Analysis, Deployment, and Evaluation of the Use of Network Simulation as a Learning Resource (original) (raw)

Experience on “Networking I” course using simulation software and real devices for practices

South Florida Journal of Development

The use of simulation software tools has demonstrated to be very useful in computer network teaching and learning processes for so long. Many advantages can be enumerated, but the outstanding one is a significant reduction in network devices acquisition cost such as routers, switches, wiring. Moreover, there is a time reduction on conventional physics laboratories launch (start-up). This article describes a study done in a Networking course context. It was organized by the Telecommunication Engineering Faculty at the Salta Catholic University (UCASal) in Argentina. The main study goal was to compare and contrast learning between students using laboratories with simulation software tools and those with real equipment.

Software tools and simulators in the education of engineering of telecommunications

2008

The use of software tools and simulators in the education field has a growing interest in most of universities and educational procedures. Nowadays, in university education new technologies are used to improve and complement the theoretical concepts explained in class. In this paper we are going to present the simulation tools most used in Telecommunication Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. These programmes are also used in other fields such as in the industry and researching. After presenting the main characteristics of each software tool, a questionary study is included to analyze the benefits and drawbacks of each tool from the point of view of the student, its complexity and advantages for educational purposes.

Tools and Techniques for Teaching and Research in Network Design and Simulation

SN Computer Science

Computer networking is taught for some time at universities. A network is a complex mix of applications, communications protocols and link technologies, traffic flows and routing algorithms. Teaching the networking concept, the network design process is a challenging task, requiring designers to balance user performance expectations with costs and capacities. One of the obvious approaches employed to deal with its complexity is through the use of modelling and simulation techniques. This paper examines three best educational tools that can be used in the Computer Networking course at Cardiff Metropolitan University or any University for educational purpose. The paper demonstrates that a successful teaching programme needs to combine a range of teaching tools to achieve its aims. Analysing various aspects of the course provides evaluation of the overall success of the tools. Many network design and simulation tools have been studied. Based on our research and experiment, the best edu...

Teaching fundamentals of telecommunications technology

2010

This article is about the laboratory stands and teaching program of telecommunications technology allowing our third-year students (from Electrical Engineering Department) to know the operation principles of basic telecommunication schemes. Telecommunication plays an increasingly important role in many fields of technology, as a tool to meet specific targets. This situation forces specialists in different fields to acquire the basic knowledge about the functioning, possibilities and limitations of telecommunication. Telecommunication technology is an important part of education of electrical engineering students. Future electrical engineer will have to deal with different data systems, starting with communication systems realized in the workplace and ending up with transferring data to supervisory units in electric power systems. The laboratory of fundamentals of telecommunications technology enables students to realize schemes using virtual and real devices. During first exercises students simulate various systems using LVSIM®-COM and LVSIM®-ACOM programs. Students begin from familiarizing themselves with basic devices, such as: signal generator, oscilloscope. During the last exercise they are using Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK). Then, students become familiar with the real network devices. They create and configure wired and wireless networks, examine the capacity of each connection and analyze the network using sniffer-type programs.

Simulation As A Teaching Tool-Sharing Experience In Teaching Computer Networks Practicals

Teaching computer networking practical can be daunting task especially when teaching a large class of students of around two hundred (200) and using real network devices that are relatively expensive, requiring careful handling. Letting students start experimenting with the networking devices just after receiving theory may be a recipe of disaster. So many things may happen like corrupting, uninstalling, locking of the software and even physical damage of the devices. The resultant is at the end students will not get enough practice and will not be evaluated.

A Laboratory Course For Telecommunications Systems Engineering

2005 Annual Conference Proceedings

An integral part of the curriculum in the recently developed Master of Science in Telecommunications Systems program at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa is a laboratory course. The course is designed to enhance student understanding of fundamental computer networking principles and to expose students to research tools that can be used in carrying out their capstone research projects. Through a series of sequential laboratory modules, students learn to setup and configure simple to complex computer networks and to effectively employ commercial software tools for network design and performance analysis. Near the end of the course, working independently, each student is required to complete a final project that assimilates much of the reinforced and/or newly acquired knowledge and skills. This paper provides a detailed description of the laboratory course and its key project modules.

Using Simulation and Modeling Tools in Teaching Computer Network Courses

2013 International Conference on IT Convergence and Security (ICITCS), 2013

This paper describes the benefit of using modeling and simulation tools to aid educational process in teaching computer network engineers. These techniques motivate students and encourage them to be original and creative. The obtained results are promising to reduce the gap between the education in universities and real work environments. This in turn makes students prepared to face real-world problem during their future real jobs. Packet tracer, GNS2, OPNET, and fat-tree simulator tools are used in this paper.

Discrete event simulation as didactic support to the teaching of telecommunications systems: Applications in digital telephony

Proceedings of the 2011 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC), 2011

The development of telecommunications in Brazil demands increasingly skilled professionals. Professional training in this area is mainly acquired in the courses of technical and technological training. In the teaching of telecommunications, an alternative to the rapid technological progress and the cost of equipment for laboratory practice is the use of didactic simulators. Animation models were developed to represent concepts in digital telephony, specifically in time-division multiplexing, demultiplexing and switching time. Visualization tests were made with multimedia resource for the teacher in the classroom and with personal computers for each student in the computer lab. The models were adequate as an additional tool in teaching telecommunications and as a complement of the laboratory practice in the discipline of telephony. We noticed the potential of discrete simulation software to make animation models for technical and technological education in other subjects in the course of telecommunications.

Teaching telecommunications to electronics technical engineers: an integral course on telecommunication systems

Education, IEEE Transactions on, 2005

This paper describes the rationale and the content of a two-semester four-hour-per-week course titled Telecommunication Systems. The course covers telecommunications in an overall manner, avoiding the segmentation of the telecommunications subject and introducing the student to the theoretical and engineering aspects of telecommunications in the shortest time possible. The course consists of six consecutive modules (basics, signals and systems, transmission techniques, telecommunication links, networks and services, and market issues). Besides offering background telecommunication knowledge and providing the student with a clear and well-structured overview of the overall telecommunications subject, it aims at introducing the student to the basic methodology for treating practical engineering problems.