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AC 2012-3964: IMPROVING PROJECT-BASED LEARNING VIA REMOTEOPNET-BASED LAB SEQUENCE IN UNDERGRADUATE COMPUTERNETWORKING CURRICULUM

Dr. Jianyu Dong, California State University, Los Angeles

Jianyu Dong is a professor in electrical and computer engineering at CSULA. Her area of expertise isvideo compression/communication, multimedia networks, QoS, etc. As the PI of the NSF CCLI Projectentitled ”Enhancing undergraduate computer networking curriculum using remote project-based learn-ing,” she works closely with colleagues from computer science to redesign the network curriculum tointegrate project-based and inquiry-based learning.

Dr. Huiping Guo, California State University, Los Angeles

Huiping Guo is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at CaliforniaState University, Los Angeles. Her research interest includes information security, multimedia commu-nications, and databases. She has published a number of papers in prestigious journals and conferences,which lead to two U.S. patents. Guo is very active in her research fields and has been invited to reviewpapers for more than 20 journals and conferences.

c©American Society for Engineering Education, 2012

Improving Project-based Learning via Remote OPNET-based Lab

Sequence in Undergraduate Computer Networking Curriculum

Abstract

This paper presents the assessment results and findings of the National Science Foundation

(NSF) sponsored CCLI project, entitled “Enhance Computer Network Curriculum using

Collaborative Project-based Learning (CPBL).” During the first funding year, a cyber-

infrastructure to enable remote project-based learning was established and a series of in-class and

after-class projects using OPNET have been developed and implemented in CS470 and EE440,

which were taught in Winter and Spring 2011 respectively. The content of CS470 and EE440

were also streamlined to cover the protocols and design issues of the entire network architect

with minimum overlaps. To measure the impact of the course revision on student learning

outcomes and to ensure the smooth implementation of CPBL, comprehensive evaluation using

both direct and indirect assessment instruments was conducted. The assessment was

collaboratively performed by the PIs and our external evaluator who is an expert from the

College of Education. In this paper, both quantitative and qualitative assessment results will be

presented and the collected data will be analyzed to show how well CPBL worked to enhance the

student learning on various topics in computer networking. In addition, the lessons learned

through the first year experience and the unique challenges revealed through assessment will be

discussed. Through focus group conducted in Winter 2011, we collected a number of

recommendations on how to improve the implementation of class projects and how to better

integrate project-based learning and inquiry-based learning into a tight teaching schedule. Based

on the assessment results and student recommendation, a plan has been devised to adjust the

current teaching strategy and improve the effectiveness of online CPBL.

Introduction

In Fall 2010, California State University Los Angeles received a CCLI grant from NSF to

explore a good solution to incorporate collaborative project-based and inquiry-based learning in

undergraduate computer networking curriculum. The project goals include: 1) Establish a cyber-

infrastructure to enable remote learning which significantly improves the learning efficiency of

students on a commuter campus; 2) Foster students’ hands-on design and implementation skills

in the networking field; 3) Improve teaching and learning efficiency by integrating project-based

and inquiry-based learning pedagogy. During the first year of the project, a series of in-class and

after-class projects using OPNET have been developed and implemented in CS470 and EE440,

which were taught in Winter and Spring 2011 respectively. The content of CS470 and EE440

were streamlined to cover the protocols and design issues of the entire network architect with

minimum overlaps. The details of our first year project activity can be found in [1]. Through the

first year effort, we are exploring for sustainable ways to promote interest in computer

networking fields among a diverse student body and to enhance the students’ hands-on design

and problem-solving skills.

Project-based Learning (PBL) pedagogy has been widely accepted by many educators in

engineering fields [2-6]. However, the effectiveness of PBL is highly dependent on

implementation. For a commuter campus like CSULA with a large percentage of working

students, how to implement PBL effectively presents a significant challenge. One successful

effort to address this challenge is the Collaborative Project Based Learning model (CPBL),

which was developed by the PI through the support of HP project since 2005 [7-9]. The key

components of CBPL include peer collaboration, small in-class projects that build up students’

design skills progressively, and immediate feedback from instructors. Our CCLI project

extended the previous CPBL model beyond the classroom setting, and allowed the students to

apply their knowledge and skills gained from small-scope in class projects to solve more

complex problems through remote labs after class.

