Abstract:

This work presents our teaching experience to encourage the individual study in the subject of Computer Networks I. It is a subject of great relevance in studies since it includes basic concepts of computer networks that will be essential for the student to be able to understand other subjects of the degree. Specifically, we want to promote the preparation of laboratory practices. In a subject such as Computer Networks whose practical content has a great weight, a suitable preparation by the students of the practice sessions is very important. This fact is emphasized in our case where practices are performed on real devices where problems that usually do not appear in simulators may arise.

Computer Networks I is a subject taught in the first year of the degree of Computer Engineering (University of Castilla-La Mancha). The teachers find the problem that the students still have not fully assimilated the necessity of individual work before attending the practice sessions and they do not prepare them adequately. To try to encourage the students, last year, the methodology and evaluation of laboratory practices are been modified including a test that must be answered before making the practices. Thus, each practice session will have a previous laboratory test on the contents of the practice guide and a posterior laboratory test (used in previous years) with contents on the conclusions after performing the practices in real equipment.

This paper presents our experience in the implementation of this methodology. We have compared the marks obtained by students (both practical and global parts) with the marks of previous years without using the previous laboratory tests. In addition, the connection between marks on the previous test and posterior test in each practice session will be evaluated.

Our main conclusion is that the students have been encouraged to prepare the practice sessions. Although, the obtained results have not been entirely as expected by the teachers but, without any doubt, they have shown us important information that will help us in our attempt to keep improving our teaching methodology.