Student stories
The teacher Todd Booth asked his students (in D0025N Data Communications) the following question: “What have you learned, in this class?” Here is the answer from BSc student Daniel Dackemo:
"Wow that's a big question. I learned a lot more than I ever thought was possible in a 7.5p course. I had no idea before this class how big Datacom is as a subject. And the way the course was taught was amazing. With the 2 books and the handmade classes form you it’s one of the greatest experiences in my life. During those weeks I totally lived in Datacom mode. Every single waken hour I either discussed the topics with friends and IT workers or read books. And it’s still going on though I have limited time because of the 2 new classes we are having at the moment. Outside of this I learned that the best way to teach is to be interested in the subject and to have a burning eager to learn more yourself. That interest you showed and joy about the subject affected all the students. And that is something more teachers should learn.
I think I knew the subject pretty good when the class started but I was far from reality. The deepness in your lectures was very high and I’m still blown away with the fact that you manage to learn us that much in so short period of time without ever a minute of boredom. I learned communication from devices to other devices layer by layer. I learned to subnet both ipv4 form the class and a bit of ipv6 for the company assignment. I learn how important security is every single minute on a connected device. I learned how to set up a Friday night of fun with a broadcast storm and the results it can have on the computers. I'm very careful when i use internet nowadays. I use signature for emailing when i can, I always use https when possible due to HTTPS anywhere. I learned by myself as interested in the stuff to setup and use virtual machine for my kids computer, it’s a great way to control what’s being done with the comp and to restore it.
Often i see both private users and organizations lack of security and I try to help them with what i can. It’s everything from securing there Wireless to password protect their routers and switches. I had full control of 4 friends wireless and now I manage to get all of them to protect themself with wpa2 and to be more careful when surfing around and choosing password. I made copies of my security report and gave them to some friends and relatives to give them some knowledge of security and authorization and they didn't know that stuff before. I don´t take much to learn a bit more than average in security and what you can protect yourself from happening is priceless."
Daniel then added the following update, which includes advice for other students>
It’s also important to do something extra in the education that separates you from the other students. Here is where stuff aside from the courses takes place. Instead of just studying and doing what you have to get a decent grade like everyone else, you should get out there! You should attend and compete in events like the IDG and InternetWorld WebDays event. This will help you expand your network of connections and allow you to broadcast your messages. The knowledge you have doesn´t matter if no one knows about it.
Even though it was the final week of classes for this term me and some friends managed to dedicate two days
to compete with ExjobbLuleå at the webdays. I competed in the IDG and InternetWorld “webdays” and my team won the contest (with John Degerman, Jessica Broström and Carl-Magnus Helgegren). The result was like about 90 votes on our group and less than 10 votes on the others. The price was a glass with LTUs logo J. But the best with it was to be able to participate on that day for free (Entry fee was 5000kr otherwise) and to be able to make contacts in the IT and media business. I made a lot of LinkedIn contacts. We also got a ticket in to the international competition "The Open Data Challenge" (the 1st price there is 20000euro). We still hope to win that one, and hopefully that´s worth a big nice article.
