Creating Engaging In-Classroom Labs for Demonstration

[jcrochon]

Fellow Instructors,

I’m curious about how you approach developing and delivering classroom labs, especially when there’s a need to differentiate from the provided CertMaster Labs or similar online lab environments. As we know, hands-on labs are essential for reinforcing concepts and giving students practical experience, but I want to explore ways to avoid redundancy while keeping the content engaging and effective.

Here are some points to consider:

Preferred Lab Environment:
- Do you tend to use physical hardware setups, or do you prefer virtual machines and simulations? In Cisco instruction, for example, Packet Tracer allows us to demonstrate network configurations without needing physical equipment, but what’s your go-to?

Guidebooks or Resources:
- Are there specific guidebooks, manuals, or resources you rely on for inspiration when designing in-classroom labs? I find that instructor guides provided by some vendors can be helpful, but I’m always looking for more diverse options that can complement the CertMaster Labs.

Unique Lab Scenarios:
- How do you ensure the lab scenarios you create are unique and add value beyond what’s covered in CertMaster or other vendor-provided labs? For instance, do you design scenario-based labs that connect multiple topics together, or do you prefer to break down complex tasks into smaller, focused demos?

Balancing Physical and Virtual Components:
- How do you strike the right balance between using physical hardware versus virtual environments like Packet Tracer or VMware? I find that while virtual environments are convenient, physical hardware can sometimes provide a more tactile learning experience. What has worked best for you and your students?

Please feel free to share your strategies, experiences, and any tips for creating in-class labs that are engaging, challenging, and complementary to the existing CertMaster content.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Prof. Jason C. Rochon, CISSP

 

[BrianFord]

At the Partner Conference, Master Instructor @Lee McWhorter spoke about this when he delivered his Network+ update. I was a Network Academy instructor, so I know that in those institutions, there is often access to a lab for instructor demos and student learning.

As an instructor, I think the challenge is building and maintaining interesting educational lab environments and demos. You mentioned Packet Tracer (which is awesome), but as an instructor, you need to allocate hours per month to maintain that environment. If your school has a lab that's more hours that you need to spend on maintenance. Even if you have a dedicated resource to maintain your lab, you still have to make sure that all instructors are up to date with upgrades and changes.

When it comes to demos, I try to use a variation of the 80-20 rule. I focus on the 20% that nobody else is going to tell students about. There are probably thousands of YouTube videos on using nmap. There are not many on what's in the STIGs or using OpenSCAP.

I teach for CompTIA now, so we don't talk about other people's products, whether they're good (great) or bad (awful).

 

[Jeff Strain]

I love AWS Academy, as students can use AWS as a lab environment for free, with no credit card required. It has controls in place, so some things are impossible, but most are. The cool thing here is that cloud computing is in demand. It gives them experience with a real environment many may interact with after graduating.

I use it heavily for my Linux classes and have a shortened of the hands-on part of my courses posted in youtube -

I also use this heavily for my cloud architecting, cybersecurity, networking, etc.

We have some physical stuff for our entry-level, A+ aligned course. We also have a hands-on IoT course that has all sorts of equipment.

 

[jarrelrivera]

Fellow Instructors,

I’m curious about how you approach developing and delivering classroom labs, especially when there’s a need to differentiate from the provided CertMaster Labs or similar online lab environments. As we know, hands-on labs are essential for reinforcing concepts and giving students practical experience, but I want to explore ways to avoid redundancy while keeping the content engaging and effective.

Preferred Lab Environment:
- Do you tend to use physical hardware setups, or do you prefer virtual machines and simulations? In Cisco instruction, for example, Packet Tracer allows us to demonstrate network configurations without needing physical equipment, but what’s your go-to?

• for intro courses such as Cisco's IT essentials or Cisco's CCST, packet tracer is alright.
• for higher level certs, I prefer hands-on labs i.e. real routers and switches, co'z they need to know how to do tasks in real world scenario. The Cisco IOS commands doesn't change much so it is alright to keep the lab for years.
• for security courses, virtual labs are preferred.

The platforms, apps, and interfaces frequently change hence, I like to use CertMaster instead, so as to minimize server and client administration on my part. I just need to enrol the students, and voila! the labs are set.

Guidebooks or Resources:
- Are there specific guidebooks, manuals, or resources you rely on for inspiration when designing in-classroom labs? I find that instructor guides provided by some vendors can be helpful, but I’m always looking for more diverse options that can complement the CertMaster Labs.

• For vendor-specific course deliveries, I prefer to use the vendor's documentation i.e. Microsoft, Splunk, Palo Alto, etc.
• For Linux, I look at RedHat materials, and the guides from Linux Foundation.

Unique Lab Scenarios:
- How do you ensure the lab scenarios you create are unique and add value beyond what’s covered in CertMaster or other vendor-provided labs? For instance, do you design scenario-based labs that connect multiple topics together, or do you prefer to break down complex tasks into smaller, focused demos?

It depends on the course delivery. If it is client-based, then you should tailor-fit the course to the apps / systems used by the client. i.e. for CySA+ delivery, if the client uses Nessus for vulnerability assessment, then we use Nessus. Otherwise, I might opt to use Greenbone's OpenVAS instead.

Balancing Physical and Virtual Components:
- How do you strike the right balance between using physical hardware versus virtual environments like Packet Tracer or VMware? I find that while virtual environments are convenient, physical hardware can sometimes provide a more tactile learning experience. What has worked best for you and your students?

Budget and resources play a key role.

• Do you have the resources to keep, update and maintain a physical lab? Then do so. That'd be your competitive advantage over others.
• If you have the budget, but not the resources to update and maintain a physical lab, then you may opt to go for CertMaster labs instead.
• If you don't have the budget nor the resources, then build your own lab with an LTSC license perhaps.

I hope these help.

 

[Retro-HiDef]

Another low hanging fruit approach is creating interactive PowerPoint presentations in where students choose the correct options to move ahead. I've created some of these for lessons and have received positive feedback from my students. Just a thought and I want to add that I like to see teachers/instructors thinking of ways to create interactive lesson plans. This is a great way to teach students who learn by doing. Whatever you decide to do please share with us, thank you.