Sabbatical @NCAR

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Scott Quinn

Datacommunications Faculty Lead Portland Community College

2014-10-31

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Portland Community College

Portland, Oregon• “As the largest post-secondary institution in Oregon, PCC serves more than 93,000 full-time and part-time students.”

• “(PCC has) four comprehensive campuses, eight centers and dozens of independent locations throughout the community…”

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Portland Community College

Portland, Oregon• There are hundreds of full time faculty members at PCC

• Only one full time instructor is developing classes in the field of Data Communications

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Portland Community College

Portland, Oregon• Clearly that one instructor must be prepared

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Useful Classes

• Have you ever taken a college class and wondered if what you were learning would ever be useful?

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Instruction Rooted in Personal Experience

• Imagine taking a geology class from an instructor who has read about the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens

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Instruction Rooted in Personal Experience

• Now imagine taking the same class from someone who has been on the mountain to experience the power of the eruption

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The Prepared Mind

• Only instructors with current experience can effectively answer that question

“What’s it like to be a networking professional?”

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Instruction Rooted in Personal Experience

• I asked for a sabbatical to update my experience with active networks

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How Does My Sabbatical Help My Students?

• In order to be an effective instructor, I need to answer the following question: What skills and attributes does a student need in order to be successful in the field of networking?

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Why Visit NCAR?

• I started my career at NCAR• NCAR has always used cutting-edge

technologies• NCAR networking is widely

respected

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Scott at NCAR

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Valuable NCAR Experience

• There are two areas I’ve explored while here:– The technologies and how they are used– NETS group dynamics

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Factors That Have Lead to a Successful

Sabbatical at NCAR• The NETS welcoming attitude: Everyone has been generous with their time and has warmly included me, even at lunches and coffee breaks

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Factors That Have Lead to a Successful

Sabbatical at NCAR• Support: Whenever

I have needed help, people have consistently made themselves available to help me reach my goals

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Factors That Have Lead to a Successful

Sabbatical at NCAR• Access to Resources: The staff has gone out of their way to make sure I had what I needed, from being able to look closely at antennas on the roof to being invited into the wiring closets.

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Factors That Have Lead to a Successful

Sabbatical at NCAR• Access to Documentation: Diagrams and text documents have been generously shared

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Factors That Have Lead to a Successful

Sabbatical at NCAR• Insights into group dynamics: You have invited me into your group meetings so I can see how effective teams work

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Factors That Have Lead to a Successful

Sabbatical at NCAR• Inclusion in communication: The staff has included me in nearly all group electronic conversations, so I can see what information is needed to help make a group effective

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What Must Students Learn to be Successful

• The answer must cover two areas:– Technical skills– Communication skills

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What We Teach

• At PCC we put the emphasis on technical skills in our classes.

• Communication skills are equally important

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Some Updated Technical Information

• What kind of cable is used for networking, both in the local area and for Internetworking?

• How is building interconnection accomplished?

• How does wireless communication fit into today’s network architecture?

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Some Updated Technical Information

• How are VLANs most effectively deployed?

• Where is layer 3 networking preferred over layer 2?

• What is effective network management?

• What is an effective response time to a problem?

• What does it take to implement and robustly support VoIP?

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Some Updated Technical Information

• What does useful documentation look like?

• How is an equipment rack effectively used?

• How is heat and power properly managed in a data center?

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Other Updated Information

• What makes a good background, (experience, education, and social) to enter the field of networking?

• What is better learned on the job than in a classroom?

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Other Updated Information

• What kind of communication is effective?

• When are face-to-face meetings the best choice?

• When is telephone communication more effective?

• How does a department communicate/share configuration changes?

• How are decisions made?

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How NETS has Been Especially Helpful

• Providing me with an office. • Including me in meetings and email

communication has been great• The universal welcoming attitude,

complete with smiles really helps

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What Would Have Made My Visit More Beneficial?• The NETS environment has been

almost ideal for my purposes. However, things that would have helped a bit include:– More time!!– Access to the Wiki. – A clearer way to see when people are likely to be

around and available.– The ability to use my cell phone in the building

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Summary Reading and talking to vendors is

not enough to keep up with our field’s rapid technological changes

Embedding in a cutting-edge, functioning networking environment provides tremendous insights

NETS has been an excellent environment to learn in

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