802.11: Leaving the Wire Behind
IEEE Internet Computing
Teaching wireless networking with limited resources
Proceedings of the 35th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
An Experiential Course in Wireless Networks and Mobile Systems
IEEE Pervasive Computing
Teaching computer networking fundamentals using practical laboratory exercises
IEEE Transactions on Education
Evaluation of a computer networking class in information technology
SIGITE '08 Proceedings of the 9th ACM SIGITE conference on Information technology education
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As wireless networking in the enterprise has gained popularity within recent years, the demand for technical talent has increased in direct proportion to that demand. This has occurred partially due to the complexity of troubleshooting and security issues. Professional wireless networking certification programs have also become popular as a result of the financial incentives associated with this demand. Since the content taught in these professional certifications is an appropriate reflection of the challenges faced in the real world as reported by Fortune magazine and the ChannelWeb network [11], it makes sense to align the content of undergraduate wireless networking courses with that of these certifications. University professors have often taken the approach of teaching 802.11 wireless networks starting from the signal processing layer and immediately transitioning to the higher layers. This process bypasses the Media Access Control (MAC) layer in consequence. Understanding the MAC layer is of utmost importance for understanding wireless network security because it contains the management frames that control both authentication and encryption. In this paper, course modules were created for undergraduates that focus on the 802.11 and 802.3 MAC layers and can be used to facilitate teaching troubleshooting and security concepts for wireless networking with the help of packet sniffers. These modules provide students with the hands-on experience of what is generally illustrated in only text for Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and Virtual Private Networking (VPN) as well as troubleshooting skills.