ISSN: 2319-5967
ISO 9001:2008 Certified
International Journal of Engineering Science and Innovative Technology (IJESIT)
Volume 3, Issue 5, September 2014
Using Virtual Labs in Online Wireless
Networking Classes
Qi Zhu
University of Houston – Victoria
Abstract - In this paper, we show that virtual labs are used for teaching online wireless networking technology classes.
Virtual labs provide an opportunity for students to do hands-on network assignments and projects online. This
experiment seeks to examine the possibility of using online labs and identifies how the new and innovative technologies
could reduce the competitive gap between distance and traditional educational settings.
Keywords – Virtual labs, online classes, wireless networking.
I. INTRODUCTION
Online education has become part of the mainstream of higher education [10]. [2] found that almost two-thirds
of all schools offering face-to-face courses also offer online courses, and almost a third of higher education
students now take at least one course online. [11] has argued that no evidence supports the idea that traditional
classroom instruction is the best delivery mechanism. In addition, [16] contend that after a thorough review of
available research on online learning, there is support that online learning can be just as good, or even better in
some cases, than face-to-face traditional learning.
At the University of Houston – Victoria (UHV), online education plays an important role. In an attempt to
provide increased educational opportunities to the current students and to attract new students who are working
or have other constraints on their time or mobility, UHV continues to develop distance education programs
through Blackboard to provide able students, often with job and family obligations, convenient access to higher
education.
However, computer science education is unique because it requires the learners to simultaneously develop both
a logical understanding of the learning domain and the procedural capacity to implement it on a machine.
Practice is often the key to becoming effective computer engineers, and this is particularly true in computer
network areas [25]. The purpose of this paper is to show the design and delivery of virtual labs for online
network courses. The survey results illustrated that students perceived online labs as effective as the traditional
physical labs.
A.
Background
The University of Houston-Victoria is one of four degree-granting institutions in the University of Houston
System. The primary role of the university is to provide undergraduate and graduate instruction to students
within the Coastal Bend region, including collaborative programs at two off-campus teaching centers in Fort
Bend County.
At UHV, demand and capability for online/Internet-based delivery of instruction continue to increase. More
courses and programs become available entirely online and attract on-campus as well as off-campus students.
More courses feature hybrid combinations of online, Interactive TV, and/or in-person delivery. In the
department of computer science, about 1/2 of the undergraduate courses are online, and a master’s program of
computer information systems was initiated and provided students with the option to do their entire curriculum
fully online since of 2006.
However, because of job outsourcing, the economy, and the dot.com bubble burst, enrollments in computer
science programs have continued to decline [13, 17]. The fact puts at special risk to small computer science
programs like the one at UHV, which often needs to combine students from different campuses into a course
section to make a class. All these factors have to be considered seriously, and online teaching for computer
science courses seems to offer some solutions to the problems.
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ISSN: 2319-5967
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International Journal of Engineering Science and Innovative Technology (IJESIT)
Volume 3, Issue 5, September 2014
A traditional computer science network course leads itself naturally to hands-on experimentation. Typical lab
experiences are conducted in an isolated computer laboratory where students get hands-on experiences through
instructor-assigned experiments. A laboratory, however, is expensive on equipments for small computer science
programs. Furthermore, in an online class, students may not be able to physically attend labs on campus. In this
paper, virtual labs were first offered in two wireless network classes as an experiment, and online learners’
surveyed results were collected regarding how they felt this mode of delivery affected their practical learning.
B.
Blackboard
Blackboard, one of the most popular course management systems, provides a number of learning tools,
including an online discussion board, course content searches, a course calendar, electronic mail, auto-marked
quizzes, navigation tools, access control, grade maintenance and distribution, student progress tracking, and so
forth [14]. Like some other learning systems, Blackboard provides a standard way to organize course materials
and integrate multimedia presentations in course delivery. Some studies [9, 20] reported students’ positive
learning results in Blackboard courses, based on surveys at the post-secondary and undergraduate level. UHV
has adopted the Blackboard platform for all online courses throughout the Victoria campus and all other offcampus sites starting from 1999.
C.
Innovative Virtual Lab Formats
Research has shown that innovative online lab technologies typically take one of three forms: virtual learning
environment, online laboratory, and simulator [5]. The first technology is that of a virtual learning environment,
which allows the users to access the lab’s resources via internet. This type of technology is sometimes used as
an online tutorial, walking users through a set of steps and commands, while users try the same commands on
software that is loaded on their own personal computers. For example, a virtual learning environment could
walk users through step by step of a Microsoft FrontPage Web page, and users could enter in the commands on
their own personal computers, while running their own copy of Microsoft FrontPage. This way allows users to
experience both the successes and failures of their actions, as they follow the commands. The disadvantage of
this form is that users have their own copy of the software running on their computer, and for many learners,
this may be cost prohibitive.
