Chapter 1: Welcome to the Cisco Networking Academy

This chapter will discuss:

 The origins of Cisco Networking Academy

 The features of our global educational community

 The Networking Academy partners

 The roles within a Cisco Networking Academy and membership requirements

The Cisco Networking Academy Story

Cisco Networking Academy was established in response to a growing need for skilled network administrators within
schools. A small group of inspired educators and Cisco engineers envisioned an educational program that would
deliver networking skills training to students. These students could then assist in designing, building, and maintaining
school computer networks, while acquiring skills that could lead to industry certification and future job opportunities.
Business leaders at Cisco supported the fledgling program, resulting in the development of the Cisco Certified
Network Associate (CCNA) curriculum. Plans for offering additional courses gained support and momentum, leading
to the creation of IT Essentials, CCNA Security, and the Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) curricula. This
idea of training students to support school networks evolved into the Cisco Networking Academy. The Networking
Academy program provides students with essential computer, networking, and troubleshooting skills for increased
competitiveness in a global economy.

In 1997, the Cisco Networking Academy was launched at 64 educational institutions in seven U.S. states. Networking
Academy courses are now offered in multiple languages and delivered to over one million students annually in more
than 170 countries, including many emerging markets. Since inception, over 6.9 million students have enrolled in
Networking Academy courses that are offered by more than 9,500 academies in high schools, technical schools,
colleges, universities, and community-based organizations around the world.

Global Educational Community

Cisco Networking Academy is a global educational community based on partnerships between Cisco, educational
institutions, businesses, governments, non-profit organizations, non-governmental organizations, and Information
Communication Technology (ICT) experts around the world. The program prepares students for higher education in
computer science and engineering, as well as for networking, information, and computer technology-related jobs in
the public and private sectors. It creates a qualified talent pool that can design, build, and maintain network
infrastructures.

Cisco Networking Academy delivers courses based on the types of work environments a student may encounter.
These courses include interactive learning tools that use technology to provide guidance and opportunities for
exploration and experimentation.

We believe the Internet has the power to enable anytime, anywhere learning for all students, regardless of location,
socioeconomic status, gender, or race. Cisco Networking Academy supports this vision by helping people around the
world gain the skills needed to participate in the global economy.

After more than 20 years of success, the Cisco Networking Academy continues to strengthen its impact within our
global community with a renewed focus on connecting Networking Academy students with ICT jobs.
Networking Academy Partners

The Networking Academy support and training model is intended to ensure operational effectiveness and
sustainability; consistent academic excellence; and student success.

Academy Support Centers (ASCs) are leading academies within the program. ASCs provide academies with
guidance and ongoing support. ASC services include, but are not limited to, the following:

 Onboarding support for academies

 Localized communications

 Assistance with use of netacad.com

 Assistance with the Membership Agreement process

 Assistance locating services, information, and tools

Instructor Training Centers (ITCs) provide initial instructor training and qualify instructors to teach courses. ITCs also
deliver the following services:

 Instructor professional development opportunities

 Technical support for a Networking Academy instructor for one year after successful completion of instructor
training

The Roles within a Networking Academy

The primary responsibility of academies is to teach students networking and ICT principles and skills through the use
of Networking Academy curricula and tools. To accomplish this, academies provide students with certified instructors
and access to classroom and lab facilities. The structured roles and the distribution of responsibilities for academies
are as follows:

Networking Academy Instructor

 Set up and manage classes

 Teach classes

 Manage the online grade book before, during, and after a class

 Engage in the online communities to keep abreast of the latest Networking Academy updates, share best
practices with other instructors, and receive support

 Work with Networking Academy Success Lead and Academy Support Advisors as needed

 Create and maintain an individual training plan that includes curriculum training and instructor professional
development opportunities

Networking Academy Contact

  Manage the Cisco Networking Academy Membership Agreement and update institution information

 Identify individuals to teach at your academy

 Distribute localized communications from Cisco to instructors and administrators

 Utilize online resources and tutorials, or work with Academy Support Advisors to resolve issues

 Search for services or take advantage of services on behalf of your academy

 Collaborate with the Networking Academy Success Lead and administration to ensure the sustainable success
of your academy

Networking Academy Success Lead

 Manage educational quality in the context of academy-related activities

 Share and contribute best practices in online communities

 Monitor success of the academy by using performance measures, including information in the Academy
Success Dashboard

 If improvement is necessary, plan and implement appropriate action

 Collaborate with the Networking Academy Contact and administration to ensure the sustainable success of
your academy

Networking Academy Staff

 Work with the Networking Academy Contact to complete administrative tasks as needed

Networking Academy Membership

All academies are required to accept a Membership Agreement with Cisco and update their online academy profile.

The Membership Agreement governs your academy's participation in the Cisco Networking Academy. The agreement
is accompanied by a Membership Guide, which provides detailed information about the policies and expectations for
all participants in the program. After it is accepted online, a copy of the agreement can be printed. The printed
agreement includes the date it was accepted and the institution ID. Both the Membership Agreement and the
Networking Academy Membership Guide can be found on netacad.com. Go to Resources > All Resources > Program
> Membership Agreements and Guides.

Chapter 2: Networking Academy Offerings and Services

This chapter will discuss:

 Course offerings

 Certifications
  Exam discounts and vouchers

 Networking Academy conferences and events

 Support

Networking Academy Offerings

Networking Academy offers a comprehensive learning experience that includes online curriculum, assessments, case
studies, games, and simulations that are all delivered through the Cisco netacad.com cloud-based learning and
collaboration platform. Students develop entry-level ICT and networking skills, in addition to the important 21st
century business and soft skills needed to succeed in today’s global economy.

Our curricula help prepare students for industry recognized certifications:

 IT Essentials (1 course) - CompTIA A+ certification

 CCNA Routing and Switching (first 2 courses) - CCENT certification

 CCNA Routing and Switching (4 courses) - CCNA Routing and Switching certification

 CCNA Security (1 course) - CCNA Security certification

 CCNP Routing and Switching (3 courses) - CCNP Routing and Switching certification

 NDG Linux Essentials - Linux Essentials Professional Development Certificate (PDC)

 NDG LPICI - Linux Server Professional Certification, SUSE Certified Linux Administrator (CLA)

 NDG LPICII - Linux Network Professional Certification

There is a much information about the categories and difficulty levels of the Networking Academy curricula. In
particular, you can download a Powerpoint presentation called NetAcad: Courses/Learning Experience. This
presentation is updated quarterly. Go hereand find it under the Presentations subheading.

Curricula Materials

Many of the course materials provided by Cisco Networking Academy offer the following innovative features:

 Interactive Content - Online courses provide real-world context using modeling activities and interactive media
to promote visual learning and long term retention of information; lab and simulation activities are also
strategically placed within the learning progression to check for understanding (Figure 1).

 Hands-On Labs - Students apply their knowledge in increasingly open-ended practice activities as their level of
understanding deepens within a chapter and as they advance in the curricula (Figure 2).

