Packet Tracer Simulation Tool as Pedagogy to Enhance Learning of Computer Network Concepts

Abstract

The technological rebellion has made current generations to depend more on the digital world in their day to day life. The effectiveness of the digital world has changed the learner's perceptive towards the education system. The impulsivegrowth of technology has increased the popularity of Information and Communication Technology which has created a research scope in Computer network domain thus Computer network course in the curriculum of Computer Science and Engineering plays an important role. It is always a challenge to teach Computer Networks course to students as the course requires a practical exposure more than the chalk and talk. It is very hard for students to envision the concepts of computer networks, protocols formats and understanding packets flow during teaching in classroom. To overcome above said challenge, pedagogical practice such as active learning through simulation tool is identified in delivery of the course. This paper discusses the effective use of a Packet Tracer (PT) simulation tool in the teaching of computer network concepts. A structured learning approach is introduced by using packet tracer tool in teaching network concepts and series of exercises are designed and developed to give the visualization of each layer functionality. These practical exercises helped in active learning to use the packet tracer to simulate campus network. This pedagogy practice encouraged the students' to build the clarity on the physical devices like router, access points, switch and their configurations. The troubleshooting skills were practiced by introducing the errors deliberately and how to resolve is learnt through the tool. Computer network simulation activity include the concepts of NAT, Subnetting, V-LAN setting, services of TCP/UDP, packet format details, application layer protocol like DNS, DHCP, E-Mail, FTP and HTTP. Activity is evaluated through demos, presentation and quizzes. Rubrics based assessment is followed to ensure uniformity and transparencyin the evaluation. The average marks obtained in quiz by students before using PT tool is 65% and after using tool is 85%, it shows significant improvement of 20% in learning the fundamental concepts of computer network course.