To quantify the impact of the collaborative project-based learning (via OPNET-based lab

sequence) on student outcomes, comprehensive evaluation using both direct and indirect

assessment instruments was conducted. The assessment was collaboratively performed by the PIs

and our external evaluator who is an expert from the College of Education. The evaluation was

based on class observation, comparison study of student performance, pre and post student

surveys, as well as focus groups. While the overall assessment findings are positive, there still

exist some unique challenges related to remote project-based learning. This paper presents and

analyzes both quantitative and qualitative assessment results, shares the lessons learned through

the project assessment and describes how we will continuously improve the implementation of

remote collaborative project-based learning using OPNET-based labs. In addition, we will

describe solutions to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of online CPBL.

The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the assessment instrument, the collected

data and data analysis results. The lessons learned through project evaluation are described in

Section 3. Section 4 introduces the proposed changes to make online CPBL more effective as

well as the modification made to the two networking courses, CS470 and EE440, and Section 5

concludes the paper.

Project Assessment and Data Analysis

To ensure the project activities meet the proposed objectives, the PIs and the external evaluator

worked closely from the very beginning to conduct both formative and summative assessment.

Table 1 lists the assessment instruments used for project evaluation.

Table 1. List of major assessment instrument.

Assessment Instrument Type of Data Frequency

Pre and post surveys (conducted at the

begin and the end of the quarter)

Quantitative data with qualitative explanation Once per quarter

Online Project Survey Quantitative and qualitative data Once per quarter

Focus Group led by external evaluator Qualitative data Once per quarter

Class observation Qualitative data On-going

1) Pre and Post Survey Results

Pre and post surveys are a widely used approach to measure the change of the students’

knowledge, skills, and attitudes [9]. Pre-survey is conducted at the beginning of the quarter, and

students rank their own knowledge and skills before learning the subject; post-survey is

conducted at the end of the quarter to collect the students’ self-evaluation of their knowledge and

skills after learning. The comparison between the pre and post survey results can be used to

analyze the teaching and learning effectiveness on various topics covered in class. In our project,

pre and post survey is an important method to help us evaluate if the project-based learning

enhanced student learning or not.

Some preliminary results (result of pre-survey for CS470 only) were published in our previous

ASEE paper [1]. Here more comprehensive data (for both EE440 and CS470) will be presented,

which allow us to see the effectiveness of CPBL clearly. The sets of knowledge measured by pre

and post survey for CS470 and EE440 are listed in Table 2. The knowledge outcomes addressed

by OPNET projects are labeled with *.

Table 2. Knowledge sets evaluated via pre and post surveys in CS470 and EE440.

Knowledge Outcomes in CS470 Knowledge Outcomes in EE440 Knowledge of network design process Knowledge of network design process Knowledge of network simulation* Knowledge of network simulation* Knowledge of network performance analysis* Knowledge of network performance analysis* Knowledge of layered network architecture

Knowledge of data communication model

Knowledge of network topology (bus, star, etc.) Knowledge of layered network architecture

(OSI and TCP/IP model)

Knowledge of IP addressing and subnetting Knowledge of various data encoding

technologies (NRI, Manchester coding)

Knowledge of Internet routing Knowledge of network topology (bus, star,

etc.)*

Knowledge of ARQ and TCP error control* Knowledge of ARQ*

Knowledge of TCP flow control and congestion

control*

Knowledge of Ethernet.

Knowledge of DNS, SMTP Knowledge of how to build and extent a Local

Area Network using bridge

Knowledge of HTTP and FTP Knowledge of CSMA/CD*

Knowledge of OPNET Software* Knowledge of OPNET Software*

Figure 1 shows the results of the pre and post survey to indicate the knowledge growth. In the

survey, students ranked their knowledge and skills using the sets listed in Table 2 (1- “None”, 2-

“poor”, 3- “Fair”, 4- “Good”, 5-“Excellent”). The pre-survey result is compared to the post

survey results to study the impact of the implementation of in-class and after-class projects.