 Packet Tracer - Cisco Packet Tracer provides a simulation-based learning environment that supplements
physical equipment with virtual networks and helps students develop critical 21st century skills such as
problem-solving and model-building (Figure 3).
  Assessments - Online assessments provide immediate feedback to help students and instructors evaluate
acquired knowledge and skills (Figure 4).

 Gaming in Education - The integration of virtual worlds, competition, scoring, and challenge levels into the
curricula and teaching tools via the Cisco Aspire game helps students feel they are playing, not studying
(Figure 5).

 Entrepreneurial Skills - The Entrepreneurship course and Be Your Own Boss series teach critical business
and financial skills, attitudes, and behaviors to help students develop an entrepreneurial mindset that can
empower them to improve their overall quality of life (Figure 6).

Lab Equipment Ordering and Discounts

Equipment Lists by Curriculum

Equipment lists with the requirements for building lab topologies to support hands-on activities are available for each
Networking Academy offering. There are equipment lists for each Networking Academy curriculum here. These files
contain part numbers, descriptions, and quantities for each product required to build a course lab. Additional
information on lab equipment and topologies can be found in the Instructor Lab Manual for each Networking
Academy course.

Equipment Ordering

Equipment ordering processes vary by region and cover specific Cisco equipment ordering details for the following
regions:

 Asia Pacific

 Europe/Middle East/Africa/Russia

 Latin America

 U.S./Canada

Lab Equipment Ordering and Discounts

Cisco provides discounts on Cisco equipment needed for course labs when purchased through an eligible Cisco
Reseller Partner of the academy’s choice. Cisco Reseller Partners may be identified using the Partner Locator tool.

Some newer curricula such as the IoT Fundamentals courses, use mostly non-Cisco equipment. For the courses that
use unique equipment, more detailed ordering recommendations are included in the Course Resources area.

Certification Exam Discount Vouchers

Networking Academy partners with the Cisco certification team to offer discounts on several Cisco certification exams
to eligible Networking Academy students and instructors. The discount is available for three months from the date
that students and instructors become eligible. Students and instructors must request their discount voucher and take
their exam within that three-month time period.

To qualify for a discount voucher a student or instructor must receive at least 75 percent on the first attempt of the
final exam in a qualifying course and a "Complete" in the netacad.com grade book. Candidates who meet the
eligibility requirements qualify for a single discount voucher with the exception of candidates who complete the CCNA
Routing and Switching: Connecting Networks course. These candidates can choose either a single discount voucher
for the composite CCNA exam, or two discount vouchers for the individual CCENT exams.

Discount vouchers can only be used once. Candidates should act quickly to request vouchers and schedule their
exams to avoid being negatively affected by changes to the program or prices, which may occur without notice.
Voucher requests take approximately 14 days to process and voucher availability may be subject to change.

Qualifying candidates will receive an email notification that they are eligible for an exam discount voucher.
Additionally, they will see a Request Voucher link on the I’m Learning tab of their netacad.com home page after their
instructor indicates they have completed a qualifying course in the grade book. It may take up to three days for the
link to appear after the course instructor has passed the candidate in the grade book.

When a student or instructor meets the eligibility requirements for a discount voucher, an email notification is sent
with information about the available discount. After receiving the email, a link to request the voucher will appear on
the student's or instructor's home page under the I’m Learning tab. Students and instructors should verify that the
information in their netacad.com profile is accurate before requesting a discount voucher.

When students or instructors click the request voucher link, they will be asked to confirm their name and email
address before submitting the request. After the request is submitted, the voucher request link will disappear from the
home page, and the request can then be tracked through the user's netacad.com profile.

Discounts are country-specific and are not interchangeable. Vouchers are non-transferable and are valid for three
months following the date of the qualifying course final exam. Individuals who use any unauthorized discount or
promotional code may have their exam results invalidated and risk a lifetime ban on all future exams and the
nullification of all previous certifications. Cisco will not replace any voucher that is found to be fraudulent or used.

If you have questions about Cisco vouchers, please visit the Certifications and Voucherspage.

Networking Academy Maintenance

Networking Academy Maintenance

The Networking Academy Maintenance service was developed to help Cisco Networking Academies maintain the
software on their Networking Academy lab equipment and reduce the total costs required to deliver the critical hands-
on aspects of the online courses. This service is currently available to all Networking Academies at no cost. The
Networking Academy Maintenance service provides the following benefits to academies:

 Ability to download supported versions of Cisco software needed for Networking Academy labs

 Ability to enable technology packages and advanced feature sets required for specific labs

 Registered access to Cisco.com

 Program support through the Cisco Networking Academy Support Desk

Academies are responsible for nominating instructors or other administrators who will serve as the points of contact
for receiving the service. Because it may take up to two weeks to enable this service for an instructor and/or
academy, signing up for the service as early as possible is recommended. Detailed sign-up instructions can be found
in the Networking Academy Maintenance Service Datasheet found here on netacad.com.

Quality Support Roles

Cisco cares about providing a high quality educational program and we know that academies care about delivering a
high quality educational experience. The Networking Academy Success Lead role was introduced to support the
quality of the Networking Academy program at participating academies.
The Networking Academy Success Lead is involved in continuous and sustainable quality improvement processes
and has the responsibility of managing and monitoring the success of Networking Academy-related activities. The
Success Lead should have a good understanding of the Cisco Networking Academy Membership Guide.

The Success Lead collaborates with the Networking Academy Contact and members of administration within the
institution to ensure the quality and success of the academy. A review of performance metrics on a regular basis and
the planning and implementation of a strategy for further improvement is strongly recommended.

In areas where an academy demonstrates good practices, the Success Lead is encouraged to share the experiences
and strategies with other academies in the community space available on netacad.com. In areas where
improvements are needed, the Success Lead plans and implements appropriate strategies. Success Leads should
take advantage of the resources found in online communities or an Academy Support Advisor from an Academy
Support Center (ASC).

If an academy elects to receive assistance from an ASC, the role of ASC Academy Specialist can be assigned to an
individual from the ASC. This role allows the individual to access the quality-related tools and measures which can
greatly enhance the collaboration between the academy and ASC.

Academy Success Dashboard

The Networking Academy Success Lead and Networking Academy Contact can monitor their academy’s
performance using the Academy Success Dashboard. The metrics are based on the results from completed course
feedback forms, data entered into netacad.com, and entries in the online grade book.

Using the Academy Success Dashboard, it is possible to observe how the academy is performing based on different
metrics. The Academy Success Dashboard provides in-depth graphical analysis of information about enrollment
trends, pass rates, student performance, voucher requests, and student feedback. It is also possible to measure an
academy’s performance compared to the country average of these performance metrics.

Manuals and Guides are available on the Dashboard Documentation page. FAQs can be found in
the Dashboard section on netacad.com.

Networking Academy Success Leads, Networking Academy Contacts, and ASC Academy Specialists can access the
Academy Success Dashboard and analyze the performance metrics of an academy by clicking the Academy Reports
link under Details > Academy Actions on the I’m Managing tab from the netacad.com home page.

