An Educational Development on Learning Paradigm of Region-wide IT Hands-on Workshop◆研究論文◆An Educational Development on
Learning Paradigm of Regionwide IT Hands-on Workshop
情報技術に関する地域規模の演習ワークショップの実践を通した新たな教育展開に関する研究
Patcharee Basu
Senior Visiting Researcher, Keio Research Institute at SFC
バースー パッチャリー
慶應義塾大学 SFC 研究所上席所員（訪問）Shoko Mikawa
Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University
三川 荘子
慶應義塾大学大学院政策・メディア研究科特別研究講師

Achmad Basuki
Doctoral Program, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University
アフマド バスキ
慶應義塾大学大学院政策・メディア研究科後期博士課程

Keiko Okawa
Professor, Graduate School of Media Design, Keio University
大川 恵子
慶應義塾大学大学院メディアデザイン研究科教授

This paper presents an educational development that extends the boundary of traditional distancelearning approach to incorporate computer laboratory for live IT hands-on lessons for learners indeveloping countries. The proposed approach contributes to widen the IT learning opportunities in
Asia where shortage of local teaching resources is the restricted condition. The distance learning
environment is designed to deliver high-quality lectures and support multi-point live conversations ina distributed classroom. Computer virtualization technology and large-scale computing laboratory areintegrated to provide laboratory environments for region-wide learners. The proposed approach has
been proven feasible and effective through the actual implementations and evaluations of Asia-wide
workshops in 2006 and 2008.
本研究は、講義配信という従来の遠隔教育の枠を超え、情報技術の演習環境を構築し、発展途上国の学習者に対して新たな教育展開を行った。本手法は、教えるための資源が限られるアジア地域
において、情報技術習得の機会拡大に貢献した。提案する遠隔講義環境は、高品質の講義映像を分散した複数教室で同時受信が可能であり、教室間のコミュニケーションも保障する。また、各参加者に仮想環境を用いた大規模演習環境を提供する。提案手法を 2006 年及び 2008 年にアジア規模ワー
クショップとして実践し、評価を通してその実現性と有用性を明らかにした。
Keywords: IT education, Workshop, Remote laboratory, Distance learning, Educational technology

KEIO SFC JOURNAL Vol.8 No.2 2008

59

特集

アジアにおけるネットワークと遠隔教育

experiences of School on Internet Asia (SOI Asia)[1].

1 Introduction
Educational development is a gradual process

SOI Asia is a distance education project working

to achieve new approaches which improve existing

on a collaborative model to globalize education in

education systems by addressing recent demands

Asia region since 2001. With region-wide partnerand circumstances. These developments areuniversities, autonomous operation is achieved byprogressing throughout the world to educate humaneducating human resources to be able to maintain

resources in different contexts and constraints. In

their local facilities. Annual IT hands-on workshops

developing regions, there is high demand of humanwere held to train staff with theoretical and practicalresources in Information Technology (IT) since it has

knowledge. With an increasing number of partner

been involved in daily operations of almost all sectors,

universities, the face-to-face workshop approach ise.g. education, finance, industry and government.

not scalable due to the high overhead, as explained

However, limited teaching resources includingin Section 3. Therefore, a region-wide distanceteachers, laboratory facilities, and budgets are stilllearning environment is designed to carry out

the restricted conditions. Educational development

activities in a face-to-face workshop to a distancein this area is needed to widen learning opportunities

learning workshop as explained in Section 4. To

and to produce skilled human resources to empower

develop a computer laboratory platform for a distancesocial and economic growth in the region.

learning environment, computer virtualization

In IT education, both theoretical and practicaltechnology and large-scale computing laboratory areknowledge is essential to develop full comprehension

the two approaches which were researched for theiron learning subjects. To provide practical knowledge

feasibilities and effectiveness, as explained in Section

in an IT education program, it requires experienced

4.2.1 and 4.2.2 respectively. The different aspects

teachers and a laboratory system. In case of lackingof these approaches were analyzed with the data

these resources, learners have to obtain practicalcollected from actual implementations in Section 5.

lessons elsewhere, either at domestic or foreign

2 Related Works

training locations, but travel costs could be anotherconstraint.

There are several distance learning development

Distance education is an ongoing work toprograms that focus on sharing educational content

support teaching and learning from distant locations

region-wide or world-wide, e.g. Global Development

by applying digital and communications technologies.

Learning Network (GDLN) [2] , Association of

For educating IT human resources in developing

Pacific Rim Universities (APRU)[3], ASEAN Virtual

regions, it can deliver knowledge from experienced

Institute of Science and Technology (AVIST)[4]. The

teachers at any locations to region-wide learners

established E-learning systems commonly support

without incurring travels. However, distancecommunications between a lecturer and learners inlearning systems are mostly designed to support

both synchronous and asynchronous style. Since

lecture activities only. Therefore, further researches

they were designed for general lecture topics, they

to develop a new scheme to include IT hands-on

are not equipped with a computer laboratory system

practices are necessary.

for hands-on IT lessons.

