Final Blog Post

This year has been interesting for the most part and has enlightened me a lot on networking. I had almost no prior knowledge on this topic so everything was fairly new to me. One of the main things this class has taught me is that I’m probably not going to have a future job closely related to networking. It’s not that I don’t enjoy this class, it’s just that I can’t see myself as an internetworking engineer or something like that. This is also why I’m planning on taking independent study next year where I’ll be able to choose what I get to learn. Nevertheless, I have learned a lot from this class, and it’ll probably come back to help me at some point in life. In college, there’ll probably be a class closely associated with computers, and having knowledge of how computers interact with each other will be quite essential. Also, it’s nice having general knowledge of these kinds of things, since most people believe this is complicated, high level material so you pull off impressing someone.
In the first semester this course was more difficult, compared to this semester at least. We were a bit short on time and had to rush through some of the materials. Additionally, we spent a lot of time going over the chapter material on the website rather than the powerpoints. That I feel was one of the best decisions we made in the class. Learning course material from the website wasn’t easy to endure for the entire class period, but the powerpoint on the other hand, was shorter and summarizes the significant points. It made it easier to pay attention, and having shorter bullet points aids in memorizing the information. Also, the labs were things that helped me just a bit. The hard labs, where the entire class had to work together, would have little effect to my learning. Then the labs, which were relatively easy didn’t necessarily help me learn either but hopefully has prepared me for the hands-on section of the final. These labs told us exactly what to do which in a way was better for learning, but it didn’t stick in my mind too much. It’s going to be hard to memorize all the commands.
If this class were to be done again to a new batch of students there could be a few improvements for their good. First, worksheets should be done excessively to see whether the students are all absorbing the knowledge and not just temporary learning it to complete the labs. The worksheets that we did do for the second semester did help me learn how everything correlated to each other, and this “book knowledge” is actually helpful in this case. The powerpoints should also be done throughout the year, since this process worked for the second semester. Lastly, they should probably try some more packet tracers because I’ve gotten out of the habit of using it since we’ve been using the real life equipment for so long.
This class has had some confusing topics and following the CCNA Cisco course was a bit hectic at times. Maybe this class could evolve into a class more on teaching everything without going too much in depth with a more high-school friendly approach. Though we are LASA students and are able to handle all of this, by the times the finals come around, we all feel quite unprepared even though we’ve been learning the material for the whole year. I’m definitely not regretting taking this class because I’ve learned so much, and not getting certification doesn’t affect me at all, because from day 1 I was in this class to learn, and I did just that.

16th week

Due to the AP's this week, I was only able to have one day of Internetworking. That too was on Monday, so I'm beginning to forget the things we did. What we probably did was complete the ch 11 review questions from the book together, and then began the labs. And by the end of this weekend, I should have completed the Ch 11 test. So by the time we come back next week, we'll have finished the course material and only need to be worrying about the final. We'll have around two weeks to review which should be sufficient, but with so many other things, like AP's, finals, etc. rolling around, I'll have to manage my schedule to have time to review for Internetworking.

14th week

This week we were only able to meet once during the week which way back on Monday. We used Monday as  a test-taking day where we officially completed chapter 10. Now, we only have one chapter remaining and then final-prep. We also have many weeks of school left which is promising. In reality, we're probably not going to have all the time that we may think we have because there are still AP testing and all the other random things that'll happen from now until the end of the year. But we're still in a good position, and we should definitely start prepping for the final as soon as we can.

13th week

This past week we went over link-state routing protocols and did the chapter questions relatively quickly without too much of problem. It definitely went faster doing it in a group, rather than doing it alone, and since we decided to restrict ourselves from the powerpoint and notes we tried to complete the questions solely of our memory. Also, having the answers in the book was good so that we didn't finish the questions incorrectly so that we wouldn't remember the wrong things. Then we also needed to the lab, which was one of those really long ones where they don't give the subnetting for the routers. We still have to finish it, but since we're working in groups hopefully we can finish it by the next time in class.

12th week

This past week has probably been one of my more rigorous weeks at LASA. This entire six weeks has been difficult in general but the last 4 days have been the teacher's attempt to get a last test or project in before the four day weekend. That paired up with my illness throughout the entire week came down to one of the worst weeks I've experienced. That being said, this weekend is such a relief and probably one of the more exciting one's I've had. As for Cisco, we had a whopping four tests this six weeks which is a first which also means that we went over four chapters this six weeks. This entire system of learning through the powerpoint and then completing the labs is a nice curriculum to keep us on track which is probably why we're going through the units relatively quickly.

11th week

This week in class we spent our times doing the labs. Even though we had to give up in the middle of multiple labs we got the main idea. For example, we weren't able to figure out why some of the ip addresses were the same even in different interfaces. We even discussed our future in this class, as in what class we'll be taking next year. I'm most probably not going to take Cisco 2 next year regardless of whether or not it'll be available as a class next year. Security and the other classes sound cool so I'll also give them some consideration before this year ends (before I can change my classes).