Cisco Networking Academy Recognition Program

Recognizing achievements and milestones is important to the growth and vibrancy of the Cisco Networking Academy
community. The Cisco Networking Academy Recognition Program celebrates the accomplishments of program
members who deliver outstanding results and invest long-term in the vision of Networking Academy. The Cisco
Networking Academy Recognition Program recognizes outstanding performance and contributions utilizing a globally
consistent set of guidelines, processes, and tools. The recognition framework defines the categories and criteria that
are applied globally for recognizing instructors and academies for excellence and important milestones.

Award categories include:

 Instructor Excellence

 Academy Excellence

 Years of Service

 ASC Rewards Program

You can learn more about the Cisco Networking Academy Recognition Program and see current recipients and
awards by visiting the Cisco Networking Academy Recognition Programpage on netacad.com

Cisco Networking Academy Conferences and Events

Cisco Networking Academy hosts conferences and virtual events that are designed especially for academy
instructors and administrators. Typically, these conferences and events provide instructors with professional
development sessions, create social networking opportunities, and deliver updates about Cisco Networking
Academy. In addition to workshops, sessions, and speakers, conferences bring people together from Cisco
Networking Academy programs to exchange best practices and share ideas. Information about Cisco Networking
Academy Conferences and Events can be found by clicking the News and Events link on netacad.com.

Global Support Desk

The Cisco Networking Academy Global Support Desk is able to provide answers for functionality and program
questions to Networking Academy administrators, instructors and other non-student users. The Global Support Desk
can provide assistance via chat BOT, website, or chat with a live agent. The Global Support Desk can provide
support in English, Spanish, and French. Your ASC can provide support in other languages. Live chat hours are listed
below:

 San Francisco: Mondays - Fridays, 2 a.m. - 6 p.m. (PDT, UTC-7)

 New York: Mondays - Fridays, 5 a.m. - 9 p.m. (EDT, UTC - 4)

 London: Mondays - Saturdays, 10 a.m. - 2 a.m. (BST UTC+1)

 Hong Kong: Mondays - Saturdays, 5 p.m. - 9 a.m. (HKT, UTC +8)

 Sydney: Mondays - Saturdays, 7 p.m. - 11 a.m. (AEST, UTC +10)

You can obtain support and access additional resources via the Support menu at the top of the netacad.com site:

 Contact Your ASC - Your Academy Support Center can answer most Networking Academy program and
functionality questions and should be your first point of contact. If you assign someone from your ASC the role
of ASC Academy Specialist, they will be able to support your academy quickly and efficiently.

 Netacad Support - Netacad Support option will launch our virtual chat BOT support agent called Morgan. The
chat BOT can answer most common program and functionality questions about Cisco Networking Academy. If
you need to report a bug or if the chat BOT cannot answer your question, links will be provided to contact your
ASC or start a live chat with the Support Desk.

 FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions can answer most common program and functionality questions about
Cisco Networking Academy and are sorted into categories for ease of use.

 Community Support - Communities are available to share best practices and ask for advice and feedback
from peers in the Cisco Networking program.

Students do not have access to the Global Support Desk, but they will have access to our new virtual chat BOT and
are encouraged to post questions or comments in our Networking Academy Facebook community.

All users will be alerted to planned and unplanned netacad.com system outages via newsletter, announcements on
netacad.com, and Facebook. For planned outages, information will be provided in advance. Notifications across
these same social media channels will be made when the problem is resolved and the system is back online.
Career Resources for Cisco Networking Academy Students

Congratulations on becoming a part of Cisco Networking Academy.

As part of being an instructor with us, you also gain access to career resources customized for our community. These
are designed with our students in mind and ensuring their success in a career in technology. Access resources on
netacad.com today by visiting the Careerssection.

Discover ways to supplement your lessons by accessing a variety of resources on our global career website. The
section provides valuable resources to help you prepare your students to be a part of the workforce and successfully
seek out employment:

 Employment opportunities that are curated and managed by Networking Academy Talent Bridge, an
employment program for our students

 Webinars featuring industry experts who focus on topics ranging from career preparation to opportunities in
tech

 Career advice that focuses on the fundamentals of how to be employable in today’s digital economy as a
technology expert

Chapter 3: The Networking Academy Instructor

This chapter will discuss:

 Qualifications to teach, instructor training, and the Instructor Fast Track option

 Role of the Instructor Trainer

 Global collaborative environment available to instructors

 Quality assurance methods applied to course materials

 Opportunities for professional development

Qualify to Teach

Instructors who want to offer Networking Academy courses must meet the following requirements:

 They must be assigned as a Networking Academy Instructor at a Networking Academy.

 They must successfully complete the relevant instructor training course where applicable.

 Teaching qualifications for each course are described on netacad.com. Under the Resources menu, look at the
Instructor Resources section and choose Course Resources. Select the course name. The course information
page includes the requirements for instructors to teach the course.

 Successfully completing this Academy Orientation course is encouraged.

  Cisco also recommends that Networking Academy Instructors work toward achieving industry certification for
the curricula they teach, but certification is not required to offer student courses.

Instructor Training

Prior to teaching a Networking Essentials, IT Essentials, CCNA R&S, CCNA Security, or the CCNP R&S course for
the first time, Networking Academy Instructors must receive training on the course content at an Instructor Training
Center (ITC).

Prior to teaching IoT Fundamentals: Connecting Things or IoT Fundamentals: Big Data & Analytics, Networking
Academy instructors must successfully complete the instructor training course. There is a self-enrolled, self-paced
option available, or the instructor may receive training from an Instructor Training Center (ITC).

Locating an Instructor Training Center (ITC) Academy

The Networking Academy program offers a wide variety of opportunities for instructor training provided by a highly
qualified network of Instructor Trainers. These Instructor Trainers are associated with Instructor Training Centers
(ITC) located across the globe. To find an instructor training course that fits your specific needs, you can use
the Instructor Training Center Locator found on the netacad.com Home page.

Length of Instructor Training Sessions

Review the guidelines for recommended time requirements for instructor training by offering. These guidelines are the
minimum expectations to complete each course. ITC Academies may determine that time requirements need to be
adjusted. However, the minimum expectations should be used as the baseline and then increased based on
individual circumstances.

The Length of Instructor Training Sessions can be found under All Resources. Go to Resources and scroll to select
All Resources. Select the Program folder and then open the Instructor Training and Professional Development folder.

Expectations for Instructor Training

 Complete the instructor class registration at the ITC Academy.

 Download and review course materials two weeks before training.

 Participate in all activities during class, including online and classroom learning, labs, online assessments, and
skills-based assessments.

 Complete an online final exam, course feedback form, and pass any associated hands-on, skills assessments
(SAs).

One Year of Technical Support

The Instructor Trainer and the ITC Academy provide one year of technical support to instructors who pass the
instructor training course. This year of support should enable the success of the instructor in teaching and supporting
the students.