Although all knowledge outcomes received higher scores in post survey, the biggest increments

of the rating occur on the following outcomes:

• Knowledge of ARQ (in CS470)

• Knowledge of TCP flow control and congestion control (in CS470)

• Knowledge of various data encoding technologies (NRI, Manchester coding) (in EE440)

• Knowledge of CSMA/CD (in EE440)

• Knowledge of OPNET Software (in both EE440 and CS470)

In the above knowledge outcomes, majority (4 out of 5) are directly associated with the OPNET

projects.

Figure 1. Pre and post survey results

Similarly, the pre and post survey also measured the skill growth in CS470 and EE440.

lists the specific skill outcomes (which are the same for both courses).

Table 3. Skill sets evaluated via pre and post surveys in CS470 and EE440.

Skill Outcomes in EE440 and CS470

General Skills

1. General computing skills

2. Communication skills

0

1

2

3

4

5

1 2 3

Ra

tin

g

Knowledge Outcome Index

EE440 Pre and Post Survey Result

(a)

(b) survey results for knowledge outcomes: a) for CS470, Winter 2011

EE440, Spring 2011.

Similarly, the pre and post survey also measured the skill growth in CS470 and EE440.

lists the specific skill outcomes (which are the same for both courses).

Table 3. Skill sets evaluated via pre and post surveys in CS470 and EE440.

Skill Outcomes in EE440 and CS470

Specific Skills related to OPNET projects

6.Ability to design and implement a network

scenario in OPNET

7.Ability to analyze the network performance using

simulations

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Knowledge Outcome Index


Pre-survey

Post-survey

for CS470, Winter 2011; b) for

Similarly, the pre and post survey also measured the skill growth in CS470 and EE440. Table 3

Specific Skills related to OPNET projects 6.Ability to design and implement a network

7.Ability to analyze the network performance using

survey

survey

3. Math skills

4. General design skills

5. Computer network design skills

The comparison of the pre and post survey results on skill outcomes in CS470 and EE440 is

depicted in Figure 2. From the data, we

growth in both courses are:

• Ability to design and implement a network scenario in OPNET

• Ability to analyze the network performance using simulations

• Ability to choose an optimal design based on realis

• Ability to use OPNET to explore and learn new network protocols

Figure 2. Pre and post survey results

0

1

2

3

4

5

1 2

Ra

tin

g


8.Ability to choose an optimal design based on

realistic constraint

9.Ability to use OPNET to explore and learn new

network protocols Computer network design skills


depicted in Figure 2. From the data, we can see that the skill outcomes that showed the biggest

Ability to design and implement a network scenario in OPNET

Ability to analyze the network performance using simulations

Ability to choose an optimal design based on realistic constraint

Ability to use OPNET to explore and learn new network protocols

(a)

(b) survey results for skill outcomes: a) for CS470, Winter 2011

Spring 2011.

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Skill Outcome Index


Pre-survey

Post-survey

8.Ability to choose an optimal design based on

9.Ability to use OPNET to explore and learn new


can see that the skill outcomes that showed the biggest

for CS470, Winter 2011; b) for EE440,

survey

According to the assessment results, students repo

and skill outcomes that were directly related to the in

positive indication that using remote CPBL has promising effect to deepen the students’

understanding in correspondent course material and to enhance the students’ skills in network

design and protocol analysis. Nevertheless, to further study the impact of the teaching strategy

and to reach convincing conclusion, more data need to be collected in the future.

2) Online Project Survey Results

To ensure smooth implementation of remote CPBL, students were asked to fill in online surveys

to evaluate their project experience periodically. Figure 3 showed the collected survey results

from CS470 class taught in Winter

the first time to implement the remote OPNET labs using blade server

on their remote project experience

agreed that the remote project experience helped them to learn how to use OPNET, a widely

used network simulator to do performance analysis and optimize the network design

majority of the students agreed or strongly agreed that the project experience hel

understand network design and simulation procedure better.