10th week

After spring break, we went through the next chapter which was over RIP version 2. It's a shorter lesson overall and pretty much went over the limitations of RIP version 1 as well as how to troubleshoot this newer version. We also did a couple of labs related to these topics and they've been going quite well. In the broad sense, everything's going fine and we'll probably be getting into chapter 8 pretty soon. Hopefully this semester of routing should be better spaced out because we have more days in spring than we did in the fall. We're already finishing up chapter 7 which appears good since we're already that far.

9th week

We completed a lot in class so that we didn't have to do anything over the break. Looking back at it I'm pretty proud to have completed both exams. Spring Break is the only big break we're going to have before the end of the school year, so class will probably get back into a normal routine soon enough. Also, since we've finished chapter 6, we might be about half-way through the course so it's pretty satisfying to know that we're already half-way done.

8th week

This week our topic was VLSM and CIDR which include more mathematics than it does concept like the other units. The chapter is 6, yet we haven't completely finished chapter 5's unit yet so until the end of spring break there'll be some time to catch both units up. The labs for chapter six were pretty simple and summarizing routes is not a complicated process at all, but it just requires some arithmetic. Also, I've decided on taking Independent Study so can improve my weak points. When it comes to programming, I'm not extremely confident in my ability so I'll definitely want to learn as much as I can before I'm asked to do it in college.

7th week

Last week our focus was on Chapter 5. We began the labs incorporated in that section which included RIP a lot. It's also the beggining of the six weeks so we don't have a test right away. In fact, we didn't have to do any tests over the weekend or even the chapter 5 questions, which I'll will indeed complete by Monday. Cisco class also probably doesn't incorporate Spring Break as a part of the system. So this means, that we'll have an odd break right in between sections which shouldn't be too much of a problem as long as don't split a section in half. Choice sheets are also out so I'm beginning to consider what classes I'll take next year.

6th week

This week was especially short for me because Friday was off and I was absent on Wednesday, thus I only had class on Monday. In that class too, we spent our time completing the hands on lab. This previous week summed up our distance vector routing unit. This most schoolwork I have for the weekend is surprisingly Internetworking which isn't a tremendous amount of pressure anyways. Since it was the end of the six weeks, most of my other classes will have a brand new beginning starting from the next six-weeks, which is why my work load for this weekend is very light. Therefore, I will be able to pay attention to Internetworking more. 

5th week

This week was one the weeks where Mr. Stephens wasn't available to us and the class had to do the material themselves. The self-teaching method of the powerpoint lesson was a bit detrimental because I found that it doesn't stick in my head because I'm not sure which of the information to memorize specifically. However, the problem is always solved after doing the end of chapter questions so after I do them I should be fine. We spent the days doing the labs and going over the powerpoint for chapter 4 which just seems to dwell into the material further. The topic is Distance Vector Routing Protocols and they're just getting into the specifics of the previous chapters. 

4th week

This week we focused on Chapter 3. This is the dynamic routing section which is surprisingly more complicated than static routing. One would think having to do it manually would be harder, but instead having the router do it automatically is more complicated that it seems. It involves protocols which make it a bit more complex. This week we went over the chapter 3 powerpoint and then began to the labs. I have yet to do the chapter 3 review questions, but with the powerpoint's info it won't be too bad. The labs were also pretty doable, except we haven't completed the "hands-on" lab because of time constraints. When Mr. Stephens tells us that the real-life labs take a lot of time, he is not joking at all.

3rd week

This week consisted of doing the chapter 2 labs. We took a lot of time finishing up the lab, actually we didn't actually finish the lab, we came close, because PC1 was unable to make pings with the other computers. I'm going to have to do the worksheets and labs at home and I'm not sure when I'm going to be taking the chapter 2 test. I've found that doing the lab on the real-life routers, and especially one of the more important labs, was particularly helpful. Since you're doing them by hand, it sticks in your brain more than it does with the packet tracer labs, however, as we have noticed ourselves, it takes a lot of time. Also, finding the error is a lot harder, because you don't have the computer telling you where the mistakes are located. Also, packet tracer keeps you on track more and tells you exactly what to do which in a way teaches you how to do it the correct way.

2nd week

Due to the odd scheduling of A and B days this week, we were only able to go to Internetworking once throughout the entire week. We're still on Chapter 2, and believe have started the labs on it. We went through the powerpoint in one day which was pretty nice. Beginning from next week, when we're back in the normal schedule again, I will try to complete one of the labs through "hands-on" instead of the virtual packet tracer labs only if time allows. Other than that, I've noticed the Routing information is not extremely hard. Even though its going more in depth, instead of getting more confusing, it seems like its actually clarifying the process for me.

Routing: 1st week

Routing: 1st week

The previous week has been the introduction of our new"ish" topic, routing. Till now, the stuff we're learning in Chapter 1 is basically a lot of review from the Networking Fundamentals from last semester. The biggest change, however, is the learning style we're trying out. The powerpoints I believe is a whole lot better in the sense that the creator has already been through the course, and is highlighting the potentially important facts. On top of that, the worksheet that we're doing is a nice addition to test whether we're getting this stuff. The website was more of a learn-this-through-memorization, while the powerpoint has a couple of main topics and is also very organized. What I really found helpful was that the powerpoint pretty much told us exactly how to configure a router. We had kind of learned this last semester too, but I definitely understand way better because of the way the powerpoint layered it out.