Instructor Fast Track Option

The Instructor Fast Track (IFT) option is an opportunity for an instructor candidate to demonstrate skills and
knowledge with little or no instruction. This option is provided for candidates who possess the required subject
knowledge and skills, and who would not benefit from full instructor training. Only candidates with prior subject matter
knowledge can enroll in an IFT class.
  IFT Completion Standards - A candidate proves proficiency by successfully completing the SA specific to the
IFT course. The Packet Tracer SA is not to be used for the IFT. A candidate who does not pass the SA is not
passed from the IFT class, and must enter a full instructor training class. The instructor candidate needs to
successfully complete the IFT class and successfully complete this Academy Orientation course before they
will be qualified to create a student class. Please note that the Academy Orientation course is separate from
the Instructor Fast Track option.

 Enrollment Prerequisites - There are a number of enrollment prerequisites specific to each course.

For detailed information, review the Instructor Fast Track Guidelines.

Course Releases

When a major release or update of a given course is planned, depending upon the level of change to the content,
training may be required for all instructors. For example, when course materials are updated to reflect changes in
certification material, instructors would benefit from updated training on the new content.

When a minor release of a given course is planned, training for instructors is not typically required. For example,
when only a portion of the course is updated to accommodate new technologies, instructors would benefit from
reviewing the updated content on their own.

Networking Academy makes every attempt to communicate information about upcoming course releases and
updates as soon as possible to provide instructors and administrators time to accommodate any changes. Instructors
and administrators are encouraged to read the monthly Networking Academy bulletin and announcements posted on
netacad.com for the latest information about any course updates.

Instructor Trainer

Instructor Trainers (ITrs) plan and deliver training to instructors who intend to offer student classes for IT Essentials,
Networking Essentials, CCNA R&S, CCNA Security, or CCNP R&S. ITrs are intended to be examples of academic
and instructional excellence; therefore, they must complete a rigorous qualification process.

There are three steps in the Instructor Trainer Qualification (ITQ) process:

Step 1. ITC Academy Contacts nominate candidates for ITQ.

Step 2. Candidate must satisfy the eligibility requirements.

Step 3. Candidate must successfully complete the ITQ evaluation.

After candidates pass the ITQ evaluation, they receive an official Cisco Networking Academy Instructor Trainer
Certificate. Candidates who do not pass the evaluation are eligible to attempt the ITQ again after three months. This
allows the candidate time for additional study and preparation.

These are the requirements for maintaining the status of Instructor Trainer:

 Maintain Cisco certification required for ITrs for the following offerings: Networking Essentials, CCNA R&S,
CCNA Security, and CCNP R&S.

 Teach at least three instructors (co-teaching accepted) or equivalent instructor engagement in the past three
years.

 Be associated with at least one ITC Academy as an Instructor Trainer.

The Reflective Practitioner

The Networking Academy approach to teaching encourages instructors to grow as reflective practitioners in a
community of practice by sharing pedagogical content knowledge as part of the program's human network.

By reflective practitioner, we refer to teaching professionals who identify opportunities to improve their teaching and
engage in the process of continuous learning. Opportunities for reflective instruction as a member of Networking
Academy include:

 Personal reflection and/or journals

 Classroom-based action research

 Seeking feedback through the Networking Academy support system

 Networking Academy online communities

By community of practice, we follow Lave and Wenger’s work (Wikipedia reference = Community of Practice),
meaning a group of people who share a profession, specifically a shared domain (networking education), community
(Networking Academy instructors), and practice (the teaching of entry-level computer networking and skills).

By pedagogical content knowledge (PCK, Wikipedia reference) we mean that special knowledge of how best to teach
networking to your students This is put succinctly as: "The transformation of subject matter for teaching (Shulman,
1986) occurs as the teacher critically reflects on and interprets the subject matter; finds multiple ways to represent the
information as analogies, metaphors, examples, problems, demonstrations, and classroom activities; adapts the
material to students’ abilities, gender, prior knowledge, and preconceptions (those pre-instructional informal or non-
traditional ideas students bring to the learning setting); and finally, tailors the material to those specific students to
whom the information will be taught (emphasis in original, p. 264)."

Finally, by the human network, we refer to the power of human beings, acting through technologies for connected
collaboration, to teach and learn even more powerfully as the human network works together (in our case of
Networking Academy instructors, designers, students, and other stakeholders).

Collaborative Environment

As a new instructor you can receive support from other Networking Academy instructors and Cisco professionals in
the netacad.com Community Forums. The Community Forums offer a collaborative environment for members to
engage with one another about teaching, assessment, curricula, and many other topics of interest.

There are two types of communities available to instructors. The Networking Academy Community Forums are
communities that contain content in support of Networking Academy curricula, programs, and technology.
Participating in these communities earns instructors points and badges for their contributions to the ongoing
conversations about Networking Academy. External communities are communities that are managed outside of the
netacad.com environment, such as Facebook or LinkedIn. These are both open communities and include students as
well as instructors and others interested in Cisco Networking Academy.

The following Facebook groups are for Networking Academy instructors and are closed to student membership:

 USA/Canada Cisco Networking Academy Instructors

 Africa Cisco Networking Academy Instructors

 EMEAR Cisco Networking Academy Instructors

  Instructores Cisco Networking Academy - Español

 TMENA Cisco Networking Academy Instructors

 APJC Cisco Networking Academy Instructors

 Brazil/Angola/Mozambique Cisco Networking Academy Instructors

 Instructeurs Cisco Networking Academy - Français

 Cisco Networking Academy Russia

Communities do not thrive unless you join them and participate. We look forward to seeing your blog entries, forum
posts, and shared files. The communities will always be changing, so check in on them regularly. Community forums
can be found under Support and by clicking Community Forums.

Instructor Checklist

The Instructor Checklist provides a quick reference for new and experienced instructors. It explains the resources
available to help prepare for and teach Networking Academy classes. The checklist includes information relevant to:

 Getting accredited to teach Networking Academy courses

 Setting up the classroom

 Instructor resources

The Instructor Checklist can be found under All Resources. Go to Resources and scroll to select All Resources.
Select the Program folder and the open the Instructor Training and Professional Development folder.

Instructor Professional Development

Our goals for Instructor Professional Development are to provide enhanced learning opportunities for all instructors,
and to foster the development and participation in communities of interest that help all of us provide greater positive
impact to our students. Working together we can make the world’s largest classroom the world’s best student
experience.

Networking Academy instructors are expected and encouraged to pursue continuing education opportunities.
Instructors are encouraged to complete a minimum of four hours of continual education activities annually. Our
approach is grounded in research-based data, which informs the development of resources, activities, and
community interactions, such as forums and blogs. These tools can measurably advance your domain knowledge
and instructional capabilities. We are proud to enable you to begin your professional development to advance your
skills and effectiveness as an academy instructor.

Instructors can access these learning opportunities through netacad.com. Under the Resources menu, find the
Instructor Resources section and select Course Resources. On the Course Resources page, select Instructor
Professional Development link under Additional Instructor Resources.

