Teaching with OPNET: WSU’s experiences

Abstract

Wichita State University is been offering many courses in the field of networking. Apart from gaining knowledge about different networking concepts, students at WSU get a chance to design and configure a live network using equipments belonging to various vendors like Cisco Systems, Intel, Nortel and Cabletron. Introduction of OPNET, a network simulator in the classroom environment has broadened the research areas for the students. The usage of OPNET expedited the illustration of quality of service concepts to students since the amount of time/effort involved in configuring quality of service parameters within OPNET is a fraction of what it takes to configure a real network. The aim of this paper is to present Wichita State University’s experiences with using a network simulator - OPNET in a classroom environment.