Facilitating Network Technology Training in the Australian Vocational Education Sector

Within the Australian Further Education sector for lecturers in the IT field it is not uncommon to use vendor based curriculum. The advantages to this approach are that students can graduate not only with a national award (Certificate or Diploma) and also an internationally recognized vendor qualification. Furthermore, the larger vendors supply comprehensive course materials, resources and assessment tools all of which have been extensively tested. In effect lecturers do not have to write their own course materials. Whilst it is recognized that lecturers may well facilitate student learning the quality of the educational outcomes is highly dependent on the quality of the vendor based materials. In the case of the Cisco Network Academy Program (CNAP) course materials did not provide a consistent diagrammatic representation of networking devices and protocols. Educational theory strongly suggests that such a model is the basis of quality teaching and learning. In this study student learning was evaluated using the State Model Diagram (SMD) method and the interpreted using the SOLO taxonomy. The results clearly demonstrate that there are considerable advantages to using the SMD method.


Australian education sector
Within Australia there are three education sectors -Schools, Vocational Education & Training (VET) (aka Further Education) and Higher Education (Universities).VET sector courses typically range from Certificate (II, III and IV) to Diploma level.Students enrolling in the VET sector typically have a strong preference for courses requiring less theory and significantly more practical hands-on workshops.The VET sector is industry driven at a national level and hence based on training packages that are developed and maintained by industry specific Industry Skills Councils (ISCs) with defined development and endorsement processes.Within the IT discipline it is not uncommon to base these national training packages on vendor based courses such as Microsoft, Red Hat, Cisco etc.The larger vendor based courses provide extensive course materials that are also the basis of professional training courses globally.At the institution analyzed for this paper the Certificate III was designed to incorporate the Cisco Discovery curriculum and the Certificate IV incorporates the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) curriculum.Hence at the successful conclusion of their course students can graduate not only with a VET award but also an internationally recognized, industry standard award.The prerequisite for entry to the Certificate IV is successful completion of the Certificate III.The quality of vendor based VET qualification is therefore largely dependent on the quality of the vendor based curriculum.

Cisco Discovery Curriculum
Since its inception in 1997 the Cisco Network Academy has expanded to 9,000 institutions ranging from schools to universities in over 170 countries.The Cisco Network Academy Program (CNAP) consists of a wide range of globally recognized technology education courses and is considered an exemplar of best practices in blended and online learning.It should be noted that only Cisco qualified instructors are allowed to teach on Cisco Academy courses thereby ensuring educational quality on a global basis.The CNAP Discovery curriculum consists of a wide range of resources that include: Instructor reference guide; Learning with Cisco Network Academy guide;   Group 1 -Certificate III students were taught using only SMD based material instead of the Cisco Discovery material.All instruction, workshops and assessments were based on SMD principles.At the end of the course of instruction these students were given an overview of the Cisco Discovery curriculum.
Group 2 -Certificate III students taught using the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) curriculum.These students were given an overview of State Model Diagrams Group 3 -Certificate IV students were taught entirely based on the Cisco CCNA course material.These students were given an overview of State Model Diagrams

Method
Volunteers from these three groups completed the same questionnaire based on a Likert scale (Strongly Agree; Agree; Neutral; Disagree; Strongly Disagree).It was a requirement that volunteers also participate in an interview in order to elucidate student perceptions and clarify any ambiguities.All comments were recorded.Prior to the interview students from group 2 and 3 were given an overview of the SMD method and answered any questions regarding its use as an educational tool.Given the need to explain the SMD method and possibly an extensive interview there were relatively few volunteers.However for these few volunteers the objective was to obtain as rich a perceptual perspective as possible.Student comments were as follows:

Question
Group 1 SMD's are more fleshed out than Discovery 1 content.

Group 2
I ran off copies of (SMD) material and actually did use it in my practical applications in Cert III.
The Cisco Discovery 1 content was quiet clear in the description of how systems work but not as effective as the SMD in my learning.In understanding concepts the SMD was much more beneficial to my way of learning and understanding.
The style of delivery and content (of Discovery 1) was substandard compared to SMD method.
That was first time I had been exposed to that method of learning (SMD) and I find it hugely beneficial in my units in university studies at the moment.I apply the same concept when I am doing my mind mapping to understand concepts in the course I am in at the moment.Definitely a method I will be taking with me to carry on my learning throughout my university degree.
Group 3 Group one students were taught networking principles and concepts using the State Model Diagram method but towards the conclusion of their studies exposed to the equivalent Cisco material.Excluding question 5 on topics these students have no knowledge, 100% of students either Strongly Agree or Agree regarding the benefits of the SMD method.Regarding the Cisco material 100% were either Neutral or Disagree regarding its effectiveness.Group two students were at the same Certificate III standard but all learning was based on the Cisco material.At the start of the interview these students were given a brief overview of the SMD method.Despite the brief explanation 100% of these students either Strongly Agree or Agree regarding the benefits of the SMD method.Significantly this cohort was either Neutral or Strongly Disagree regarding the quality of the Cisco material.Group three students were at the higher Certificate IV level and their learning was entirely based on Cisco material.Again this cohort of students was given a brief introduction to the SMD method at the start of the interviews.Excluding question 5, 100% of this cohort responded with either Strongly Agree or Agree regarding the value of the SMD method.This group of students was at a more advanced academic level and this was reflected in the extensive comments provided.The comments are almost entirely positive regarding the effectiveness of using the SMD method in preference to the Cisco course materials.

Discussion
Clearly for this study there is only a relatively small sample size and can best be seen as a pilot study.Despite this there is overwhelming support and agreement that the SMD method has considerable advantages in particular that the same model is used for all networking devices and protocols.This approach allows students of scaffold their leaning in a more efficient manner.As such, in this study, it is a preferred method for learning networking principles and concepts.However further and more extensive work is needed.
Figure 5. Sta Figur 1: State Model Diagrams (SMDs) can assist in understanding general networking State Model Diagrams can help to explain how each of the (networking) OSI layers interact.State Model Diagrams are useful to help control the complexity of networking.State Model Diagrams control complexity help show how network devices communicate with each other.State Model Diagrams could be used with other network protocols (OSPF, EIGRP etc.).State Model Diagram based teaching can help build your interest and/or confidence in networking.If given a choice I would prefer to be taught using SMD based course materials in preference to Cisco Discovery course material.If I was taught using the SMD method I would learn more, faster and better.If I was taught using the SMD method I would better understand how network devices work.Did you find the Cisco Discovery content was clear\concise in explaining networking.
put down strongly agree (SMD can assist in understanding general networking principles) because I am more of a visual person.It just lays things out a bit more precisely instead of imaging my own thing.Having a standard to stick to is really helpful.
The CCNA material is useful but a lot of their explanations they have isn't the same, it's not got a standard that follows.So some examples they use are not the same as others while State Model Diagram is consistent in the way that it explains networking.It (CCNA) has helped me in understanding.It is definitely good as a starting point.Maybe the Cisco material can work in conjunction with State Model Diagrams having the Cisco material as a starting point and then once the students are comfortable they could use State Model Diagrams to enhance their learning.