You will find a series of additional learning materials that are already developed and available. You can use these
materials in your classroom for students to engage in more active and comprehensive learning on these subjects.
You are also strongly encouraged to participate in our Networking Academy Communities and Facebook sites where
you can engage other instructors using these resources and provide your feedback and ideas.
Chapter 4: The Cisco Networking Academy Instructional Approach

This chapter will discuss:

 Cisco Networking Academy's approach to instructional design

 How students experience Networking Academy’s curriculum

 Educational research that supports the curriculum and assessments

Networking Academy Approach

Our strategy is to provide innovative learning solutions that enable students and instructors around the globe to
transform their education using highly collaborative tools and interactions. Rich multimedia content including
interactive activities, videos, games, and quizzes addresses a variety of learning styles, stimulates learning, and
increases knowledge retention. Hands-on labs and Packet Tracer simulation-based activities help students develop
critical thinking and complex problem-solving skills.

These are some advantages of the Cisco Networking Academy course materials and instructional approach:

 Provides a cohesive set of related learning objectives.

 Uses skills acquisition and a combination of multiple learning theories to support mastery, and build student
competence and confidence.

 Includes formative assessments with rich feedback, followed by summative assessments to help students and
instructors monitor progress toward learning goals.

 Enables flexibility for instructors to personalize instruction and align with student learning goals.

 Includes context to increase relevancy and engagement.

 Regularly updates curricula materials to ensure the highest quality experience.

Designing Interactive Content, Activities, and Assessments

The first step in good course design is to begin with the end in mind. Clearly define the knowledge, skills, and abilities
(KSAs) the learner should have as a result of completing the course. Design the course content to elicit evidence of
that knowledge. Collect and analyze the evidence.

The Cisco Networking Academy has modeled their approach to instructional design on the Evidence Centered
Design (ECD) method. ECD provides a framework for systematically designing, developing, delivering, scoring, and
measuring the effectiveness of the learning experience. Establishing ‘what' the claims are that we should be able to
make about the learner as a result of taking the course, and ‘how’ they will demonstrate progress in achieving the
KSAs, are key outcomes of the Cisco Networking Academy’s instructional design process. It is critical to note that this
is an iterative, descriptive process. Updates are constantly made to the various elements as the design progresses.
More importantly, as data is gathered from the learner, design elements (such as the Student, Evidence, and Task
Models) are updated.
The instructor has many tools to choose from when teaching, just as students have tools to choose from to support
their learning. A primary role of Networking Academy instructors is to facilitate and adjust these different aspects of
teaching and learning to achieve the desired learning outcomes for their students.

Educational Gaming

Results from educational psychology suggest the potential for educational games to be another way for many
students to learn. We have promising early research results on the impact of games on learning in the Networking
Academy. Please consider the games described below and share any ideas you have.

Packet Tracer Multi-User (PTMU) refers to the capability of two or more instances of Packet Tracer (on the same
computer, same LAN, or over the WAN) to interconnect and form a virtual network on the real network. This allows
many different online, multi-player educational games to be played, including peer-to-peer, small group, whole
classroom, or over the Internet. For more information, visit the Packet Tracer resource page on netacad.com.

While PTMU was developed specifically for the Networking Academy, we strongly support the use of other
instructional games as well. For example, many instructors use a form of the game show “Jeopardy” to review
networking knowledge and other cooperative or competitive lab-building and “hacking” activities, sometimes called
“Router Wars”. We encourage instructors to contribute game-based ideas in the netacad.com communities so all
members of the Networking Academy can benefit from these innovations.

Embedded Interactive Activities

The curricula created by the Curriculum and Assessment Engineering (CAE) team at Cisco Networking Academy
provides students and instructors with a toolbox of engaging learning options to personalize their learning experience
and customize their lessons.

The curriculum includes embedded, highly interactive activities to help stimulate learning, increase knowledge
retention, and enriching the entire learning experience. These design elements help to make it easier to understand
the content.

Interactive activities include, but are not limited to, checkbox, ‘drag and drop’, and Syntax Checker:

 Checkbox activities usually ask the student to categorize a feature or characteristic of a concept or technology.

 Drag and Drop activities may be as simple as identifying a term that pairs with a category, or as complex as
placing items in a topology.

 Syntax Checker activities require the student to enter correct command language in order to produce a
specified outcome.

Additionally, video demonstrations and tutorials, and external links round out the rich curricula provided to Networking
Academy students.

Hands-on Labs

Hands-on labs provide one more way to reach students with different learning styles (visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic). Kinesthetic learners comprehend new information best through hands-on experience. Networking
Academy courses accommodate all three learning styles using interactive learning components, classroom
instruction, and hands-on practice with labs and Packet Tracer activities. Kinesthetic and social activities are
presented where applicable. These encourage students to work in a social situation and share experiences and
knowledge with classmates.
Kinesthetic and cognitive skill acquisition is valuable to technology education because of the need to implement
complex solutions with speed and accuracy. Given the interrelated complexity of technical solutions, leveraging
kinesthetic and cognitive skill acquisition in technical education improves learner success.

The figure displays a sample lab topology for a Networking Academy hands-on lab. Basic step by step labs along
with more advanced skills integration labs, (which add problem-solving and troubleshooting) are included. Skills
assessments (SAs) are used to evaluate knowledge acquisition upon completion of a course.

Packet Tracer Activities

Packet Tracer is a powerful network simulation program developed by the Networking Academy. Packet Tracer
allows students to experiment with network behavior. Students can ask, and then answer, “what if” questions. As an
integral part of the curriculum, Packet Tracer provides simulation, visualization, authoring, assessment, and
collaboration capabilities. Packet Tracer makes it easier to teach and learn complex technology concepts.

Packet Tracer supplements physical equipment by allowing students to create a network with an almost unlimited
number of devices, encouraging open practice, discovery, and troubleshooting. The simulation-based learning
environment helps students develop the following skills:

 Decision-making skills

 Problem-solving skills

 Creative and critical thinking skills

Packet Tracer supports both the Windows and Linux operating systems. Packet Tracer mobile supports both
the Android and Apple iOSmobile platforms.

The self-paced course Introduction to Packet Tracer helps users become familiar with the network configuration
simulation tool before they need to use it in courses.

Educational Research

The Networking Academy uses four approaches to educational research to improve curriculum, instruction, and
assessment:

 Action Research - Conducted by instructors, who plan the use of a particular learning tool (perhaps a new
game), implement the tool, reflect on the results with students, revise their plan for the use of that tool, and then
share their results in the online communities. The measure of successful action research is measurable
improvement the next time an activity is used in a class.

 Design-Based Research - Conducted by members of the Networking Academy team to get quick feedback for
improving each design iteration of new curricula, simulations, assessment, and games. The measure of
successful design-based research is a more useful and useable tool for teaching and learning.

 Qualitative Research - Taking an “anthropological” approach to studying classrooms, whereby great detail
and/or long periods of study are observed through some means of recording, and are then coded and
analyzed. The measure of successful qualitative research is credibility. Do the results of the research ring true
for participants, provide ideas for further quantitative study, and/or provide guidelines for further action?