A second type of technology is that of online laboratory [7, 23]. This technology requires users to log into a
vendor’s laboratory and gives learners the ability to work on real-life equipments, much as they would do in a
work environment. This environment eliminates the need for users to have personal copies of the software, and
if errors are found, the vendor can update them quickly without users having to change anything on the users’
part.
The last technology is a software simulator [18, 19]. The software is loaded on a user’s personal computer, and
emulates of a real network. This type of software is sometimes attached to technical textbooks and helps the
students to experience a real hands-on session with the simulated environment. The software is usually menu
driven with the learner’s instructions. After students created model, data are collected during execution to
analyze and evaluate the performance of the model. The accuracy of these estimates depends on the fidelity of
the simulator and the way in which the measurements are taken from the simulation program’s execution.
D.
The Purpose of Study
While the technologies exist for providing a hands-on laboratory [3], using challenging projects and virtual labs
in web-enhanced networking classes has generated some positive results [15, 21]. However, what technologies
could implement and deliver virtual labs to motivate studying and learning modern networking technologies?
Interaction is a very important factor in distance learning [22], how to maintain interactivities in online labs?
Compared to the traditional laboratory sessions, what is the students’ feedback on learning in online labs? The
purpose of this paper is to determine the extent to which virtual labs could be used to offer students a valid
learning experience in network courses and to show the design and delivery of virtual labs for a successful
technology-based online course.
II. VIRTUAL LABS’ DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION
The following information technology and networking courses were used for the experiment in this paper:
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ISSN: 2319-5967
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International Journal of Engineering Science and Innovative Technology (IJESIT)
Volume 3, Issue 5, September 2014
 COSC 4300: Wireless Networks and Simulations (undergraduate), taught in Fall 2006, Fall 2008,
Fall 2010, and Fall 2012.
 COSC 6320: Mobile, Ubiquitous, and Pervasive Information Systems (graduate), taught in
summer 2007, spring 2009, and spring 2012.
Both courses have the objectives to educate students the fundamental concepts in wireless networking and some
of their relevant applications; to teach the skills to design, implement, and test some wireless models in virtual
labs; and to introduce emerging trends and development by reviewing papers.
A.
OPNETTM Simulator
Usually, a small college has no opportunity to offer a variety of physical networks to students and faculty for
use in the classroom. As an option, the free OPNET IT Guru Academic software package [12] offers all the
tools for virtual network model design, simulation, and analysis. OPNET software can simulate a wide variety
of different networks, including built-in wireless capability. Students can download the software into their own
machines and work from their PCs independently or under the instructor’s supervision to simulate different
models and visually study the impact of various factors (e.g., traffic load, bandwidth, data rate, delay, etc.) on
the network [24]. [4, 8] have designed some lab assignments on Local Area Networks (LANs), Asynchronous
Transfer Mode (ATM), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), Firewalls, and Virtual Private Networks (VPNs),
etc. However, we chose to design our own labs, students are offered a chance to practice various network
application protocols and models learned from the classes through labs. An example of a wireless network
design with different users, hosts, and services used in our classes is given in Figure 1.
Fig 1. A Wireless Network with Different Users, Hosts, and Services
B.
Methodology
The following pedagogical technologies and tools were used to help to deliver the virtual labs successfully.
 Lab Instruction: A lab instruction Word document was given for each lab, including lab objective,
overview, the main procedures, post-lab questions, and future reading.
 A video clip created by software Camtasia [6]. This application captures what the instructor displays on
his/her computer screen and saves the activity as a video file, which can be published as a Flash
document and placed within Blackboard. The Flash plug-in is already in most Web browsers so
students do not need to get new software. The instructor also recorded audio files to explain the crucial
points and important steps. Students were able to replay the video on demand and pause/resume at any
time they wanted. Figure 2 shows the interface of Camtasia in video editing.
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ISSN: 2319-5967
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Volume 3, Issue 5, September 2014

Fig 2 The Editing Interface of Camtasia on a Lab
Office hour sessions using Adobe Acrobat Connect [1]: In case students still had problems and
questions from the labs, an optional office hour session was offered each week using the Adobe
Acrobat Connect, which was used to enhance the interaction either between instructor and students or
among students. The software allows students and instructors to connect synchronously using video
and voice over ip (VoIP); webcams are also supported to give participants a more connected feeling.
The best feature is sharing screens and applications with other participants; it is useful for the
instructors to explain actions to the students, or for students who want to show their current simulation
environment.
C.
Survey Results
At the end of the classes, students were surveyed to evaluate their opinions about online labs. In total, 37
students in COSC6320 and 85 students in COSC4300 filled in the survey. The majority of learners were
working adults, and there was a mix of male and female learners; nearly all had experience in online education
before taking our classes.
In the survey, eight questions were developed to evaluate the effectiveness of online labs and the delivery
methods in replacing the traditional laboratory, see Table 1.
1.
