A design-based approach to data communications education

A major design-based assignment has been developed as a vehicle for enhancing a student´s appreciation of practical data communication networks. This assignment has been incorporated into the final year of an information systems syllabus in the final year of an undergraduate honors degree. The students are required to design a data communication system on the basis of a fictitious but realistic company specification and to present their designs formally to a panel of academic and industrial experts. The feedback both from the students and from industry has indicated that such an approach to the teaching of data communications is beneficial from an educational standpoint and is favorably received by prospective employers