 Quantitative Research - Using descriptive and inferential statistics to analyze whether learning is effective,
and developing probabilistic models to help the Networking Academy, instructors, and students get feedback to
improve the learning process. The measures of successful quantitative research are reliability (reproducibility of
results) and validity (chains of evidence that support conclusions for specific purposes).
All four of these approaches to research are used extensively in the development of the curriculum, assessment, and
games instructors use with students.

Holistic Approach to Assessment

From a holistic perspective, assessment can consist of multiple interactions. Informal activities can be class
discussions, one-on-one discussions, or unobtrusive observation of students in the classroom. Formal, or
standardized, assessments can include prepared sets of tasks or questions combined into an exam, or a
performance activity. In the Networking Academy, instructors are encouraged to use multiple resources and tools in
order to understand what the student truly knows and can do, and to adequately prepare them for the next level in
their journey.

The Networking Academy provides a wide array of assessment tools and features to help students, instructors, and
administrators understand the strengths and weaknesses of individuals as they progress through the curriculum.
Students receive feedback on their knowledge and skills progression through self-activated assessments and
activities. Instructors can schedule and deliver more formal and summative assessments through a globally
accessible assessment system. Although Cisco provides these tools, it does not specify instructional actions and
uses for assessments, but does offer sound pedagogical suggestions for their use in making inferences about
students’ abilities.

Assessments provide learning metrics that are important to all groups of stakeholders:

 Students - Formative feedback and summative evaluation of their learning process

 Instructors - Formative feedback and summative evaluation of their teaching process

 Administrators supporting and managing Cisco Networking Academies - Opportunities for coaching,
remediation, and/or recognition

Reliability, Validity, Fairness, and Security

Reliability refers to the consistency of test scores over time.

Validity means that it is valid for a specific context and is multifaceted. It is analogous to accuracy:

 Construct Validity – Are we measuring the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) of interest?

 Content Validity – Do our measures capture the domain?

 Criterion (predictive) validity – Can some scores predict others?

Validity requires reliability, is key to fairness, and is weakened by poor security. We think of validity as a complex,
contextualized, desirable goal for our partnership with schools and institutions that use our curricula.

Fairness means assessments should not discriminate between students EXCEPT on the grounds of the knowledge
or skills being assessed.

Security for Networking Academy assessments relies heavily on our instructors because they are the “instructional
last mile” in delivering our learning experiences, including assessments.

Formative and Summative Assessments

This is CAE team’s approach to assessments (both formative and summative):

 Design an assessment portfolio according to best practices, to include psychometric modeling of multiple
choice items with Item Response Theory (IRT), item banks, with ongoing quantitative investigations of reliability
and validity, and hands-on and simulation-based performance assessment.

 Deliver assessments in ways to help address the digital divide.

 Delegate to local control for all reasonable accommodations.

 Industry certifications are the ultimate summative assessment.

Innovative assessments, both formative and summative, are integrated into the curriculum and supported by an
advanced online delivery system. Immediate, rich feedback supports instructor and student evaluation of acquired
knowledge and skills. Assessments can be as simple as a multiple choice question or as complex as troubleshooting
a network with real equipment or in a simulation.

Formative assessments provide practice and support to help students master core concepts. Formative assessments
align with topics covered in the curriculum and give students and instructors detailed feedback about students'
strengths and weaknesses. Chapter quizzes, interactive activities, and simulations such as Syntax Checker and
Packet Tracer activities are embedded throughout the curriculum. These are examples of formative assessments that
support the learning and evaluation of student performance.

Summative assessments help measure students' familiarity with course content and ability to apply their knowledge.
Summative assessments are designed to summarize the knowledge and skills of a student. They usually cover a
broader range of information than formative assessments and provide less detailed feedback. Examples include
online practice certification exams, final exams, and hands-on performance exams administered on real equipment.

This is the mission for Curriculum and Assessment Engineering:

 We build learning products that empower global problem solvers with employable skills.

 We identify critical competencies and produce a path to mastery.

 We use innovation and research to optimize teaching and learning experiences that accelerate skills
acquisition.

The result is ever-increasing value for students, teachers, employers, and their communities.

Chapter 5: Introduction to netacad.com

This chapter will discuss:

 What is Cisco netacad.com?

 Managing Your Profile

 Understanding netacad.com User tabs

 Managing an Academy on netacad.com

Features of netacad.com

Recent technology advances in cloud computing, the proliferation of rich-media content, and the rapid rise of mobile
devices and applications are transforming education and enabling new models for teaching and learning.
netacad.com will allow Networking Academy students and instructors to take advantage of these new learning tools
and models. You and your students can use them to individualize educational experiences to meet personal career
goals.

netacad.com is a cloud-based learning and collaboration platform that enables you, the instructor, to interact with
students in new ways. netacad.com combines best-of-breed cloud-based applications for teaching, learning, and
collaboration, to enable an interactive and engaging learning experience that aligns with proven educational models,
trends, and best practices. With netacad.com, students can collaborate on projects, interact with material, and submit
homework using multiple devices. With netacad.com, instructors can grade assignments and provide feedback using
a variety of methods such as wikis, blogs, and videos.

Integrated tools that support individual teaching styles help instructors engage students, facilitate informal and social
learning, and use flipped classroom and blended-distance learning models. With netacad.com you can customize
your course, add videos, and promote student interaction through discussions and group projects.

These are some of the robust features of netacad.com:

 Add Your Own Content - Rich content editor allows you to easily add documents, embed videos, audio,
photos, and links to Networking Academy courses.

 Mobile Access - Stay productive anytime, anywhere with mobile access to grading, class calendar,
notifications, and collaboration tools.

 LMS Content Migration - Easily migrate content from systems like Blackboard, WebCT, and Moodle to
customize your netacad.com courses (most versions supported).

 Reporting and Analytics - Monitor and report on student outcomes and academy success with rich data,
dashboards, and analytics.

 Flexible Pedagogy - Built-in customization, collaboration, and communication tools support a variety of
teaching styles.

 Communities - Collaborate with your peers in communities of interest. Find, create, and share information in
forums, files, and blogs.

Managing Your Profile

Your netacad.com profile is the key to collaborating with your students and other instructors around the world. From
your profile you can manage your email address, your netacad.com password, your preferred language, and your
notification preferences for new postings, comments, and assignment submissions.

Go here to learn how to access your profile, update your profile information, and manage your notifications settings.

Note: Your profile was already created using information you provided when you signed up at netacad.com.

netacad.com User Tabs

The netacad.com My NetAcad page uses three tabs to organize functionality according to a user's designated role.
Many of the tools available to instructors will be discussed in later chapters of this course.

I’m Teaching

The I’m Teaching tab (Figure 1) contains links for instructors to create and access courses, enroll students, and
manage classes. Only users with the Networking Academy Instructor and Instructor Trainer role have access to this
tab.

