Enhancing engagement of first-year undergraduates with communications protocols

What is it about?

Describes the development of an open-source protocol simulator specifically designed to be easy to use and engaging for the use of first-year undergraduates, and reports on experiences of introducing the simulator into first-year courses allowing students to design and evaluate their own protocols for energy-constrained wireless sensor networks.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Describes the benefits of the active-learning approach the use of a simulator enables, and discusses the difficulties with using existing, highly-complex protocol simulators in first-year modules. This simulator provides an alternative, with clear animations and visual interface to promote engagement and understanding.