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

• Main Authors: Marco A. Aravena, Andrés A. Ramos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centro Latinoamericano de Estudios en Informática 2009-04-01
• Series: CLEI Electronic Journal
• Online Access: http://www.clei.org/cleiej-beta/index.php/cleiej/article/view/241

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..