Students´ understanding of computer networks in an internationally distributed course

The different ways in which some computer network concepts are understood by students who take an internationally distributed project-based course have been identified in an empirical, qualitative, phenomena graphic research project. The students, who work in teams of six, three in each of the participating countries, collaborate over the Internet to produce a software system which controls a modified version of a toy. Their learning of a computer networking protocols as well as the possibilities to generalize and to deploy the results in teaching situations are presented. The results are useful when seen in the light of the students´ learning environment, since relations between the learning outcome and the learning environment can be discerned.