Teaching wireless communication and networking fundamentals using Wi-Fi projects

Wireless communication and networking often proves to be a quite challenging subject to teach in a meaningful way, because many students appear to find the subject rather dry and technical, and thus quite boring. The authors have prepared some interesting projects to provide the students of wireless communication and networking with a hands-on learning experience. These projects are designed around low-cost Wi-Fi modules and PC cards that are available from local electronics shops. The projects are suitable for classroom use in introductory-level courses about wireless networking. The effectiveness of these projects has been evaluated by both students and teaching team. The feedback from students indicates that both the development and implementation of the projects were successful. This paper describes these projects, their overall effectiveness, and plans for further projects. The impact of Wi-Fi projects on student learning and comprehension is also discussed.