(a) “I think the instruction of the remote project is easy to follow.”

(b) “The project helped me to learn the course subject.”

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

I don’t

know

0.00%

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

I don’t

know

According to the assessment results, students reported much more confidence in the knowledge

directly related to the in-class and after-class projects.


ent course material and to enhance the students’ skills in network

Nevertheless, to further study the impact of the teaching strategy


Survey Results



from CS470 class taught in Winter 2011.From Figure 3, we can see that although Winter 2011 is

the first time to implement the remote OPNET labs using blade servers, the students’ feedbacks

on their remote project experience were positive in general. Most of them agreed or strongly

that the remote project experience helped them to learn how to use OPNET, a widely

used network simulator to do performance analysis and optimize the network design

majority of the students agreed or strongly agreed that the project experience hel

understand network design and simulation procedure better.

“I think the instruction of the remote project is easy to follow.”

“The project helped me to learn the course subject.”

I don’t

know

Strongly

Disagree

Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly

Agree

0.00%4.76%

0.00%

19.05%

57.14%

19.05%

I don’t

know

Strongly

Disagree


Agree

4.76%

14.29%

9.52%

23.81%

33.33%

14.29%

rted much more confidence in the knowledge

class projects. This is a


ent course material and to enhance the students’ skills in network

Nevertheless, to further study the impact of the teaching strategy




lthough Winter 2011 is

, the students’ feedbacks

were positive in general. Most of them agreed or strongly

that the remote project experience helped them to learn how to use OPNET, a widely

used network simulator to do performance analysis and optimize the network design. Also, a

majority of the students agreed or strongly agreed that the project experience helped them to

“I think the instruction of the remote project is easy to follow.”

“The project helped me to learn the course subject.”

(c) “The project helped me to use OPNET to do

(d) “The project helped me to understand the network design and simulation procedure.”

Figure 3. Student survey results of

learning using hp blade server in CS470 (

The online survey also came with open

students about their experience. Most of the students’ feedback were favorite, which indicated

their satisfaction and excitement of the opportunity

server. Here lists some inputs from the EE440 online project survey:

• “I had a great experience with remote projects using blade server. It just made everything

so convenient for me.”

• “The project is ideal, it really comes along with the course material, and made the

network design more practical.”

• “Really liked it. Can we have more lab work?”

• “I had a good experience with the projects I completed, therefore I don't have any

suggestions for improving the pro

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

I don’t

know

0.00%

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

0.45

I don’t

know

4.76%

“The project helped me to use OPNET to do network simulation”

“The project helped me to understand the network design and simulation procedure.”

online project survey that are associated with the remote project

learning using hp blade server in CS470 (winter, 2011)

The online survey also came with open-ended problems to collect qualitative feedback from the


their satisfaction and excitement of the opportunity to do projects remotely through the blade

some inputs from the EE440 online project survey:

“I had a great experience with remote projects using blade server. It just made everything

it really comes along with the course material, and made the

network design more practical.”

“Really liked it. Can we have more lab work?”

“I had a good experience with the projects I completed, therefore I don't have any

suggestions for improving the project experience.”

I don’t

know

Strongly

Disagree


Agree

0.00% 0.00%

14.29%9.52%

52.38%

23.81%

I don’t

know

Strongly

Disagree


Agree

4.76% 4.76%

19.05%

14.29%

42.86%

14.29%

network simulation”

“The project helped me to understand the network design and simulation procedure.”

the remote project-based

ended problems to collect qualitative feedback from the


remotely through the blade

“I had a great experience with remote projects using blade server. It just made everything

it really comes along with the course material, and made the

“I had a good experience with the projects I completed, therefore I don't have any

23.81%

Strongly

14.29%

The online survey results also helped to identify areas of improvement in the implementation of

remote project-based learning. For example, although many students felt that the project

handouts provided sufficient details to guide them through the project, quite a few students

would like to have better support especially when they tried to debug their network simulations.

