Networking Stuck in Active Gunnar Karlsson School of Electrical Engineering

Imaginary view of teaching

Real view of teaching Distance education via broadcasting. Any communication engineer knows that one transmitter may not adapt to all different receivers. It will be too slow for some whose mind starts other processes; too fast for others who will get buffer overflow and incompatible with yet other ones.

Broadcasting problem – flow control and compatibility Zzzz !

Technology-enhanced learning Your Own Private Socrates Any point: Tradeoff of cost vs coaching MOOC YOPS

The case for active learning “active learning leads to increases in examination performance that would raise average grades by a half a letter, and that failure rates under traditional lecturing increase by 55% over the rates observed under active learning.”

Outline of remainder Networking course with active learning Background Syllabus Teaching methods Continuous examination Resources Conclusion

Introductory networking course Background 25 third year EE students at KTH Changed started on January 6 with course taught January 23 to March 3, 2017 Well-established course; needed an update Continuous examination Active learning Restricted scope Expectations Student engagement throughout course Better learning of principles and concepts Integration of material into a whole Happy students, happy teachers!

Networking syllabus - syllabus Data communication From signals to frames Self-study based on videos with quizzes and reading Point-to-point and multi-access links Flow and error control; multi-access control Single-node network Learning bridge and router Address look-up and buffering IEEE 802 and IP addresses Multi-node network Spanning tree and shortest path routing Inter-domain routing and scaling Process-to-process communication and applications

Networking syllabus - method Active learning in class Pose a problem and let students think Let them discuss (groups of 2-3 students ) Groups report back; I compile answers on board Complete list (often very little) and reflect on answers Recitation sessions with problem solving Three labs for putting together a network Raspberries as hosts; switches and routers Student self studies and case studies

Networking syllabus – continuous examination Five graded mini-exams (quizzes) Grade based on cumulative points from A to F; replaces final Spread evenly over course; last one tests integration Four self studies Data communication (quiz) Outline of WiFi, Bluetooth and ZigBee with comparison(report) Comparison of IPv4 and v6; OSPF, RIP and BGP (report) Network architecture, standards (quiz) Four case studies with loosely formulated problems Group work with 2-3 students each Report and class presentation (random selection from group) Topics Dimensioning of a point-to-point satellite link Lookup of IPv4 addresses Topology generation and shortest path computation by Dijkstra’s Lecture (10min) on application layer concept or protocol Passing all reports, presentations and laboratory sessions needed in addition to passing grade on mini-exams

Networking syllabus – resources Own videos with multiple-choice quizzes Administered through Scalable Learning Free text books! Olivier Bonaventure, Computer Networking: Principles, Protocols and Practice Jean Walrand, Shyam Parekh, Communication Networks: A Concise Introduction, Dimitri Bertsekas, Robert Gallager, Data networks, 1992 Gunnar Karlsson, Modern telekommunikation, 1997 (Swedish) Several sources per topic with clear page ranges Extensive problem sets and collection of old exams with solutions

Conclusion Imperative to use state-of-the-art teaching methods Active learning provably superior Networking stuck in active Activates the students during whole course In class problem solving Writing and oral reporting Loosely defined case studies Allows students freedom to explore Appreciated and resulted in more profound work Evaluated on effort and tests of correctness Results promising Final exam on March 17 Will compare results for students w/ w/o cont. exam Course evaluation and student reference group

Thank you for your attention! Gunnar Karlsson gk@kth.se