Evaluation of the virtual network laboratory exercises using a method based on the rough set theory

The development of computer network technologies increased the importance of network professional's education and resulted in extensive research in the field of computer science education. Virtual networking laboratories have been very popular in the past few years, especially for training and education of network professionals. These laboratories are emulated computer network environments, based on virtualization technology, and have a number of advantages comparing to classical laboratories. Even with a large number of developed laboratory platforms, there are a small number of attempts to evaluate these systems and to find out how effective they are. This paper presents an approach to the evaluation of the virtual networking laboratory, primarily by the evaluation of its exercises used for a computer‐networking course at the university. We are going to employ an approach based on the relation of indiscernibility and the rough set theory in order to produce a model based on if–then rules, starting from low‐level data. This model helps to identify the most important parts and eventual mistakes in the evaluated exercises, creating the possibility for their improvement and overall student's achievement as well. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 20: 29–37, 2012