Also, during Winter 2011 which was the first quarter to implement remote CPBL, many students

reported access problems to the blade server. Most of the access problems were caused by

improper logout of their peer users of the blade, nevertheless, these access problems adversely

affected the effectiveness of CPBL. The project online survey allowed the PIs to discover

potential problems in a timely fashion and consequently, to take actions to improve the

implementation.

3) Focus Group Discussion

In addition to the surveys, focus groups were hosted by the external evaluator every quarter to

collect students’ feedback and suggestions. In focus group held in Winter 2011, participating

students answered a number of open-ended problems related to the course content, the project

topics, their project experience, and their learning outcomes. Qualitative data from the focus

group conducted in Winter 2011 highlighted the established cyber-learning structure was well

received and the convenience of remote CPBL was appreciated. Majority (95.2%) of the

participating students agreed that the blade server offered great convenience to allow them to

work on the project remotely. And 100% of students agreed that their interest in computer

networking fields was enhanced after doing the OPNET based projects. Students also found the

opportunities to conduct network simulation via class projects useful in learning related course

concepts.

During the focus group discussion, the students also reported problems and provided suggestions

for future improvement. Some problems are related to the slow connection and the “blocking”

issues in using the blade server (which reinforced the online project survey findings). The

“blocking” issue occurred when the previous user did not logout a blade properly and

consequently prevented other users from connecting to the same blade. Clearly, the access

problems need to be addressed to improve the implementation of online projects. Based on the

student feedback, the PIs have adopted a new blade management policy to solve the blocking

problems, and the details will be described in the next section. In addition to the technical

problems reported by the students, here summarizes their suggestions on how to improve

instruction and project experience:

1) Time issues: more time to work on the project is preferred; more time to teach details of

OPNET is preferred.

2) Students would like more frequent and direct feedback on their performance of OPNET

projects;

In summary, the student findings on our initial implementation of remote online projects are

positive in general. Through the hands-on projects, they not only gained better understanding of

the course material and the network simulation process, but also developed stronger interest in

the computer networking field. Their inputs about the cyber-infrastructure and project related

instruction will be used to improve our future implementation.

Lessons Learned through Project Evaluation

Year 2011 saw the development of the cyber-infrastructure and the first time implementation of

remote CPBL in CS470 and EE440. Overall, the concept of remote collaborative project-based

learning was well received by our students. The assessment results confirmed that CPBL helped

to achieve the class objectives while building up the students’ ability to do network design and

performance analysis. The instructors of CS470 and EE440 also noticed that the students were

more engaged in the learning process when working on the in-class projects. In this section, we

would like to share the lessons learned through the first year implementation with our colleagues,

and hope our experience is helpful to those who also want to adopt remote project-based learning

in their curriculum.

According to our implementation experience in the past year, the following are useful teaching

strategies and educational practice to enhance the learning effectiveness of a diverse student

body on a commuter campus:

1) The established cyber-learning infrastructure provided remote access to allow the

students work on OPNET projects collaboratively from anywhere; this feature is well

liked by the students.

2) From the pre and post surveys as well as the performance observation, the

implementation of project-based and inquiry-based learning in networking class has

generated a positive impact on students’ mastery of related course concepts;

3) To make the project-based learning effective, the contents of the projects should

supplement the lectures, and the lectures should be revised to well prepare the students

for the hands-on projects. The successful implementation of CPBL cannot be achieved by

simply adding projects to the class. The entire curriculum has to be carefully designed to

streamline the direct learning (from lectures) and the project-based learning (from hands-

on practice).

4) It is important to provide timely help and feedback to ensure that the students gain

knowledge and skills as expected from their project experience. Since our students have

very different background skills, multi-tier resources should be available to meet the

educational needs of different students. For students lacking computer skills, tutorial

videos with step-by-step instruction are provided to help them use OPNET; for fast

learners or students with advanced knowledge from their previous work experience, the

project worksheets come with extra problems or exercises that allow them to do more in-

depth analysis or to explore for better solutions to improve the existing design.

