Assessing the Effectiveness of Remote Networking Laboratories

The Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program at the University of Colorado has developed an internet based remote laboratory environment for master’s level graduate students; our suite of telecommunications experiments substantially extends prior work focused on networking equipment, by (1) providing a systems focus, (2) enabling multiple reinforcing methods of accessing the educational material, (3) providing a configuration matrix to support realtime network reconfigurations (of real network elements) (4) undertaking a careful assessment of the learning environment. The goal was to create an environment that reproduced (not just emulated) the lab experience. We recently completed the final phase of this project focusing on assessment of this learning tool; such assessment is still rare in the literature on remote laboratories. We describe the project from three perspectives; students’ exam results, students’ lab reports, and students’ satisfaction with the distance experience (based on interviews). We conclude that our remote laboratories provide similar learning outcomes to their in class analogues, but that there are important differences in student perceptions of the experience, including perceived difficulty and pace.