Building a Sustainable ICT Remote Access Lab through Student Lab-Worker Projects

Final Paper pdf 340KB

This paper details the experiences of a paid undergraduate student lab-worker project that involved building, troubleshooting, and maintaining a quarter million-dollar network infrastructure used to deliver remotely accessible information and computer technology (ICT) labs. The infrastructure, known as the Academic Network Operations Center (ANOC), provides 24/7 remote-lab access to more than 500 students in 20 graduate and undergraduate courses annually. The assembly and ongoing maintenance of the ANOC by student lab-workers makes the project cost effective and also provides opportunities for the student lab-workers to apply their classroom knowledge and skills to meaningful work experience within the College. Using a case study approach, this paper provides details on the processes, procedures, and policies implemented at the department and college level to make these types of student managed remote labs a viable alternative for higher education institutions.

Author(s):

John Pickard    
Technology Systems
East Carolina University
United States

Mark Angolia    
Technology Systems
ECu
United States

Phil Lunsford    
Technology Systems
East Carolina University
United States

Taylor Broach    
Technology Systems
ECU
United States