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.