Activity Theory and Assessment Theory in the Design and Understanding of the Packet Tracer Ecosystem

Simulation environments make it possible for science and engineering students to learn to interact with complex systems. Putting these capabilities to effective use for learning and for assessing learning requires more than a simulation environment alone. It requires a conceptual framework for the knowledge, skills, and ways of thinking that are meant to be developed, in order to design activities through which students develop these capabilities. It requires tools, both physical and conceptual, for students to interact with simulated systems, peers, and instructors; for instructors and students to create simulation tasks that are in their zones of proximal development, and get feedback about their actions; and for curriculum designers to design both the tools and the strategies for their use that are faithful to the domain itself and how students develop proficiency in it. This worked example describes how these challenges were addressed in the context of the Cisco Networking Academies with a simulation ...