Besides the positive findings above, the project assessment also identified challenges that need to

be addressed. So far the biggest challenges we encountered are:

• How to further improve the cyber-learning infrastructure and overcome technical

problems that may adversely affect the student project experience.

The technical problems reported during the first year implementation include occasional

disconnection from the server, slow connection, and “blocking” problems due to

improper usage of blades. To tackle the first two problems, the PIs will work closely with

the IT support to ensure the blade server is available 24-7. To address the “blocking”

problem, a better blade assignment and management plan has been devised. In the past,

students can use any blade that is available at the time. Since some students forgot to

logout properly, many blades were “blocked” which created access problems to other

students. After the new blade management plan was implemented, each student team was

assigned to a designated blade for the entire quarter. Students from the same team will

coordinate with each other to share the usage of a blade, and they cannot use other blades.

The new policy “forced” the student teams to find good ways to share the use of the blade

server and helped to reduce the interference between the teams. Initial implementation of

the new policy in EE440 in Spring 2011 seemed to be effective and helped to reduce the

“blocking” problems significantly.

• How to improve the efficiency of remote collaborative project-based learning Collaborative learning, if implemented properly, can increase the students’ efficacy and

improve the learning effectiveness. However, it requires the students to have good team

skills to maximize the effect of collaborative learning. During the first year

implementation of CPBL, we noticed that in a few teams, one member did most of the

work so that the others lost the opportunity to learn through the projects. To prevent this

from happening in the future, we plan to provide better guidance to the team in the

project instruction, and help to cultivate the students’ team skills.

• How to schedule and adjust activities to be more efficient and effective given the

tight course schedule in a 10-week quarter system.

It is always a big challenge to find a good balance between direct instruction (lectures)

and active learning components (in-class projects and inquiry-based learning activities).

It is clear that our first year plan of project activities was not perfect. For instances, we

embedded six in-class projects in CS470, and student focus group reported insufficient

lecture time to cover certain topics in class. Based on careful evaluation of course

materials as well as the assessment findings, the PIs have improved the organization of

curriculum. More details of the planned curriculum revision will be described in the next

section.

Improving Remote CPBL using OPNET Labs

The assessment findings and the PIs’ implementation experience provided good insight to devise

a better solution to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of remote CPBL. This section

introduces the details of new teaching strategies to address the lessons learned through our first

year experience, including: 1) development of variety of online tools to help students learn

OPNET modeler more effectively; 2) employment of better ways to provide timely feedback to

students; 3) continuous revision of CS470 and EE440 curriculum to better integrate in-class and

after-class OPENT projects,

• Development of online learning tools First, online FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) was created for easy access to commonly used

simulation operations. The lab manual developed in the first year includes detailed instructions

of lots of OPNET operation techniques. On one hand, this step-by-step instruction is easy to

follow which is necessary for beginning learners; on the other hand, the information can be

redundant since certain operations (e.g. how to create a new project) are frequently used in

multiple labs. In addition, since the information is scattered in various lab manuals, it is not easy

for students to locate the exact answer if they forget the steps to do some operations. To provide

easy access to the help information related to OPNET operations, an online FAQ is created on

the project website. The FAQ contains answers to lots of commonly used OPNET operation

related questions which are classified into different categories such as Network model, collect

statistics and run simulation etc. The lab manuals are also revised to refer to the FAQ to reduce

the redundancy among different lab instructions. Figure 3 shows a sample screenshots of the

online FAQ.

Second, mini video tutorials have been developed to help students learn network simulation

using OPNET modeler effectively. OPNET modeler is a complicated software package and there

is a big learning curve. In last year, a virtual classroom using MediaSite Streaming technology

was created to allow the students to access the complete tutorial video of OPNET simulation

procedure. However, it is observed that a long piece of tutorial video was not effective, since the

students cannot access the relevant parts easily. This year, to help students get familiar with

OPENT modeler quickly and easily, a series of mini tutorial videos were created using Camtasia

Studio. Each video lasts from 1 to 3 minutes and teaches students a single or a group of related

OPNET operations, such as how to use rapid configuration to create a network quickly, how to

collect statistics, how to run simulation and so on. With the progress of the class in winter 2012,

more mini tutorial videos will be created based on students’ requirement. Figure 4 shows a

screenshot of a mini tutorial video.