This paper presents an educational development

On the other hand, several researches wereto research for innovative approaches of region-

proposed to support remote hands-on IT environment.

wide hands-on IT education through the actual

Remote console access technologies including VNC

60

An Educational Development on Learning Paradigm of Region-wide IT Hands-on Workshop

and Windows remote desktop were deployed [20],the approach is high considering costs of travels,

however the quality of remote access could belaboratory equipments and staff workload. In SOI

disturbed from the limited Internet conditions in

Asia project, hands-on workshops were held annuallysome developing countries. Computer virtualizationin the traditional face-to-face approach from year

technology[21,22]was utilized for hands-on practices.

2002 until 2005. Lecturers and participants traveled

These experiments are useful deployment works infrom their countries to the same location for adifferent contexts and scales. More researches are

5-7 day training program. Laboratory equipments

needed to discover suitable and practical approaches

in proportion to the number of participants mustfor the conditions of a developing region.

be arranged by purchase, rental or loan fromother sources. Laboratory administration tasks to

3 Face-to-Face Approach

prepare these equipments according to the given

The traditional approach of an IT hands-on

lab designs were carried out manually, thus humanworkshop is the face-to-face model which classworkload increased corresponding to the number ofmembers, including lecturers, teaching assistants

participants.

(TAs) and learners are at the same location with

With increasing number of partner universities

laboratory facilities. With access to equipments,

over years as shown in Figure 1, the number oflearners can obtain practical experiences ofworkshop participants increased. From the point ofboth logical operations on software and physicalview of workshop capacity planning to accommodate

manipulations on hardware. However, overhead of

future expansion, the face-to-face workshop model

Face-to-faceDistance Learning

Figure 1 Workshop participants by years

KEIO SFC JOURNAL Vol.8 No.2 2008

61

特集

アジアにおけるネットワークと遠隔教育

is not scalable due to high travel overhead andlearners can share the lecture without repeatinghigh workload on manual administration of larger

transmissions to each and every site. Therefore, itlaboratory system. Therefore, the distance learning

is a bandwidth-optimized and scalable medium forapproach was designed and implemented in year

region-wide connectivity. Each learner site has a2006 and 2008 to research for innovative means

Receive-Only (RO) station to receive lectures andthat are able to deliver theoretical and practical IT

uses the local Internet connectivity to send backknowledge with less resource required.

video, audio or text communications dependingon the available bandwidth. It is a cost-effective

4 Distance Learning Approach

solution since to be able to receive the same quality

The proposed distance learning approach aimsof lectures at any locations region-wide, investing into create an environment that supports hands-on

an RO satellite station is less costly and fast-setup

workshop activities to class members at distantcompared to building a terrestrial infrastructure.

locations. It consists of a technology model, which

A lecturer site can be at any locations provided

enables region-wide distance learning with a remotethat there is a high-speed Internet connectivity tohands-on computer laboratory, and a supervision

the gateway site. The gateway site is located at themodel which defines class structure and TAs training

satellite hub station and is functioning as a bridge

process to manage distributed class components. The

to relay lecture traffics onto the satellite UDL to all

distance learning environment, described in Section

learners.

4.1, provides an effective and scalable solution for

Unidirectional Link Routing (UDLR)[9] is usedhigh-quality region-wide live communications. Hands-

to emulate full bidirectional connectivity amongon computer practices are accomplished by the two

the gateway site and learner sites to create an

approaches of remote laboratory system in Section

integrated network that supports upper-layer

4.2. The distributed class supervision model isInternet Protocols (IP) effectively. IP version

described in Section 4.3. Implementation details from

6 (IPv6) Multicast extends the advantages of

the SOI Asia project are also included respectively.

bandwidth optimization and scalability of thesatellite UDL to the IP layer. IPv6 supports a

4.1 Asia-wide Distance Learning Environment

greater number of addressable nodes, therefore

4.1.1 Network Infrastructure and Technologies

more learner sites can be accommodated.

Asia is one of the regions where distanceMulticast delivers data packets to a number oflearning faces a known problem of inadequate

destination hosts in a bandwidth-saving manner[8]

Internet quality . Therefore, the design focuses

because no duplicate packet is sent on any sharedfrom network infrastructure and network

paths. Therefore, applying IPv6 Multicast on thetechnologies which are fundamentally importantsatellite UDL, a lecture stream can be shared byto the communications quality. As shown in Figure

many learner sites in a bandwidth-optimized and2, a unidirectional broadcast satellite link, called

scalable way[8].

the satellite UDL, covering Asia is selected as the

The bandwidth requirement of the satellite

infrastructure to deliver distance learning traffics

UDL depends on the scale of a workshop because

to learner sites instead of relying on the existing

there are communications traffics from every

Internet. Because of its broadcast characteristic,

learner site and remote lab access traffics ofonce a lecture is transmitted on the satellite UDL, allevery learner. In case of the SOI Asia project, the62An Educational Development on Learning Paradigm of Region-wide IT Hands-on Workshop

Figure 2 Asia-wide Distance Learning Environment

satellite UDL bandwidth capacity is 13-Mbps andwas utilized 4-8 Mbps

[19]

sites in real-time. A demonstration of a lecturer’s lab

during the workshop in year

work can also be observed lively by remote learners.

