TEACHING LAB-BASED COMPUTER NETWORKING THROUGH PERFORMANCE-CENTERED APPROACH

This paper describes the curriculum design of performance-cantered learning course of lab-based computer networking.The course is compulsory for students of engineering specialties in the field of communication and computer engineering. The objectives of the course, the structure of the curriculum content, the type and the specificity of the studied and simulated practical computer networking lab experiments are described.The organization of the training activities is carried out through an e-learning management system for performance-centred learning – DIPSEIL (https://v4.dipseil.net/). A brief review of the DIPSEIL system is made of its Performance support system implementation methodology in engineering education and the basic educational tools used by lecturers and students.The design of the course in the DIPSEIL system is organized around tasks for performances from the students. The concept of "learning by doing" is used, with about six lab experiments running for 12 weeks and one final project for final assessment of students' knowledge. At a macro level, the course is organized as a blended learning course (face-to-face lectures and exercises, web based learning activities in LMS and practical lab experiments) in the DIPSEIL e-learning environment - http://env.dipseil.net/v3. The course organization provides a constant relationship with a teacher and colleagues via email, in the e-learning environment and through chats, monitoring and feedback. The results from experiments show that students who used DIPSEIL system in a performance-centred course perform significantly better on learning tasks for solving problems and practical lab experiments in computer networking than students that are imposed to traditional methods.