DEVELOPMENT OF A DIGITAL FORENSICS LAB TO SUPPORT ACTIVE LEARNING

The curriculum of a program in Information technology must be current and competitive to remain relevant and valuable. The authors of this paper explored the research related to the rationale to supplement higher education theoretical knowledge of digital forensics with opportunities for students in technology related programs to gains some hands-on experience. The paper also used the widely accepted learning theories of active learning and constructivism to assist in the decision to build a hands-on digital forensics lab environment. An explanation of the processes, opportunities, challenges, and outcomes are available in the Lab design section. Finally the paper concludes with implications for students and recommendations for other higher education institutions that are considering enhancing theory with practical hands-on learning opportunities

A pedagogical rich interactive on-line learning platform for Network Technology students in Thailand

Internetworking enables communication between networks and forms the foundation of the Internet. Internetworking teaching is typically conducted in a traditional face-to-face classroom, but nowadays it can be conducted online. Online learning environments have many advantages that include allowing remote students’ access to not only curriculum but also lecturers and other enrolled students. However, unlike some other disciplines, teaching internetworking courses online is problematic because students need to be given access to internetworking equipment. It is technically possible to provide remote access to online students in order to compensate for the lack of direct physical equipment access, which normally is offered to traditional students. However the standard method of remote access only provides students with a limited text based method of configuring internetworking devices. Internetwork simulators are of value but they cannot provide students experience working with real devices. A pedagogically rich, interactive on-line learning environment using low-cost, assistive multi-media based technologies was therefore developed. This paper presents details of the platform and results of its deployment from an Australian university to a small group of students in Thailand.

On assessment and evaluation of teaching computer networks to electrical engineering students by the aid of a lab course

In the era of the Internet-of-everything, learning the principles of data communications and networking is inevitable for many electrical engineering disciplines. The paper addresses the effectiveness of teaching the fundamentals of data communications and networking using a dedicated lab course as a co-requisite to a classic lecture-based course. In the introduced lab course, the students are asked to do a variety of tasks using real hardware and a network simulator. The paper introduces quantitative measures of an outcomebased learning approach applied to both courses. Based on students’ achievements, the role of the lab course in the attainment of both the course learning outcomes and the electrical engineering program learning outcomes is measured in comparison with the case where the lab course is not taken. Our findings reveal a general enhancement trend in attaining the course and program learning outcomes with a significant increase in the program outcome related to solving engineering problems. Also, a slight increase is noticed in meeting the lab course outcomes for the students who attended the lab with the course in the same semester, which indicates an improvement in gaining practical knowledgePeer Reviewe

LOW-COST, HOLISTIC APPROACH TO ACTIVE LEARNING IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

ABSTRACT The curriculum of a program in information technolog

Use of a Remote Network Lab as an Aid to Support Teaching Computer

This article presents the use of a remote network lab as an aid to support teaching computer networks. The purpose is to enable students complement their theoretical learning with practical experimentation in networking devices which can be carried out synchronously to theoretical classes and from any room with internet access. Unlike the current solutions based on mainly software emulation and simulation, the students interact remotely with commercial network devices, such as cutting-edge and widely used switches, routers and firewalls at the workplace.This proposal reduces the expenses or installing new laboratories in all the campuses where lectures are held and also moving the students to laboratories that are not located near their classrooms. The use of the remote laboratory has been compared with the use of traditional network labs with senior students majoring information technology engineering. The preliminary results show a great similarity in both uses demonstrating that a remote network lab is an effective aid for teaching computer networks.

An investigation into internetworking education

Computer network technology and the Internet grew rapidly in recent years. Their growth created a large demand from industry for the development of IT and internetworking professionals. These professionals need to be equipped with both technical hands-on skills and non-technical or soft skills. In order to supply new professionals to the industry, educational institutions need to address these skills training in their curricula. Technical hands-on skills in internetworking education can be emphasised through the practical use of equipment in classrooms. The provision of the networking equipment to the internetworking students is a challenge. Particularly, university students in developing countries may find that this equipment is ineffectively provided by their teaching institutions, because of the expense. Modern online learning tools, such as remote access laboratories, may be used to address this need. However, the provision of such tools will also need to concentrate upon the pedagogical values. In addition, traditional remote access laboratories provide only text-based access, which was originally designed for highly professional use. Novice students may struggle with learning in these virtual environments, especially when the physical equipment is not available locally. Furthermore, non-technical skills or soft skills are social skills that should not be neglected in graduates’ future workplaces. A traditional model of developing soft skills that was used in face-to-face classroom may not be as effective when applied in an online classroom. Research on students’ opinions about their soft skills development during attending internetworking courses is needed to be conducted. In order to address both research needs, this study was focused on two research aspects related to online learning in internetworking education. The first focus was on research into providing a suitable technical learning environment to distance internetworking students. The second focus was on the students’ opinions about their non-technical skills development. To provide a close equivalent of a face-to-face internetworking learning environment to remote students in Thailand, a transformation of a local internetworking laboratory was conducted. A new multimedia online learning environment integrated pedagogically-rich tools such as state model diagrams (SMDs), a real-time video streaming of equipment and a voice communication tool. Mixed research data were gathered from remote online and local student participants. The remote online participants were invited to use the new learning environment developed in this study. Qualitative research data were collected from twelve remote online students after their trial usage. Concurrently, another set of research data were collected from local students asking their opinion about the development of soft skills in the internetworking course. There were sixty six participants in this second set of research data. Although the research data was limited, restricting the researcher’s ability to generalise, it can be concluded that the provision of multimedia tools in an online internetworking learning environment was beneficial to distant students. The superiority of the traditional physical internetworking laboratory cannot be overlooked; however, the remote laboratory could be used as a supplementary self-practice tool. A concrete learning element such as a real-time video stream and diagrams simplified students learning processes in the virtual environment. Faster communication with the remote instructors and the equipment are also critical factors for a remote access network to be successful. However, unlike the face-to-face laboratory, the future challenge of the online laboratory will creating materials which will encourage students to build soft skills in their laboratory sessions

and

This article presents the use of a remote network lab as an aid to support teaching computer networks. The purpose is to enable students complement their theoretical learning with practical experimentation in networking devices which can be carried out synchronously to theoretical classes and from any room with internet access. Unlike the current solutions based on mainly software emulation and simulation, the students interact remotely with commercial network devices, such as cutting-edge and widely used switches, routers and firewalls at the workplace.This proposal reduces the expenses or installing new laboratories in all the campuses where lectures are held and also moving the students to laboratories that are not located near their classrooms. The use of the remote laboratory has been compared with the use of traditional network labs with senior students majoring information technology engineering. The preliminary results show a great similarity in both uses demonstrating that a remote network lab is an effective aid for teaching computer networks.