Contribution: An innovative teaching experience carried out at the University of Trento using team-based learning (TBL) in a large computer networks class. The impact of TBL on the students' learning and satisfaction was investigated. Background: Active learning pedagogies, including TBL, play an important role in enhancing higher-order cognitive…

Contribution: A novel approach to remote instruction in 802.11 technology is described using the virtual lab technology. Background: Lab-based education has been a staple of computing education for decades. By interacting with the technology, students are able to gain a much greater understanding of the subject through hands-on activities.…

Contribution: This article explores how the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) could be leveraged to enhance the teaching/learning experience of advanced control techniques [e.g., model-predictive control (MPC)] for complex systems (nonlinear and multivariable) for undergraduate students. Background: The IIoTs' features, such as ubiquitous…

Contribution: This article demonstrates that social, cultural, economic, and political topics can be effectively addressed in the context of traditional computer science and engineering topics with few additional resources and little coordination. Background: Social, cultural, economic, and political influences are often secondary topics in…

Contribution: A technical course in a multidisciplinary university program has to provide high-level skills, with limited lecturing hours and student background. This article investigates the principles for its design and reports about a study case. Background: The overall course organization needs to address specific learning targets and teaching…

This paper presents a network security laboratory to teach data analysis for detecting TCP/IP covert channels. The laboratory is mainly designed for students of electrical engineering, but is open to students of other technical disciplines with similar background. Covert channels provide a method for leaking data from protected systems, which is a…

This paper presents a network security laboratory project for teaching network traffic anomaly detection methods to electrical engineering students. The project design follows a research-oriented teaching principle, enabling students to make their own discoveries in real network traffic, using data captured from a large IP darkspace monitor…

This paper describes a range of design techniques for standard compensators (Lead-Lag networks and PID controllers) that have been applied to the teaching of many undergraduate control courses throughout Italy over the last twenty years, but that have received little attention elsewhere. These techniques hinge upon a set of simple formulas--herein…

Computer networks courses are hard to teach as there are many details in the protocols and techniques involved that are difficult to grasp. Employing programming assignments as part of the course helps students to obtain a better understanding and gain further insight into the theoretical lectures. In this paper, the Partov simulation engine and…

The future cyber security workforce needs radio frequency identification (RFID) information systems security (INFOSEC) and threat modeling educational materials. A complete RFID security course with new learning materials and teaching strategies is presented here. A new RFID Reference Model is used in the course to organize discussion of RFID,…

This paper describes a new approach for a course and laboratory designed to allow students to develop low-cost prototypes of robotic and other embedded devices that feature Internet connectivity, I/O, networking, a real-time operating system (RTOS), and object-oriented C/C++. The application programming interface (API) libraries provided permit…

Hands-on experiments are essential for computer network security education. Existing laboratory solutions usually require significant effort to build, configure, and maintain and often do not support reconfigurability, flexibility, and scalability. This paper presents a cloud-based virtual laboratory education platform called V-Lab that provides a…

A new educational simulation tool designed for the generic study of wireless networks, the Wireless Fidelity Simulator (WiFiSim), is presented in this paper. The goal of this work was to create and implement a didactic tool to improve the teaching and learning of computer networks by means of two complementary strategies: simulating the behavior…

Manycore systems have emerged as being one of the dominant architectural trends in next-generation computer systems. These highly parallel systems are expected to be interconnected via packet-based networks-on-chip (NoC). The complexity of such systems poses novel and exciting challenges in academia, as teaching their design requires the students…

The field of radio network planning and optimization (RNPO) is central for wireless cellular network design, deployment, and enhancement. Wireless cellular operators invest huge sums of capital on deploying, launching, and maintaining their networks in order to ensure competitive performance and high user satisfaction. This work presents a lab…