Distance education platform for effective learning in computer networking courses

Abstract

Distance education is not just self-study. A learning community incorporating instructors, students and resources is necessary for the successful delivery of a course via distance education. In particular, for computer networking courses, we need to consider the availability of hands-on experience, interactive feedback and just-in-time information for mastering complex cognitive skills. We need a platform on which we can form learning communities and provide remote access to network topologies using real networking devices. In this paper, we determined our requirements for such a platform based on the findings of current literature. Then we look at some of the existing solutions and decide which platform suits our institutional needs.