I’m Managing

The I’m Managing tab (Figure 2) is available to users with the Networking Academy Contact, Networking Academy
Success Lead, or other administrative role. Here administrators can manage users, create courses, update academy
information, and manage the Academy Support Center (ASC) relationships. Users can complete these tasks on
behalf of academies where they have the appropriate administrative role.

I’m Learning

The I’m Learning tab (Figure 3) is visible to all users enrolled in courses on netacad.com. It displays active courses in
which the user (student or instructor) is currently enrolled, and classes which have ended in which the user was
enrolled. If you are an instructor, this tab shows all Professional Development courses for which you are registered,
as well as any you had previously taken.

Managing an Academy on netacad.com

Administrative roles within netacad.com, such as the Networking Academy Contact, Networking Academy Success
Lead and Networking Academy Staff, have access to the I’m Managing tab (Figure 1). Instructors who are not
administrators can also perform some of these tasks from the I’m Teaching tab.

Some of the functionality available on the I’m Managing tab includes:

 Updating Academy Information - Administrators can modify contact information such as the address, phone,
email, and webpage URL for academies. Go here to learn how to update academy information.

 Managing Users – Academy administrators can add users (students, instructors, and staff members) to
netacad.com and assign their roles within an academy. Go here to learn how to add users and assign their
roles.

 Creating Courses – Instructors have the ability to create courses for which they are qualified from the I’m
Teaching tab. Administrators can also create courses at an academy from the I’m Managing tab, provided a
qualified instructor is affiliated with the academy. Go here and then click “I am administrator for my academy.
How do I create a course for one of my NetAcad Instructors?”

 Adding Students to an Existing Course – This feature is found under the I’m Managing tab. From I’m
Managing, go to the Courses tab. Find the course for which you need to add students. Click Course Details >
Add Students(Figure 2). Administrators can use this link to add students and qualified instructors to a particular
course. Go here to learn how to view and add enrollment. The same capability is available under the I’m
Teaching tab.

 Accept and Manage Agreements – The Networking Academy Contact has the ability to accept and manage
the Cisco Networking Academy Membership Agreement on behalf of the academy. Go here to learn how to
accept Networking Academy Agreements. Go here to learn how to manage Networking Academy Agreements.

Chapter 6: Preparing to Teach

This chapter will discuss the following actions:

 Creating a course on netacad.com

 Enrolling students and adding instructors

 Adding assignments and activating assessments

 Creating and formatting a course syllabus within netacad.com

 Customizing aspects of the course, leveraging existing content, and publishing the course online

How to Create a Course

You must be a Networking Academy Instructor or a Networking Academy Contact or Success Lead to create a
course on netacad.com. Go here to learn how to create or delete a course on netacad.com.

Enroll Students

After a course has been created, an instructor can add students to the course in several ways using the I’m Teaching
tab:

 Individually

 From an existing student listing

 By uploading a .CSV file to add multiple students at one time

 By creating seat tokens for self-enrollment

Go here to learn how to add or remove students from a course on netacad.com.

Add Instructors

Any qualified instructor from an academy can be added to a course. An instructor must be qualified or accredited to
teach a course by satisfying the instructor training requirements for that course.

Go here to learn about the Course Administration/Modifying a Course FAQs to find out how to add an instructor to a
course.

Accessing Curriculum

Cisco Networking Academy courses can be easily accessed on netacad.com. After a course is created, an instructor
or student clicks the Launch Course link on the Home page of that course. The Launch Course link takes the user to
a landing page. Clicking anywhere on that page takes the user to the Modules page.

Student Resources, such as the Packet Tracer program downloads, are also accessed from the course home page.
Instructors can access all of the instructional resources for a particular course from the Instructor Home page which is
not available to students. The Instructor Home link can be found at the bottom of the left side navigation panel.

On the Instructor Home page, instructors can find a link to the Instructor Resources page. Resources including
planning guides, instructional presentations, instructor labs, scope & sequence documents, and much more are
available here.

Ongoing Course Updates

Corrections and minor improvements to courses and assessments are seamlessly updated on a regular basis as
instructors and students inform Cisco of issues they may have found. These updates can include text, media, labs,
Packet Tracer activities, Packet Tracer skills assessments, chapter quizzes and exams. Updates are tracked in errata
documents which are also found on the Instructor Resources page.

When Cisco adds new features to a course, a new version is created. This new version will be available to instructors
the next time they open an instance of the course.

Note: The automatic course updates are not included in the downloadable version of a course.

Online Text with Interactive Media

All pages in a netacad.com course contain Back and Next buttons for easy navigation within the course. A typical
page in a course will introduce a concept and use an image or interactive media to reinforce student understanding.
Often, there are several images that students can access from numbered or labeled buttons in the media. In addition,
most courses will include one or more hands-on labs or Packet Tracer activities for students to demonstrate mastery
of concepts.

Modify Course Settings

Instructors can modify many things about one of their courses by going to the Modifying a Course group of FAQs.

Other course settings can be modified using the Settings tab from within a course. The Settings tab has a variety of
tools to help instructors modify aspects of a course. From the Course Home page, select the Settings tab and you will
see several links on the right side of the screen. The following are descriptions of some of these links:

 Student View – This view allows you to view the course as a student would see it.

 Course Statistics – These provide information about the course in general, such as the total number of posts,
assignments, active students, etc., and individual student analytics.

 Delete this Course – This tool should only be used if the course was created by mistake or no one will need to
review this course in the future. Deleting a course will permanently remove it from the system.

 Import Content and Export Content – These tools can be used to share instructor-created content among
instructors or between courses. This tool cannot be used to copy core content or exams.

Assignments

Assignments on netacad.com can be used to measure and strengthen students' understanding of key concepts and
provide extra opportunities for practice, such as labs and Packet Tracer activities. Assignments can be set up to
accept online submissions from students, to be graded online using SpeedGrader, shown in Figure 1, and to allow for
peer reviews. Instructors can also create graded discussions and assess how well students are achieving course
outcomes.

There are answers to common questions about creating and editing assignments in the Modules/Assignments group
of FAQs. When in a launched course, you can go to Assignments or Grades in the left side navigation to create
assignments, as shown in Figure 2.

Activate Assessments

For students to take a chapter exam, final exam, or Packet Tracer Skills Assessment, an instructor must activate the
exam. The instructor can then set time limits, scoring rules, etc. for the exam.

There are answers to common questions about assessments in the Assessments group of FAQs. When in a
launched course, you can go to Assessment Center in the left side navigation to activate assessments either
individually, or as a batch.

Update Syllabus

Setting up a syllabus is an important step in organizing a course. A course plan will make more sense to students if
the assignments are arranged in the syllabus and placed into the course calendar. The default student syllabus view
is arranged in alphanumeric order by assignment name, as shown in Figure 1. A text editor enables you to create and
edit a syllabus for a specific instance of a course, as shown in Figure 2.

ustomize Course Content

netacad.com enables instructors to add content, activities, and web links to a course by editing an existing page or
adding a new page in the Modules view (Figure 1). Use this feature to personalize your instruction with favorite
activities, add text and graphics to explain a topic in a different way, or make the course more locally relevant for
students (Figure 2).

