Paper Authors

Abstract

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

The Integration of State Diagrams with Competency-Based Assessment

G. Kohli, D. Veal, S. P. Maj and G. Murphy Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia g.kohli@ecu.edu.au

Abstract

Hands-on units in Computer Networking technologies are increasingly popular amongst Computer Science students. However, to test the hands-on component it has been found to be necessary to use Competency Based Assessment (CBA). The hands- on exercises can become outdated very quickly due to the rapid advancement of technology. To offset such effects the authors have developed an abstract high level model to aid students’ conceptual understanding across a range of technologies. These models are capable of providing state information of different internet networking devices e.g. switch, routers, and also to model routing protocols. The authors provide a method of integrating state diagrams along with CBAs.

Introduction

As a reflection of the computer industry requirements there is an increasing emphasis on computer network and data communications in the Computer science curriculum. This has been supported by ACM / IEEE 1. Networking courses are often based one ore more of the following areas as noted by Davis et al 2: • The OSI Model; • Performance Analysis; • Network Simulation

Within computer networking, data communication, Information Systems (IS), and management units the OSI model based instruction is very common 3,4. Typically in this approach, the functionality of each layer of the OSI model is explained and then examples of this functionality in a specific network protocol are presented. A problem with the OSI Model is that it fails to provide new details with respect to protocols and functionality compared with the TCP/IP or Department of Defence Model except perhaps that the OSI model uses more layers. However, there are few, if any, implemented network protocols in which the actual architectural layers of a real system are strictly aligned with those of the OSI model. The OSI model provides the basis of layering networks and it also helps hardware and software designers to use a common framework for design and development of equipment. Most networking courses start by giving an overall overview of OSI model 5,6. On the other hand courses based on performance analysis use analytical based models that are often specialized in their area of application. This may involve the use of complex mathematics which may not be suitable or relevant to an employer’s expectation for many computer networking students. However, its advantages include Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2005, American Society for Engineering Education

• Citation

• Format
  • APA
  • APA - LaTeX bibitem
  • MLA
  • MLA - LaTeX bibitem
  • Bibtex
  • EndNote - RIS

Murphy, G., & Kohli, G., & Maj, S. P., & Veal, D. (2005, June), The Integration Of State Diagrams With Competency Based Assessment Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14394