| The Cisco Networking Academy is a private-public partnership between Cisco and over 8,000 schools worldwide to teach approximately 700,000 students per year basic computer networking skills and to help address the Digital Divide. The program features instructor-facilitated courses integrated into standard educational programs. Cisco provides, free to all participating instructors and students, online curriculum and assessment, hands-on labs, and a simulation-based learning environment, Packet Tracer, which includes simulation, visualization, and assessment authoring features. In this qualitative study, activity theory is used as a lens to study the introduction of Packet Tracer into networking classrooms. In activity theory the simulator becomes a tool (mediating artifact) to make available malleable representations for student “subjects” to interact with networking model “objects”, hopefully enhancing learning. Two bodies of theory, namely conceptually enhanced simulations (stressing representational resources) and algorithm visualization (stressing the constructivist concern with learner control over representations), suggest positive ways simulations can impact learning. The affordances of Packet Tracer that demonstrate ways in which simulations can enhance learning are presented; some Packet Tracer design iterations are described. Results of a two-semester qualitative classroom study, including analysis of videotaped cases of student interactions with the Packet Tracer software, are presented: (a) two students engaged in discussion of a multiple-choice question using Packet Tracer as a mediating resource, exemplifying computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL); (b) a student going far beyond an assignment and using Packet Tracer’s microworld affordances to build an elaborate model network in a case of self-directed inquiry; (c) two students developing automaticity in planning, implementing, and troubleshooting their network model using Packet Tracer; and (d) a student taking advantage of the persistence of digital network representations and ubiquitous access. In each case, the availability of malleable representations and learner control over those representations in the simulation environment are most salient. Four tensions in the classroom activity system emerged when Packet Tracer was introduced: (a) learning Packet Tracer versus learning networking; (b) real equipment versus simulations; (c) student-directed versus teacher-directed learning; and (d) form of instructional guidance. The study concludes by describing the ongoing development of Packet Tracer. |
