Microsoft Certifications. The price was right, free with limited time use. The software had no student management material. It was just for training individuals to take the certification test. This got me looking for other like material with similar functionality with more varsities. I looked at TestOut. 3 TestOut has involved the efforts of developing simulation software for certification testing with student-friendly software, which is designed to guide a student step by step allowing more time and explaining the results. Unlike the Microsoft TechNet Virtual Lab this software would track student s progress and give performance and knowledge level test. The first version that I was introduced to was delivered on CD and was mainly for students to use that were seeking certifications. It did come in a wide variety of areas including Linux, Security, and Windows. The software was quite expensive for students to purchase and there wasn t an economical site 533

4 license. I then discovered that TestOut had ties to Thompson Publishing 4. I found this software available from Course Technology 5, a division of Thomson Publishing, in a product referred to as LabSims. This software was more in the pricing of course material used by the college. The software did require individual ownership and/or installed on individual computers on the school network. I needed something that could be delivered web based. A similar working product offered by Course Technology named SAM Academy 6 which has met these requirements. The first version of this course content deliver system has the Microsoft certification requirements around the Windows 2003 server. Considerations of expanding this to Networking +, Linux and maybe even Netware are being explored. I ve used this virtual lab material for my introduction networking course delivered online using the WTonline. It has been well received due the ability for students to still get hands-on experiences without going to on campus labs or owning their own equipment. I like the student management tools that this system gives me. I can monitor student s progress during training. I can construct both knowledge based task as well as task based exams all graded by the system. REMOTE LABS: ANOTHER SOLUTION A real laboratory experiment etches firmly on the mind of the student for which there can be no substitute. The mistakes that a student makes during any experiment helps that individual to more clearly understand the concepts behind the experiment. These mistakes become valuable lessons that are unlikely to be lost with the passing of time. Involvement of body and mind in a real experiment yields rich dividends of knowledge gained by the experimenter. Teaching a student all through the course by simulation studies can, perhaps, make the student meet the requirements of the course and enable him to complete it satisfactorily from the point of view of the university that offers the course. At the conclusion of the course, however, we only have a student who is completely incompetent in repeating the experiment in a real laboratory. Regardless of the diligence that goes into to software design, the element of reality will be missing, this will causes the student to become a spectator, not a learner. In the field of practical studies, there can be no prominent position for simulated environments. The knowledge so gained in no way compares to the knowledge gained in real experimental studies. REMOTE LABS ON-LINE The use of a host computer that can me login to with terminal services so that you can be working with a real computer not with software simulation because students are still dealing with real working computer and still have the freedom to make mistakes and do experimentation. The student s computer is simply used to make the connection to the host computer and doesn t take much resources of the student s computer. Once this is done, the remaining part of the project is to design to make connection via the Internet. CONCLUSION Distance education for courses where there are no experiments involved like mathematics or history might do a justice to the needs of the student at a distance. However the scenario is entirely different when hands-on experiences form an integral part of the course content. While simulation packages have a role to play in distance education there is a need for some real and practical laboratory knowledge. Hence, this innovative concept of having a virtual hands on lab could be the beginning to a new era in the history of on-line education. 534

5 REFERENCES Blackboard Inc., (n.d.). Blackboard content management. Retrieved Nov. 05, 2005, from Welcome to Blackboard Web site: Boson Software LLC, (n.d.). Netsim. Retrieved Nov. 05, 2005, from Boson NetSim Web site: 2. Microsoft, TechNet, Course Technology, (n.d.). Corporation Website. Retrieved Nov. 05, 2005, from Learning the Way to IT Publishing Web site: Course Technology, (n.d.). LabSim. Retrieved Nov. 05, 2005, from LabSim Web site: Course Technology, SAM (Skill Assessment Manager) software, samcentral.course.com, Course Technology, (n.d.). SamCentral. Retrieved Nov. 05, 2005, from Sam Networking Academy Web site: samcentral.course.com. LabMentors, (n.d.). Labmentors. Retrieved Nov. 05, 2005, from LabMentors Welcome Web site: Microsoft Corp., (n.d.). Virtual PC. Retrieved Nov. 05, 2005, from Virtual PC 2004 Web site: Microsoft Corp, (n.d.). Virtual server. Retrieved Nov. 05, 2005, from Virtual Server 2005 R2 Web site: TestOut Corporation, (n.d.). Networking + training. Retrieved Nov. 05, 2005, from MCSE, MCSA, CCNA, CNA, Security+, Network+, A+, Linux+, C#.NET Certification Training: TestOut Corp Web site: Thomson Learning, (n.d.). Thomson. Retrieved Nov. 05, 2005, from Thomson Home Web site: WebCT, (n.d.). Webct. Retrieved Nov. 05, 2005, from WebCT.com Web site: West Texas A & M University, (n.d.). online courses. Retrieved Nov. 05, 2005, from WTOnline Web site: wtonline.wtamu.edu. 1 For more information access the main page for WTOnline at: