Introducing Engineering Undergraduate Students to Network Management Techniques: a Hands-on approach using the Citylab Smart City

The computer network industry is preparing for the revolution caused by the virtualization of the network infrastructure. The virtualization of network functions, together with the network programmability, is a fundamental skill-set required in both electrical engineers and computer scientists, which will become even more significant in the upcoming years. Therefore, in this article, we present an educational framework for Service Function Chaining (SFC) practical teaching to undergraduate students aiming to prepare them for future Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and communication networks market that will demand skillful professionals in the domain. The educational framework was designed for the Network Management course at the University of Antwerp. To structure the content of the framework’s sessions, we explain the fundamental concepts behind the SFC. Moreover, we detail the framework objectives, sessions, and how we plan to evaluate it. We also present facts and works that endorse the hands-on teaching preparing students for the research and development in the new generation communication networks arena. After, we discuss the methodology of the educational framework alignment with joint ACM/IEEE Computer Engineering Curricula for Network Management courses. Next, we present possible outcomes during the course evaluation using the survey. We conclude which this educational framework achieves the necessary core learning outcomes to empower students concerning the practical steps when deploying and managing communication networks and the virtualization techniques which nowadays are being applied.