2008 for 42 participants from 15 sites. The minimum

The proposed system for class communications isoutgoing bandwidth requirement from each learnershown in Figure 2 which the design focuses on bothsite is 128kbps to be able to transmit video/audio

functionality and practicality to deploy in the region.

streams, however it could be lower if learners only

It intends to utilize available resources at lecturer andcommunicate back by text. For a lecturer site, thelearner sites instead of demanding special hardware

required bandwidth depends on the selected video/

or software, therefore communications services areaudio application with minimum of 256 kbps.

running on PCs with basic requirement of 1GHz
CPU, 512MB RAM. Software are mostly open-sourceor self-developed operating on either Unix platform

4.1.2 Class Communications
The proposed communications system supports

or Windows platform.

conversation, presentation and demonstration

Video/Audio communications: Multi-site live

activities among class members, as shown in Figure

video and audio communications for full interactivity

3. The design keeps conversation environment to beamong class members are required because of

close to the face-to-face approach by enabling live

constant interactions during a hands-on workshop.

multi-site conversations in forms of video, audio andApplications must support IPv6 Multicast streaming

text. A Presentation of slides with animations andto save bandwidth on the satellite UDL. VIC/RAT

handwriting from a lecturer can be viewed at learnerapplications [10,11] are used by learner sites in the

KEIO SFC JOURNAL Vol.8 No.2 2008

63

特集

アジアにおけるネットワークと遠隔教育

implementation. A lecturer site may have different

Web-based live presentation: In a distance

video/audio communications systems from learnerenvironment, it is desirable that learners can easilysites. Therefore, the gateway site, as shown in Figure

access and have synchronized presentation with the2, is designed to be able to communicate with those

lecturer. LivePresenter is an application developed

systems at a lecturer site and relay the video/audio

by SOI Asia to assist a lecturer to share synchronizedstreams to the applications used at learner sites,

views of slides with animations and handwriting toand vice versa. In SOI Asia, it currently supports

learners through the flash plug-in of web browsers.

a lecturer site which uses VIC/RAT, DVTS

[23]

, or

A raw presentation in several formats, e.g. PDF,

[24]

H.323

.

PowerPoint, is converted to flash media before

Text-based communications: Beside verbal

the lecture starts. The web-based approach eases

communications, a text-based communications

learners’ accessibility.

system is required to exchange text information in

Web-based live Unix terminal display: In

hands-on exercises. It is also important as a backup

Unix-based hands-on workshop, lecturers often

system when video/audio communications aredemonstrate some work examples on lab computers

unclear. IRC[12]

is used in the implementation. Eachto explain the given assignments. To support theclass member uses an IRC client on his/her PC todemonstration in a distance class, LiveTTY is a toolconnect to the IRC server at the gateway site, as

developed by SOI Asia based on TTYPlayer [13] toshown in Figure 2.

display a lecturer’s terminal to learner sites in real-

Figure 3 Class Communications

64

An Educational Development on Learning Paradigm of Region-wide IT Hands-on Workshop

Table 1 Workshop content and lab scenarios
Lab No.

1

2

3

OS
FreeBSD6.1(2006)FreeBSD6.2(2008)FreeBSD6.1(2006)FreeBSD6.2(2008)
FedoraCore4(2006)
FedoraCore6(2008)

Network
Topology
1-2Content of hands-on practices
Router configuration: Basic- IPv6 network- IPv6 Unicast routing- IPv6 Multicast routing
Router configuration: SOI Asia specific setup11Server configuration- Web/ Web cache/ DHCP/ DNS/ Video and audio streaming services- SOI Asia file distribution service

time through the java applet on a web browser. The

quality.

content transmissions of both LivePresenter and

The SOI Asia workshop content and hands-

LiveTTY to clients at lecturer and learner sites areon lab scenarios are shown in Table 1, a learnerconnected through the server at the gateway site.

practices to configure PC-based router and serverwith required services. Network topologies whichconnect lab computers change according to lessons.

4.2 Remote Computer Laboratory
Computer laboratory platform for distance

The equipments required for the workshop are alearning is an important development which will

number of PCs and network switches. The PCs forrealize an IT hands-on distance education model

practicing routers require two network interfaces.

and open new opportunities to mobilize practicalIn this study, SOI Asia has researched on

IT knowledge to more region-wide learners. The

computer virtualization technology and large-scale

platform design focuses on two main qualities: its

computing laboratory to create a hands-on education

functionality to support live hands-on work fromplatform for distance learning in year 2006 and 2008

distant locations and its scalability to accommodate

respectively. The computer virtualization model islarger laboratory with less human workload in which

explained in Section 4.2.1. The large-scale computing

the integrity of laboratory configurations is high. In

testbed model is explained in Section 4.2.2.

term of functionality, system must support lecturers’
lab designs including hardware specifications,4.2.1 Computer Virtualization Technology

operating systems (OS), software compatibilities

Computer virtualization is a technology thatand network topologies. The system must support

allows a physical machine with virtualization software,remote hands-on work from learners, remotecalled a virtualization server, to create a number ofmonitoring and troubleshooting from lecturers

virtual machines (VM) with desired specifications,and TAs, and remote laboratory administration.

e.g. CPU, RAM, harddisk, network interfaces.

The scalability of the platform targets on effective

Network connectivity among these VMs can also

management of larger laboratory rather than reduced

be created according to the given configurations.

number of equipments if it affects the teaching

The virtual network can connect to Internet and

KEIO SFC JOURNAL Vol.8 No.2 2008

65

特集

アジアにおけるネットワークと遠隔教育

allows communications between VMs and external

which requires higher bandwidth for the connection.

networks. Each VM can perform functions like

Therefore only lecturers and TAs who had gooda physical machine, e.g. hosts an OS, configuresconnectivity to servers used it to monitor learners’

system and network, runs software services andactivities on VMs.

communicates with other VMs or real hosts.

Laboratory administration in the computer

Applying computer virtualization technology

virtualization environment is convenient comparing

to accommodate the SOI Asia hands-on workshop

to manual administration of the same number of

[5,6]

2006

, a laboratory environment according to Table

1 was created by VMware[18]

lab computers. It is because the number of actualfor 42 participants at

physical machines to be administered is reduced

16 sites. Six virtualization servers with minimum

and the management of VMs can be operated

performance of a single CPU Celeron Dual-Core 3.0

through VMware software. Lab preparation is done

GHz, 1GB Memory, were placed at the satellite hub

by creating a master copy of a VM with required

station. Each server hosted 6-12 VMs depending on

specification and reproducing identical VMs for

its performance. Each learner is assigned a VM tothe rest. The computer virtualization technology

execute hands-on tasks and requires a PC to be an

requires less human workload to create a laboratory

access terminal to the assigned VM. Remote accessenvironment and to ensure its integrity.

was provided by serial console redirection throughSSH[15] as shown in Figure 4. The basic performance

4.2.2 Large-Scale Computing Laboratory

requirement of a terminal PC is Pentium 800Mhz,

StarBED[14] is a large-scale computing testbed

256MB RAM. An alternative method for remoteconsisted of 680 high-performance computers

access was the VMware server console applicationand network switch clusters to interconnect those

Figure 4 Computer virtualization in distance learning66

An Educational Development on Learning Paradigm of Region-wide IT Hands-on Workshop

computers for desired topologies. StarBED provides

node are connected to a switch cluster that cana realistic computer and network environment tobe programmed to create network topologies

support research and education usage which requires

interconnecting StarBED nodes or to externala large-scale system with flexible management.

networks. Different lab topologies for hands-on

StarBED was deployed to create a laboratory

exercises are created on this experiment network

environment according to Table 1 in year 2008

by VLAN configurations without physical topology

for 42 participants from 15 sites. A cluster of high-intervention, thus it simplifies lab administration

performance StarBED nodes (Pentium4 3.2GHz,

tasks to manage network topologies for a large

8GB RAM) were allocated. Since they are physicalnumber of nodes. Lab preparation can be carriedmachines, hardware compatibility test for theout in a similar way to the computer virtualization by

given lab designs is required beforehand, however

creating a master disk image of a lab machine andthe identical hardware set reduces the number

duplicating it to other machines. With automatedof test cases. Each assigned StarBED node has 4

processes, it requires less human workload to create

network interfaces. One which is connected to thea laboratory environment and to ensure its integrity

management network is for remote access andcompared to manual installation.

control. A learner connects to the assigned StarBED

Since StarBED environment is located at anode by SSH through the StarBED’s gateway as

different site from class members, it is helpful for

shown in Figure 5. Lecturers and TAs also use theteachers and TAs to be able to remotely perform

same method to access StarBED nodes to monitor

preliminary administration tasks which usuallylearners’ work.

require physical attendance, e.g. to access a node’s

Other network interfaces of the StarBED

console to fix boot failure caused by a learner’s

Figure 5 StarBED deployment in distance learning

KEIO SFC JOURNAL Vol.8 No.2 2008

67

特集

アジアにおけるネットワークと遠隔教育

Figure 6 A remote class supervision model

misconfigurations. StarBED provides remote consolea class is not native in some learning sites, it is[16]

desirable that learners can consult their TAs in local

access and power management by KVM-over-IP[17]

and IPMI techniques

respectively.

language. When problems or questions cannot beanswered by local TAs, they can be forwarded to thelecturer or TAs at remote sites. The TAs at remote

4.3 Distributed Class Supervision Model
The technologies proposed in Section 4.1 and 4.2

sites are experienced TAs who support lecturers

enable distributed locations of class members andin lab preparation and have control of laboratory

a computer laboratory by giving communications,administration. Both lecturer and TAs can checkaccess and controls over Internet. However, in the

problems on learners’ lab nodes and troubleshoot

distributed environment, it is difficult for a lecturer

accordingly.

to supervise class and lab activities without a well-With this structure, the quality of a hands-on

defined class structure and qualified TAs. Therefore,

workshop depends on local TAs, therefore it musta distributed class supervision model is proposed

be assured that local TAs have adequate knowledge

by defining a distributed TAs structure and a classand experiences on the training subjects and hands-

progress tracking system.

on exercises. In the SOI Asia workshop, the required

At every learner site, as shown in Figure 6, local

qualifications of a local TA are either those who

TAs are required to oversee local class activities

participated in previous related trainings or thoseand to assist learners in their studies. In a region-

who have experiences in daily operation. If necessary,wide learning which the language used to conduct

a TA training session prior to the workshop must be

68

An Educational Development on Learning Paradigm of Region-wide IT Hands-on Workshop

held to train for qualified TAs.

the pace of teaching accordingly. The local TA

To instruct hands-on exercises, it is very

approval capability assists lecturer to examine

important for lecturers to know learners’ work

learners’ works.

progress to determine the pace of teaching,

5 Analysis and Evaluations

especially in the region-wide case in whichlearners’ backgrounds and skills vary. In 2006,

Towards the future direction of educational

manual progress tracking by asking through thedevelopment to widen learning opportunities by

provided communications system was found not

utilizing emerging technologies, new approaches ofeffective to deal with many learners and many

region-wide IT hands-on workshop are presented inhands-on exercises. Therefore, a web-based

this paper. The proposed distance learning model

progress tracking system was introduced inwhich incorporates a remote computer laboratory2008 as shown in Figure 7. A set of checkpoints

by computer virtualization technology and large-on hands-on tasks is inputted into the proposed

scale computing platform has been proven its

system by lecturers prior to the workshop. During

feasibility through the actual implementations of

the class, a learner reports his/her progress by

SOI Asia workshops year 2006 and 2008. The face-filling in the work status of each checkpoint in a

to-face and the distance learning approach yield

web-based form. Local TAs check that the learner

different overhead and possess their own advantages.

has completed the reported steps and approve

The analysis is made based on the data collected

the reported status in a web-based approval form.

from implementations of SOI Asia workshops,

The lecturer can view the whole class status in thequestionnaires and comments from lecturers, TAs,

progress report web page in a matrix format ofparticipants and organizers.

learner names and checkpoints, then determines

The proposed distance learning approach is

Figure 7 A web-based progress tracking system

KEIO SFC JOURNAL Vol.8 No.2 2008

69

特集

アジアにおけるネットワークと遠隔教育

Table 2 Outcomes of different workshop approaches
Year
Approach#participants#participant sites#lecturers#remote lecture sites#TAs#Total travels

2005

2006

2008

Face-to-Face +local computer laboratory

Distance learning +Virtualization laboratory

Distance learning +StarBED laboratory

33
1
3
0
8 local42
1641
23 local
8 remote

42156524 local
5 remote

37 international
0 domestic

3 International
5 domestic

0 International
3 domestic

evaluated by a comparative study from the outcomescases of travels in year 2006 and 2008.

of SOI Asia project annual operator workshops inComponents of the proposed approach, includingyear 2005, 2006 and 2008 as shown in Table 2. Withthe technology model and distributed class supervision

the distance learning approach in year 2006 and 2008,

model, are analyzed in the subsequent sections.

the number of travels significantly reduced while thenumber of participants and lecturers increased. It

5.1 Asia-wide Distance Learning Environment

demonstrated that more learning opportunities can

The proposed distance learning environment

be delivered to learners without teaching resources

focuses from network layer design to support

at local. The increased number of lecturer sitesa region-wide distance learning platform which

reveals that there are more possibilities to obtaindelivers high-quality lectures’ video/audio streams.

teaching resources because the environment is

The proposed network design was evaluated[8] todesigned to support flexible locations of lecturersdeliver better quality streams with stable rate, highand a laboratory. With increasing number of partnercorrelation, low data loss and jitter compared to theuniversities in recent years, the distance learning

existing Internet at learner sites. With IPv6 Multicast

approach can scale to train more participants as

network service, the bandwidth consumed for video/

shown in Figure 1.

audio streams was significantly reduced [19] from 48

On the other hand, the required overhead at

Mbps in normal IPv4 Unicast case to 3Mbps in 2008.

each learner site are the local TAs, a PC terminal

Therefore, the proposed network infrastructure andper participant and a local distance learning system.

network technologies is scalable and support better

At least one TA per 3 participants is required in thecommunications, access and controls for a hands-on

implementation and since the environment is highly

workshop compared to the existing Internet.

distributed as there were 16 and 15 learning sites in

To evaluate from the participants’ points of2006 and 2008 respectively, more TAs were involved.

view, a questionnaire with 1-5 rating choices were

In the cases that the local distance learning system

replied from 24 out of 42 participants in 2008 and 40

is not ready or there is no qualified TA, travels areout of 42 in 2006. The 1, 2 rating are interpreted as

still required either for participants to attend thenegative feedback, 3 is fair and 4, 5 are interpreted

workshop at nearby locations or a qualified TA fromas positive. The results in Table 3 shows that theother sites is requested to come. Those were thequalities of communications in the class including70

An Educational Development on Learning Paradigm of Region-wide IT Hands-on Workshop

video/audio/text, synchronized live presentation andestimated time used to prepare 40 laboratory PCs

live demonstration are satisfactory from the relatively

in the face-to-face approach year 2005 was 120 man-positive feedbacks in both years.

hours[7]. It demonstrated that an efficient laboratory
administration system can reduce much workload
and time consumed to prepare a hands-on laboratory,

5.2 Remote Computer Laboratory
The computer virtualization and large-scale

hence both remote laboratory approaches can scalecomputing platform can achieve higher scalability

to support a larger hands-on environment.

because of their efficient laboratory management

The computer virtualization platform reduces thesystems compared to the manual administration inequipment costs compared to other two approaches

the face-to-face approach. Since they use automatedbecause a physical machine can host a number ofprocesses to construct laboratory scenarios according

VMs. With reduced number of physical machines,

to lecturers’ specifications, the deployment time isthe administration workload decreases as well. On

shorter and the integrity is higher. The deployment

the other hand, participants reported slow responsetime of each approach is analyzed as shown in Table

time working on VMs as the system load was high[19].

4. With manual laboratory administration, the total

The CPU utilization of a virtualization server were

deployment time is N times of the time used to

30 % running 6 FreeBSD VMs and 10 % running 6

prepare one laboratory machine. In virtualization

Fedora Core4 VMs in their idle states, and reachedand StarBED cases, the deployment time is the time

90 % during some peak periods[6]. In the StarBED

used to prepare one master lab machine and the timeenvironment with a dedicated high-performancefor an automated process to duplicate the mastermachine for each participant, the average CPU

machine’s image to the remaining VMs or PCs. The

utilizations measured during the workshop werepreparation of the master machine was estimated as

0.63 % and 0.59 % for FreeBSD and Fedora Core6

1 - 4 hours in the SOI Asia workshop. The deployment

respectively[19]. Table 5 shows participants’ opinionsof FreeBSD6.1 to 56 VMs in 2006 consumedon the response time of computer virtualization[6]

and the deployment ofand StarBED implementations, StarBED got a very

FreeBSD6.2 to 67 StarBED nodes in 2008 was

positive result which corresponds to the above CPU

less than 600 seconds

measured 2,552 seconds[19]. On the other hand, theutilization data.

Table 3 Evaluation of the communications qualities in the distance learning workshop

Video quality
Audio quality
IRC usage

Year

Positive

2008
2006

Fair

Negative

95.8%

4.2%

0%

87%

13%

0%

2008

91.7%

8.3%

0%

2006

77%

23%

0%

2008

91.7%

8.3%

0%

2006

100%

0%

0%

LivePresenter2008 only

91.7%

8.3%

0%

LiveTTY

2008 only

95.8%

4.2%

0%

KEIO SFC JOURNAL Vol.8 No.2 2008

71

特集

アジアにおけるネットワークと遠隔教育

Table 4 Comparative data of laboratory platforms
Year

2005

2006

2008

Face-to-Face +local computer laboratory
Yes

Distance learning +Virtualization laboratory

Distance learning +StarBED Laboratory

No

No

Integrity

MediumHigh

High

Laboratory deployment timeMxN

M + αNM + μN

Hardware fault possibilities

High

Low

High

Response time, System load

Low

High

Low

Physical laboratory PCs or servers

N+E

N/V

N+E

0

N

N

Approach
Hardware lesson

Remote terminal PC

M = Time used to prepare one laboratory machine
N = Number of participants
α = Average time to duplicate one VM from master image
μ = Average time to copy master disk image to one StarBED node
E = Extra machines for lecturers, spares, etc.
V = A number of VMs hosted in a virtualization server

effectiveness of the proposed progress tracking
system to realize the class progress, 100 % positive

5.3 Remote Class Supervision Model
The proposed remote class supervision

feedbacks from lecturers were received.

model is evaluated by feedbacks from participants
and lecturers as shown in Table 6. The lecturer

5.4 Overall Evaluations

questionnaire was replied from 4 out of 4 in 2006 andTable 7 shows the overall evaluations by learners

4 out of 6 in 2008. For the distributed TAs structure,in 2006 and 2008. In general, learners’ impressions

lecturers and learners found the local TAs weretoward both workshops were highly positive. Most

helpful to assist them through the workshop. A pre-of them found the lessons and practical experiences

workshop TA training session is considered to be anthey gained from the workshops will be useful for

important process to improve TAs ability to supervise

their future operations. The effectiveness of distancelocal participants. With the provided communications

learning workshop with computer virtualization

system, most learners felt they could communicate

was evaluated 95 % positive. As well, 91.7 % ofwell with other sites, however some lecturers

participants gave positive feedbacks on the distance

expected more conversations since participantslearning workshop with StarBED. In term of teaching

mostly communicated with local TA first. For theworkshop, most lecturers found participants obtained

Table 5 Evaluation data of the response time

Lab response timeYear

Positive

2008

100%

0%

0%

2006

60%

20%

16%

72

Fair

Negative

An Educational Development on Learning Paradigm of Region-wide IT Hands-on Workshop

knowledge useful for operation while the effectivenesslocations concurrently. To maintain educationof the model was moderately evaluated.

performance, the workshop scale must consider

With affordable system requirement which

other factors including learners’ backgrounds,

utilizes PC-based communications services, it

content level, TAs quality.

increases the possibility for a site to participate inas a lecturer or a learner site. The satellite UDL is a

6 Conclusion

cost-effective solution to ensure lecture quality when

The importance of researching new educationalterrestrial infrastructure is not ready or inadequate.

environments for IT human resource development

The total number of participating sites, both lecturer

in developing region is addressed as there are

and learner sites, are 17 and 20 sites in 2006 andshortages of resources, facilities and budgets to teach2008 respectively. The workshop content can also

practical IT knowledge. Distance learning approach iscover more topics which is PC-based operation, e.g.

proposed to construct an environment which region-

programming, Internet services. Workshop content

wide learners can receive high-quality theoreticalwith GUI is possible but the design has to carefully

lecture and also learn practical hands-on lessons. The

consider the required bandwidth of remote accessproposed communications system supports live multi-

with the class members’ network qualities. Withsite human interactivities to collaboratively work eventhe proposed technologies, a hands-on workshop

when they are at different locations. Two approaches

can scale to accommodate more learners at moreof remote computer laboratory were researched

Table 6 Evaluation data of the remote class supervision

Local TA

Communications

Progress tracking

SourceYear

Positive

Fair

Negative

Lecturers

2008

Learners

2008

100%

0%

0%

79.2%

20.8%

0%

Lecturers

2006

Learners

2006

100%

0%

0%

82.5%

12.5%

5%

Lecturers

2008

50%

50%

0%

Learners

2008

91.7%

8.3%

0%

Lecturers

2006

0%

50%

50%

Learners

2006

92.5%

5%

2.5%

Lecturers

2008 only

100%

0%

0%

Learners

2008 only

87.5%

4.2%

8.3%

Table 7 Evaluation data of the overall workshop quality
Year
Usefulness to operation
Workshop effectiveness
Future participation

Positive

Fair

Negative

2006

98%

2%

0%

2008

100%

0%

0%

2006

95%

5%

0%

2008

91.7%

8.3%

0%

2006

87%

13%

0%

2008

100%

0%

0%

KEIO SFC JOURNAL Vol.8 No.2 2008

73

特集

アジアにおけるネットワークと遠隔教育

and proven feasible through actual implementationsof SOI Asia workshop. Computer virtualization
technology has advantages on its reduced resources
and convenient administration but the system loadof a virtualization server must be controlled for
acceptable response time. StarBED provides highperformance nodes with efficient adminstration,
therefore it is satisfactory to lecturers, participants
and TAs.
Evaluations and analysis from actual implementations of SOI Asia workshop 2005 (face-to-face), 2006
(distance learning & virtualization), 2008 (distancelearning & StarBED) have shown interesting aspectsof performance, incurred costs and opinions ofclass members toward these approaches. Learners
and lecturers gave very positive responses in their
participations in distance learning approach as
they could obtain knowledge useful for their future
operations. The design aspects, implementation
details and evaluations provided in this paper cancontribute to the future researches and deploymentsof IT hands-on distance education.

