{"title":"Authentic Learning for Computer Network with Mobile Device-Based Hands-On Labware","authors":"Kai Qian, Ming Yang, Minzhe Guo, Prabir Bhattacharya, Lixin Tao","volume":79,"journal":"International Journal of Computer and Information Engineering","pagesStart":894,"pagesEnd":900,"ISSN":"1307-6892","URL":"https:\/\/publications.waset.org\/pdf\/16312","abstract":"<p>Computer network courses are essential parts of&nbsp;college computer science curriculum and hands-on networking&nbsp;experience is well recognized as an effective approach to help&nbsp;students understand better about the network concepts, the layered&nbsp;architecture of network protocols, and the dynamics of the networks.&nbsp;However, existing networking labs are usually server-based and&nbsp;relatively cumbersome, which require a certain level of specialty and&nbsp;resource to set up and maintain the lab environment. Many&nbsp;universities\/colleges lack the resources and build-ups in this field and&nbsp;have difficulty to provide students with hands-on practice labs. A&nbsp;new affordable and easily-adoptable approach to networking labs is&nbsp;desirable to enhance network teaching and learning. In addition,&nbsp;current network labs are short on providing hands-on practice for&nbsp;modern wireless and mobile network learning. With the prevalence of&nbsp;smart mobile devices, wireless and mobile network are permeating&nbsp;into various aspects of our information society. The emerging and&nbsp;modern mobile technology provides computer science students with&nbsp;more authentic learning experience opportunities especially in&nbsp;network learning. A mobile device based hands-on labware can&nbsp;provide an excellent &lsquo;real world&rsquo; authentic learning environment for&nbsp;computer network especially for wireless network study. In this&nbsp;paper, we present our mobile device-based hands-on labware (series&nbsp;of lab module) for computer network learning which is guided by&nbsp;authentic learning principles to immerse students in a real world&nbsp;relevant learning environment. We have been using this labware in&nbsp;teaching computer network, mobile security, and wireless network&nbsp;classes. The student feedback shows that students can learn more&nbsp;when they have hands-on authentic learning experience.&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n","references":"<p>[1] M. Zyda, D. Thukral, J. Ferrans, \"Incorporating Mobile Games into a\r\nComputer Science Game Degree Program,\" Microsoft Academic Days\r\nConference on Game Development in Computer Science (GDCSE),\r\n2008.\r\n[2] D. Metcalf, S. Raasch, M. Milrad, A. Hamilton, D. Cheek, \"My Sports\r\nPulse: Increasing Student Interest in STEM Disciplines through Sports\r\nThemes,\" In Proceedings of Fifth IEEE International Conference on\r\nWireless, Mobile, and Ubiquitous Technology in Education, March 23-\r\n26, 2008.\r\n[3] Q. Mahmoud, A. Dyer, \"Mobile Devices in an Introductory\r\nProgramming Course,\" Computer, vol. 41, no. 6, pp. 105, 106-107, June\r\n2008.\r\n[4] M. Lombardi, \"Authentic Learning for the 21st Century: An Overview,\"\r\nELI White Papers, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), 2007,\r\navailable at http:\/\/www.educause.edu\/library\/resources\/authenticlearning-\r\n21st-century-overview, retrieved on Dec. 1, 2012.\r\n[5] J. Brown, A. Collins, and P. Duguid, \"Situated Cognition and the\r\nCulture of Learning, Educational Researcher, 18, n1, pp.32-42, 1989.\r\n[6] J. Lave and E. Wenger, Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral\r\nParticipation (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational\r\nPerspectives), Cambridge University Press, 1991.\r\n[7] J. Herrington and R. Oliver, \"An instructional design framework for\r\nauthentic learning environments,\" Educational Technology Research\r\nand Development, 48(3), pp. 23-48. 2000.\r\n[8] J. Herrington, J. Mantei, A. Herrington, I. Olney, and B. Ferry, New\r\ntechnologies, new pedagogies: Mobile technologies and new ways of\r\nteaching and learning, (eds.), University of Wollongong, 2009, 138p,\r\nISBN: 978-1-74128-169-9.\r\n[9] S. Caltagirone, P. Ortman, S. Melton, D. Manz, K. King, and P.W.\r\nOman, \"RADICL: A Reconfigurable Attack-Defend Instructional\r\nComputing Laboratory,\" Security and Management, Jun. 20-23, 2005,\r\nLas Vegas, Nevada, USA.\r\n[10] W. Yurcik and D. Doss, \"Different Approaches in the Teaching of\r\nInformation Systems Security,\" in Proceedings of the 2001 Information\r\nSystems Education Conference (ISECON'01), Nov. 2001, Cincinnati,\r\nOH, USA.\r\n[11] A. Koch, \"DroidSheep,\" http:\/\/droidsheep.de, accessed on Oct. 29,\r\n2012.\r\n[12] R. Rosauro, \"DroidWall - Android Firewall,\"\r\nhttp:\/\/code.google.com\/p\/droidwall, accessed on Oct. 29, 2012.<\/p>\r\n","publisher":"World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology","index":"Open Science Index 79, 2013"}