Table 1. Questions designed to elicit student response
What type (dial-up, DSL, cable, satellite) you use to connect with networks?
a. dial-up
b. DSL
c. Cable
d. Satellite
2.
How helpful did you find the lab instruction documents to do labs virtually?
a. not at all b. not very well
c. Adequately
d. Well
e. Very well
3.
How helpful did you find the video demos to do labs virtually?
a. not at all b. not very well
c. Adequately
d. Well
4.
e. Very well
Would you have preferred to do labs in a regular laboratory environment or a virtual/online environment for online
courses?
a. Regular laboratory environment b. Virtual/online environment c. About the same
5.
Do you think online labs are a successful tool used in this online class?
a. not at all b. not very well
c. Adequately
d. Well
e. Very well
6. What are the main advantages of online labs?
7. What are the main disadvantages of online labs?
8. Please provide any other comments or suggestions if you have.
Among the students, most were using broadband internet service such as DSL, cable or Satellite, only one
student was still using dial-up and also revealed it as the main drawback. Although streaming media technology
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ISSN: 2319-5967
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Volume 3, Issue 5, September 2014
capabilities for human voice and visual support are great, there is a constraint on their use because of student
limited bandwidth, which impacted audio and video quality.
For question 2, 41 students (33.6%) selected “very well”, 69 students (56.6%) selected “well”, 9 students (7.4%)
selected “adequately”, and 3 students (2.5%) selected “not very well” in using the lab instruction documents as a
tool to help the virtual labs. For question 3, 51 students (41.8%) selected “very well”, 52 students (42.6%)
selected “well”, nine students (7.4%) selected “adequately”, and ten students (8.2%) selected “not very well” in
using the video demos as a tool to help the virtual labs. From the above two feedbacks, the majority of the
students acknowledge the format of the virtual labs’ implementation and delivery. For question 4, 82 students
(67.2%) selected “Virtual/online environment”, 30 students (24.6%) selected “About the same/no preference”,
and 10 students (8.2%) selected “regular laboratory environment”. The advantages of online courses are that
students want to learn at their own pace and at a time and location that is convenient to them. The mandatory
traditional laboratory may remove the advantages of online learning. For question 5, 54 students (44.3%)
selected “very well”, 35 students (28.7%) selected “well”, 30 students (24.6) selected “Adequately”, and 3
(2.5%) selected “not very well”. Most of the students thought that online labs were a very useful tool in our
wireless network courses.
Questions 6-8 asked students to reflect upon specific advantages and disadvantages of using the online labs in
the survey. The advantages and disadvantages were categorized into common criteria to eliminate redundancy.
Advantages
Disadvantages
Table 2. Online Labs Advantages and Disadvantages
Labs provide a very tangible quality to the course; also labs can provide a great opportunity to further
develop and understand the topics of the course.
Online labs show the models in the real world.
Lab work can be done at my own convenience. It seems easier to go back and make changes or redo a
part of the lab in a virtual environment than in a real classroom lab.
Online labs allow me to see the consequences of making mistakes on real equipment, no canned
response.
Sometimes online labs were slow to load courseware.
Online labs were not integral to my online education, but reinforced concepts.
Online labs are confusing sometimes.
Table 2 illustrates student’s perception of online labs. For the most part, online labs seem to reinforce concepts
presented from the handouts, and the technology seems to model the real network systems. The disadvantages
included slowness, which could be attributed to the Blackboard server site, or the students’ Internet bandwidth
link. Another disadvantage noted by students was that online labs were not integral to their online learning. It is
possible that while online labs do reinforce the technical concepts, students may associate them with other forms
of material presented and do not view them as a major force in their education. The last disadvantage was online
labs are confusing sometimes; that is possibly because the students didn’t keep good interaction with the
instructor to clarify their questions.
III. LIMITATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
Limitations exist with this research as with any research. The sample size may not be generalized across a wider
population. COSC4300 was offered in fall semester for every 2 years. And COSC 6320 was offered for the first
time in summer 2007, then again in spring 2009 and spring 2012, a small enrollment for both courses were
anticipated. Some technologies may have been new to both the instructor and the students; some students may
have had difficulty using the tools. In addition, students who are still using the dialup network connection are
not able to view/download the multimedia materials; dial-up affects dramatically the quality of online lab
learning.
However, this paper has examined the online labs, a new tool for distance education for online learners. The
majority of surveyed learner responses seem to suggest that online labs fit into an online wireless network
courses and offer value to their learning experience. Therefore, this type of research is needed and should be
continued. Further research could be conducted, to find out exactly what attributes of online labs are important
to learners, how quality online labs are structured, how the tools help students’ educational development. And
the research should be subject to more statistical tests with a larger sample size.
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It is important that universities find new and innovative ways to keep online learners in class. Universities must
also compete in this very competitive field, so it would be beneficial for online universities to begin to
incorporate online labs into their curriculum.
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