Figure 3 Screenshots of online FAQ

• Enhancing Professor-student Interaction To ensure the achievement of learning outcome of each lab experience, Professor-students

interaction is essential. During the second project year, the PIs have made efforts to standardize

the format of lab materials. The new templates not only help to improve the organization of the

lab manuals, but also enforce the incorporation of lab components to allow interaction between

instructors and students. For in-class projects, worksheets that contain scalable questions will be

provided to students. Students need to turn in the worksheets after they finish the lab and they

will get comments from the instructors to correct any misconceptions and deepen their

understanding of the course materials. To provide help to students with the after-class projects or

course topics, class forum will be used. All questions and answers posted on the forum are

accessible to the students enrolled in the class. Both instructor and students will be notified when

a message is posted on the forum, so it is easier for instructors to provide timely feedback to

students.

Figure 4 A screen shot of a tutorial video that introduces steps to view the

simulation results

• Curriculum Revision to Improve the Integration of CPBL

CPBL was first implemented in CS470 in winter 2011. Based on student’s feedback, the major

problem is that students do not have enough time to finish the in-class projects or the lecture time

is not enough to cover details of some topics. Similarly, EE440 offered in Spring 2011 also

experienced similar challenge to balance between lectures and in-class projects. To solve the

problem, the PIs have carefully redesigned the curriculum for CS470 and EE440. Specifically,

efforts have been made to further reduce the overlapping between the two courses, and important

topics are reinforced with more lecture time and OPNET projects. For example, since data link

layer is already covered in details in EE440, it’s now greatly simplified in CS470. Instead, more

instructional time will be allocated to cover TCP in CS470 with more examples and in-class

exercises, since it is one of the most important topics in networking at the transport layers (which

is not covered in details in EE440). Table 4 describes the revised CS470 curriculum, along with

the OPNET projects which are embedded into the curricular in a better way. The number of in-

class projects is reduced from six to four. Some in-class projects used last year are either

discarded or combined with after-class projects. To accommodate the need of students in

different levels, the in-class project questions are designed in a scalable way. Basic questions are

for all students while more challenging bonus questions are for fast students with better

background. The number of after-class projects remains the same, but the contents of the projects

are either modified or expanded.

Table 4: Revised CS470 curriculum and OPNET projects to accommodate active in-class learning

(**: after-class projects)

Winter 2011 Winter 2012

Course

Topics Projects Course Topics

Projects Description

Week 1 Internet

architecture Data link

layer LANs

Introduction, OPNET tutorial

Week 2 Internetworki

ng, ARP OPNET

Lab1: Home

network Internet

architecture Ethernet,

Lab 1: Simple

home network Learn the basics of OPNET

Modeler. Familiar with the

components of network and

learn how to analyze

performance of a network Week 3 OPNET

Network layer ** Lab2: Set

up the home

network

Internetworking,

network layer,

ARP

**Lab 2:

Home network

for multiple

applications

Analyze and compare results

of multiple scenarios and

improve network

performance based on the

analysis

Week 4 IP addressing,

Subnetting, Lab3:

Subnetting IP addressing,

subnetting, routing

algorithms

Lab 3: What

are subnet? Learn how to identify

subnets in networks

involving different

network devices Week 5 Routing

algorithms,

RIP

Lab4: Ping

and RIP RIP, OSPF , BGP, NAT, UDP

**Lab4: RIP

and OSPF Study RIP/OSPF in a small

network, compare and

explore features of the two

routing protocols. Week 6 Midterm Midterm

Week 7 ICMP, OSPF,

BGP, DHCP NAT, UDP

Lab5: OSPF TCP connection

establishment and

teardown

Week 8 TCP

overview,

TCP flow

control

Lab 6: TCP

flow control TCP sliding

window, flow

control

Lab5: TCP

flow control Understand how the

receiver’s buffer size affects

sender’s data transmission

rate

Week 9 TCP

congestion

control

Lab 7: Why

congestion? TCP reliable data

transmission TCP congestion

control

Lab6: TCP

congestion

control

Study the factors that cause

network congestion and

reinforce congestion control

algorithms discussed in class **Lab8:

congestion

control Week

10 Application

layer

protocols

Application layer

protocols **Lec7:

VoIP

performance

analysis

Analyze the performance

of VoIP application

and its relation to the

underlying network

protocols

Table 5 describes the revised curriculum and OPNET project list in EE440. Since EE440 was

offered (Spring 2011) after CS470 (Winter 2011), some of the learned lessons were already

addressed. The positive student feedback we received confirmed that workload of in-class and

after-class projects were reasonable. Therefore, in the next year, we will keep the number of

projects. However, the contents of the project were updated to create a closer tie between hands-

on practice and theoretical learning. In addition, scalable exercises will be added to each lab in

EE440.

Table 5. Revised EE440 Curriculum and OPNET Project List in 10-week Schedule

Course Topics In-class project After-class project

Week 1 Communication model, introduction to

Computer Network (LAN, MAN,

WAN), layered network architecture

In-class Project 1:

What makes your

home network

faster?

Week 2 Communication theory (Nyquist’s law

and Shannon’s law. Noise calculation)

Week 3 Physical layer: Transmission media

and data encoding After class project 1:

Hub vs. Switch

Week 4 Physical layer protocols:

Asynchronous vs. Synchronous

protocol. DTE/DCE interface

In-Class Project 2:

Design issues in

Data Link Layer

Week 5 Midterm / Introduction to Data link

layer

Week 6 DLC: Flow control protocols, Link

utility, Error control protocols (Stop

and Wait, go back N, selective reject)

In-class project 3:

Explore Stop and

Wait ARQ

After class project 2: Plan your office

network

Week 7 Multiplexing: TDM, FDM, and

practical examples including ADSL

Week 8 Media Access Control: ALOHA and

CSMA In-class project 4: ALOHA vs. CSMA

Week 9 Local Area network and high-speed

LANs After class project 3:

Go wireless?

Week 10 Extending your LAN using bridge

Conclusions and Future Work

This paper presents the assessment data and findings of the NSF sponsored CCLI project entitled

“Enhance Computer Network Curriculum using Collaborative Project-based Learning (CPBL).”

The assessment findings highlighted successful practices in implementing remote CPBL, and

also indicated areas of improvement. To improve the efficiency and effectiveness of remote

CPBL, the PIs have devised a plan to better manage the blade access, to cultivate the students’

team skills to enhance the effect of collaborative learning, and to further improve the curriculum

to achieve a better balance between in-class projects and direct instruction. The revised projects

and curriculum will be implemented in Winter and Spring 2012, and the impact on student

learning will be continuously measured and monitored via project assessment.

Acknowledgment

This work is sponsored by NSF, Grant #0737130.

Reference

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Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Conference, 2011

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Proceedings of 32nd

ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Nov. 2002

[3] A. Martinez-Mones, E. Gomes-Sanchez at el, “Multiple Case Studies to Enhance Project-based Learning in a

Computer Architecture Course”, IEEE Transactions on Education, Vol. 48, No. 3, August, 2005

[4] K. Smith, S. Sheppard, D. Johnson, and R. Johnson, “Pedagogies of Engagement: Classroom-Based Practices,”

Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 94, No. 1, 2005, pp. 87-102.

[5] B. A. Karanian, L. G. Chedid, M. Lande, G. Monaghan, “Work in Progress - Behavioral Aspects of Student

Engineering Design Experiences” in Proceedings of the 38th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, NY,

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[6] A. Stojcevski and D. Fitrio, “Project-based Learning Curriculum in Microelectronics Engineering”, 14th

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