DatComNet: Designing an Intelligent Visual Tool for Teaching Data Communication and Network Information Systems

DatComNet is a tutorial tool designed to assist students in understanding the concepts of designing, implementing and managing the data communication networks. It is particularly useful for computer science and computer engineering students in computer communication network courses. The DatComNet interface is written in C++ and clips. The use of Java as the language of implementation provides platform independent access to potential users through their web browser. The application utilizes an attractive, user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) to direct the students step-by-step through the process learning data communication. For students, the proposed tutoring course is structured from seven modules and there are approximately 100 automated quiz question per module allowing them to test their knowledge of concepts on- line, an immediate response will let them to know how they are doing. Also, flash animation of selected figures from the course help networking concepts come to life. They can watch as the diagrams actively demonstrate their concepts. The proposed approach depends on using a bottom-up methodology. In this approach, students can learn first about telecommunications (lower layers) before learning about data communications (upper layers), i.e., students can learn about signaling, encoding, modulating and error detection before learning about data transfer across the Internet. This eliminates the need for two courses: one for telecommunications and one for data communication. The suggested tutorial tool has been implemented and applied on a classroom of thirty students. It is shown that this tutoring tool offers significant advantages over traditional education and training since it reduces costs, improves the consistency, gives flexible scheduling, improve timing and supports the streamlined logistics.