74

An Educational Development on Learning Paradigm of Region-wide IT Hands-on Workshop

References

Systems Review, 40(2), pp.100-104, 2006.
[22] S. Rigby and M. Dark, Designing a flexible, multipurpose
remote lab for the IT curriculum, SIGITE '06, Proc. of the
7th Conference on Information Technology Education, 2006,
pp.161-164.
[23] A. Ogawa, K. Kobayashi, K. Sugiura, O. Nakamur & J. Murai,
Design and implementation of DV stream over Internet,
Internet Workshop, 1999, pp.255-260.
[24] Packet-based multimedia communications systems, http://www.
itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.323-200606-I/en[1] S. Mikawa, P. Basu, Y. Tsuchimoto, K. Okawa & J. Murai,
Multilateral Distance Lecture Environment on the Internet for
Asian Universities, The journal of Information and Systems in
Education, Vol. 5, 2006, pp.84-93.
[2] GDLN, http://www.gdln.org/[3] K. Allen & W. Poh-Kam, Technology Spin-Offs from Pacific
Rim Universities: Entrepreneurial Context and Economic
Impact, Proc. 23rd Annual Entrepreneurship Research Conf.,
Boston, MA. 2003.
[4] K. Kanchanasut, A. Nualchawee & P. Arunwatanamonkol,
Science and Technology Human Resource Development:
E-learning initiative for ASEAN, Proc. eLearningAP 2004,
Bangkok. Aug. 2004, pp.209-212.
[5] S. Mikawa, P.e Basu, K. Okawa & J. Murai, An Asia-Wide
Realtime Distributed Hands-On Workshop, International
Symposium on Applications and the Internet Workshops(SAINTW'07), Hiroshima, Japan. 2007, p.41.
[6] A. Basuki, A. H. Thamrin, K. Okawa & J. Murai, A Remote
Hands-on Exercise Environment for an Asia-Wide Real-TimeWorkshop, International Symposium on Applications and theInternet Workshop, Japan. 2007, p.38.
[7] P. Basu, S. Mikawa, A. Basuki, A.H. Thamrin, K. Okawa & J.
Murai, Combination of Online Virtual Computer Laboratory andRegion-wide Distance Learning for IT Education in Asia, Proc.
World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia andTelecommunications, Canada.2007, pp.1261-1269.
[8] P. Basu, A.H. Thamrin, S. Mikawa, K. Okawa & J. Murai,Internet Technologies and Infrastructure for Asia-Wide Distance
Education, International Symposium on Applications and theInternet, Hiroshima, Japan. 2007, p.3.
[9] E. Duros, W. Dabbous, H. Izumiyama, N. Fjuii & Y. Zhang, A
Link Layer Tunneling Mechanism for Unidirectional Links,
RFC 3077, 2001.
[10] C. Perkins, V. Hardman, I. Kouvelas & A. Sasse, Multicast
Audio: The Next Generation, Proc. INET'97, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. 1997.
[11] S. McCanne & V. Jacobson, vic: A Flexible Framework
Framework for Packet Video. Proc. ACM Multimedia '95, San
Francisco, CA. 1995, pp.511-522.
[12] J. Oikarinen & D. Reed, Internet Relay Chat Protocol, RFC 1459,
1993.
[13] TTYPLAYER, http://www-masu.ist.osaka-u.ac.jp/~kakugawa/misc/ttyplayer/index-en.shtml[14] T. Miyachi, K. Chinen & Y. Shinoda,StarBED and SpringOS:
Large-scale General Purpose Network Testbed and Supporting
Software, Proc. International Conference on Performance
Evaluation Methodlogies and Tools, Pisa, Italy. 2006.
[15] T. Ylonen & C. Lonvick, The Secure Shell (SSH) Authentication
Protocol, RFC 4252, 2006. http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4252.txt[16] Raritan Inc., http://www.raritan.com[17] Intel Corporation, IPMI v2.0 specifications[18] The virtualization VMware Server 1.0.0, http://www.vmware.
com/products/server/[19] P. Basu, S. Mikawa, A. Basuki, A.H. Thamrin, K. Okawa &J. Murai, An Asia-wide Distributed Hands-on Workshop:
Synchronous Learning and Large-scale Computing Laboratory,
Proc. Computers and Advanced Technology in Education, Crete,
Greece. 2008.
[20] W. C. Summers, Bhagyavati & C. Martin, Using a virtual lab
to teach an online information assurance program, Proc. of the
2nd Annual Conference on Information Security Curriculum
Development, 2008, pp.84-87.
[21] J. Nieh & C. Vaill, Experiences teaching operating systems
using virtual platforms and Linux, ACM SIGOPS Operating〔2008.6.30 受理〕〔2009.1. 8 採録〕

KEIO SFC JOURNAL Vol.8 No.2 200875