1. Networking Stuck in Active
Gunnar Karlsson
School of Electrical Engineering

2. Imaginary view of teaching

3. 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.

4. Broadcasting problem – flow control and compatibility
Zzzz !

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

6. 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.”

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

8. 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!

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. Thank you for your attention!
Gunnar Karlsson