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CSC/CPE 138: Computer Networking Fundamentals

Reflection on Instructional Change:

Due to the unprecedented challenge imposed by the pandemic, this course has been redesigned for virtual instruction. The transition to virtual instruction turns out to be smooth, and some aspects even find the course more accessible, such as the live in-class feedback and online office hours.

The most important factor that enables the smooth transition is the student engagement facilitated by computer and internet technologies, such as Canvas and Zoom. The course lectures are given and recorded via zoom. All course materials are managed through Canvas for students' asynchronous use. I especially find the technology features very helpful for the online instruction, such as the live demonstration of labs/projects based on screen sharing, the online technical debugging via remote control, the drawing-based concept illustration based on whiteboard, and the Canvas-based question bank for quizzes and exams. The online meetings via Zoom also make it more flexible and easy for students to attend office hours.

The technologies also help with the promotion of equity in this course. Students are given extra support (such as in-demonstration debugging based on screen sharing) and time for reviewing concepts (such as extra illustrations or summaries based on white board) when they need. The screen sharing makes the extra debugging or explanation processes viewable to other students, so that everyone gets more chances to digest the course content.

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Screen sharing-based live demonstration of socket programming

White board-based concept illustration

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Canvas-based Quiz and Question Banks

Post Side Car - Syllabus and Schedule

Pre Side Car - Syllabus and Schedule

Faculty Biography

Prof. Jun Dai is an Associate Professor in Department of Computer Science at California State University Sacramento. He holds a PhD in Information Sciences and Technology from the Pennsylvania State University in 2014. He is the Director of the Center for Information Assurance and Security (CIAS) at Sacramento State. His teaching and research interests includes computer networking, operating systems, intrusion detection, and cybersecurity.

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation NSF Hispanic Serving Institution Award 1832335. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.