Networking Course Group Status Report

1. Summary

2. Detailed Analysis

Section 2.1 describes the individual courses in the group. Section 2.2 explains how the group is related to the rest of the CSE program. Section 2.3 explains how the group helps meet a range of CSE and ABET objectives. Section 2.4 provides information on the feedback we have received from students, recruiters, etc. about the courses in the group. Section 2.5 summarizes the changes we are considering in the various courses.

2.1 Summary of the courses

Topics of both technical significance as well as practical importance such as network security are central to both 677 and 678. The primary difference between these two courses is that while 677 discusses networking in general, 678 extends and focuses that discussion to the Internet in particular.

CIS 678: Internetworking   focuses on the Internet protocol suite TCP/IP. It covers the IP protocol including addressing, internetworking, data forwarding, fragmentation and reassembly. The course covers the TCP protocol including key features, congestion control mechanisms and implementation choices. It provides an introduction to IPv6, its addressing scheme and features. The course also covers other important parts of the TCP/IP suite, such as Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP), The Domain Name System (DNS), Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and initialization (BOOTP and DHCP). The course also introduces features of Mobile IP and Network Security.

The labs and homeworks in 678 are similar in spirit to the ones assigned in 677.

CIS 679: Introduction to Multimedia Networking   provides background on multimedia and network adaption to better support multimedia requirements. This course will help the students:

1. Become familiar with the basics of multimedia data type, and compression technologies;
2. Understand World-Wide-Web architecture, proxy, and streaming video technologies;
3. Understand how to evolve the best-effort service of the Internet to better support multimedia;
4. Be exposed to some new networking technologies beyond the best-effort service to better support multimedia.

CIS 777: Telecommunication Networks   is an advanced course that introduces communication networks and concepts such as: frame relay, narrow and broadband integrated services digital network (ISDN), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), gigabit networks, wireless network and, all-optical networks. The emphasis is on communication networks, their functioning, traffic management and quality of service (QOS) provided for different types of transfer: data, voice and video, real and non-real time.

While the other courses in the group focus on ideas, concepts, and techniques that are already in widespread use, CIS 777 extends this to also to items that are likely to become important in the networks of the future. Thus this course is particularly important for students interested in pursuing research in the area.

2.2 Relation of the courses to the rest of the CSE program

CIS 678: Internetworking:   This course is a continuation of CIS 677.
Prerequisites: CIS 660 and CIS 677.

CIS 679: Introduction to Multimedia Networking:  
Prerequisite: CIS 677.

CIS 777: Telecommunication Networks:  
Prerequsite: CIS 677.

None of these courses is a prerequisite for any other CIS courses. Students typically take these courses in their senior year. The courses in the group show how basic computing ideas, including ideas from computer architecture, formal languages (such as finite automata), operating systems, probability and statistics etc., play a key role in building computer networks.

2.3 Relation to CSE and ABET objectives

2.3.1 CSE Objectives

1. To provide graduates with a thorough grounding in the key principles and practices of computing, and in the basic engineering, mathematical, and scientific principles that underpin them.

   Students will:

   1. Demonstrate proficiency in the areas of software design and development, algorithms, operating systems, programming languages, and computer architecture.
   2. Demonstrate proficiency in relevant aspects of mathematics, including discrete mathematics and probability, as well as electrical circuits and devices.
   3. Successfully apply these principles and practices to a variety of problems.

   Students typically take the courses in this group near the end of their program. These courses require the students to apply the knowledge and skills they have developed in the earlier part of the curriculum to specific problems in networking. For example, the programming skills they have developed in several of the courses are key to successfully understanding the basics as well as the details of how various network protocols function. Probability considerations play a role, for example, in the "back-off algorithm" that is used in Ethernets in the presence of errors or conflicts. Basic ideas from digitial logic as well as more advanced ideas from the architecture course serve as a base on which the functioning of routers and switches is explored. By completing the programming labs as well as the homeworks in these courses, students demonstrate their proficiency in all of these areas.

   
   

2. To provide graduates with an understanding of additional engineering principles, and the mathematical and scientific concepts that underlie them.

   Students will:

   1. Demonstrate an understanding of differential and integral calculus, and of statistics.

   2. Demonstrate an understanding of the basic principles of physics and at least one other laboratory-based science.

   3. Demonstrate an understanding of the basic principles of at least one other engineering discipline in addition to computing and electrical engineering.

   The courses in this group contribute only to a limited extent to meeting this objective. In particular, as previously noted, statistical considerations do play a role in understanding some of the protocols and algorithms. But the courses do not directly relate to physics or to other engineering disciplines than EE.

   
   

3. To provide graduates with an understanding of human and social issues that will enable them to be informed and involved members of their communities, and responsible engineering and computing professionals.

   Students will:

   1. Demonstrate familiarity with basic concepts and contemporary issues in the social sciences and the humanities.
   2. Demonstrate an understanding of social, professional and ethical considerations related to engineering in general and to computing in particular.

   There is some relation of the courses in this group with this objective. In particular, since computer networks have introduced new social and ethical problems related to such matters as privacy, intellectual property, etc., there is a definite connection between this objective and this group of courses. In particular, the courses allow students to become technically knowledgeable about the issues; however, there is no direct discussion of social considerations.

   
   

4. To provide students with appropriate social and organizational skills.

   Students will:

   1. Demonstrate an ability to work effectively in teams.
   2. Demonstrate an ability to communicate effectively.

   The internet in general, and various multimedia systems in particular, have clearly become extrmely important in enabling communications, especially between people who are in different parts of the world. The courses in the group help students get a solid technical understanding of the technology that makes this possible but does not directly require the students to improve their own communication skills or their ability to work in teams with people from different backgrounds.

   
   

5. To prepare graduates for employment in the CSE profession upon graduation, as well as for successful careers in the profession, and for graduate study in computing.

Graduates will:

1. Be heavily recruited for positions in high-technology companies that utilize their computing education.
2. [Strong graduates will] Be prepared to enter good graduate programs in computing.
3. Demonstrate an ability to acquire new knowledge in the computing discipline and to engage in life-long learning.

The networking group of courses makes its strongest contribution toward meeting this objective. In particular, there is such a high demand for graduates who have technical network-related skills that students who complete these courses are heavily recruited by numerous high-tech companies. Further, the area presents many technical challenges that are appropriate for graduate level research, so the students are also well prepared for entering good graduate programs. And finally, given that the Internet has become one of the most important technologies to facilitate life-long learning for so many people, it is clear that these courses contibute heavily to achieving the related outcome.

2.3.2 ABET Criterion 3: Program Outcomes and Assessment

Engineering programs must demonstate their graduates have:

   a.  an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering
   b.  an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as analyze and interpret data
   c.  an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs
   d.  ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams
   e  an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems
   f.  an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility
   g.  an ability to communicate effectively
   h.  the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context
   i.  a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning
   j.  a knowledge of contemporary issues
   k.  an ability to use techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.

The networking courses contribute moderately to to ABET criteria 3a and 3b. They contribute strongly to 3c, 3e, and 3k, enabling students to design and tailor protocols to meet the needs of a given network. They help the student to a limited extent to achieve an understanding of professional and ethical issues. Although they do not directly improve the students ability to communicate, they do help them see how technical ideas in networking enable communication among different groups and also how these ideas can have a global impact on society; the latter is especially true in the case CIS 678, given the incredible impact that the Internet has had on all aspects of human endeavor. The rapid evolution of ideas in networking also enable students to recognize the need for life-long learning; and since many of these changes are in response to contemporary needs, students also acquire an appreciation of these needs.