Import and Export Content

When you create a course on netacad.com, it comes with a core set of learning resources for you to use in your
class. As you teach the course, you will inevitably create your own wiki pages, quizzes, labs, ppt and other resources
that are customized for your class. If you would like to reuse content that you have created in one course inside of a
new course, you will need to use the import/export feature. Go to the new course where you would like to import
content:

1. Select Settings from the left navigation bar in the course. (Figure 1)

2. Select Import Course Content. (Figure 1)

3. Select Copy a Canvas Course. (Figure 2)

4. Search for or enter the Course Name that contains the content to be copied. (Figure 3)

5. Select either All Content or Specific Content of the course to be copied/imported. (Figure 3)

6. Use the arrows to open the various components of the course and select the items to be copied into your new
course. (Figure 4)
Note: Exam Assignments that are contained in the original course package are administratively locked and cannot be
copied from one course to the next.

Publish Course

Instructors must publish a course when they want to make the course available to students. When the course is
published, the system automatically sends invitations to all enrolled students. When creating a course you can
publish as the final step by selecting the Publish Now blue button, as shown in Figure 1. You can also select Save as
Draft to save it for later. Return to the course to publish by selecting the Publish Course white button, as shown in
Figure 2. Note that the course displays as DRAFT until the course has been published.

Go here to learn how to publish a course on netacad.com.

Introduction

This chapter will discuss the following actions:

 Using online assessments

 Managing the grade book

 Using collaboration tools

How to Use the Online Assessments

Opportunities for assessment and feedback are a key component to the courses provided by the Cisco Networking
Academy. The provided assessments are tools designed to empower the student to learn and the instructor to teach.
Some assessments are used in the formation of learning while others are designed to show competence. The
feedback gained from these assessments is designed to help evaluate the student’s knowledge, skills, and abilities.

The Cisco Networking Academy recognizes that the appropriate use of online exams may vary across the different
instructors and institutions. Instructors should always follow local guidelines related to exam use when teaching
classes. In some cases, Cisco may require the final exam and course feedback in each course to be submitted by the
student in order to receive certificates of completion or certification vouchers. The decision as to whether the student
passes or fails is dictated by the instructor and the local administration.

Quizzes can be accessed using the Quizzes link on the left side navigation bar. Chapter and Final exams can be
accessed, scheduled and delivered through the Assessment Center as shown in Figure 1. Some instructors prefer to
preview exams before activating them for their students. As shown in Figure 2, the Assessment Viewer is provided as
an easy and accurate way to preview exams.

Go here to find the Assessment FAQs to learn about the Assessment Viewer and how to activate assessments.

After the students submit their exam, the assessment system will automatically score and report the results and
feedback to the student, as well as placing the score in Grades. Instructors can then review the individual or class
performance on the exam through the Grades and Student Performance Summary. Both features will be covered
later in this chapter.

Quizzes
There are several varieties of quizzes provided within the curriculum. Smaller activities, questions, and games are
embedded throughout the curriculum and form an integral part of the learning process. A more formal quiz is located
at the end of each chapter. While the smaller quiz tasks give diagnostic feedback about the individual topics
presented in the chapter, the topic and end of chapter quizzes provide students the opportunity to identify areas of
strength and weakness at the chapter level. Item-level feedback is provided to assist students in studying for
summative assessments, such as the chapter and final exams.

Instructors are encouraged to create their own quizzes to supplement the assessments that are provided and tailor
the course to their students' needs. In your I’m Teaching tab, go to the course for which you want to add a quiz.
Select Quizzes from the left side navigation bar. The Add Quiz (+ Quiz) button will appear in the upper right corner of
the screen (Figure 1).

Figure 2 shows the page you will see when you have clicked the + Quiz button. This is where you can create a new
quiz for a course. While you are on this page, you can access a question bank to find questions to add to your quiz.
Do this by clicking the Questions tab next to the Details tab.

Exams

There are multiple types of exams that may be available in a course. Each exam is designed for a specific purpose
and level of feedback.

Skills Review or Pretest Exams

A skills review or pretest exam is an optional exam made available at the beginning of some courses as an aid to
instructors and students in preparing for the course. A Skills Review exam tests prerequisite knowledge that students
are assumed to have upon entering the course. A pretest exam may cover both prerequisite knowledge as well as
core content that is included in the course to determine what students may already know about upcoming content.

A subscore report is provided to the student upon completion of the exam. The report shows performance for each
knowledge area tested. This information is intended to help students and their instructors determine areas in which
further study is required to ensure a student’s success. Cisco does not define a passing score or an acceptable score
in any of the areas tested.

Chapter Exams

Chapter exams usually contain 15 to 25 tasks and are written to assess the students’ mastery of the content for each
chapter in the online curriculum. In some cases, an exam may combine the information from two or more chapters as
the student’s knowledge progresses.

Some chapters do not have a chapter exam; for example, when a chapter contains optional material to be used at the
discretion of the instructor. As a result, content from a chapter that does not have a chapter exam is never covered on
the final exam.

Students obtain feedback from the Assessment Results page and an item feedback report, if available. The
Assessment Results page displays the student’s overall score. Item feedback reports highlight the curricular
references for tasks that they missed or incorrectly answered on the exam.

Checkpoint Exams

Chapter exams often have to cover multiple concepts that may not always provide the opportunity to create
integrative or summative tasks for a specific skill. More integrative and complex tasks can be embedded in a
Checkpoint exam that targets specific topics, content areas, or misconceptions. Checkpoint exams may appear
throughout a course to assess students’ progress and knowledge at strategic points in the curriculum. These function
as summative opportunities to verify a student’s understanding of core skills after a certain number of chapters.
Multiple checkpoint exams may be given within a course depending on chapter structure and amount of content to be
tested.

Practice Final Exams

In some courses, practice final exams are available. A practice final helps students prepare for the final exam. The
practice final closely resembles the actual final exam in terms of content covered and difficulty level. The practice final
is optional, but students who use this exam as a study aid normally do better on the course's final exam.

Just like chapter exams, students obtain feedback on their performance from the Item Feedback page.

Packet Tracer Skills Assessment

Packet Tracer is a network design and simulation tool used extensively throughout many of the Networking Academy
curricular offerings to teach and reinforce hands-on skills. The Packet Tracer skills exams provide an online,
simulation-based, performance skills testing environment with automated scoring. Feedback from this exam supports
the students’ ability to more accurately identify the knowledge and skills mastered while increasing their confidence in
preparing for the final skills exam. These exams provide a scalable option for instructors and are especially useful
when time or equipment is limited.

Access the Introduction to Packet Tracer course here.

Download Packet Tracer here.

Final Exams

Final exams appear at the end of each course and are used to assess student knowledge at the end of instruction.
These exams typically range from 50 to 65 items. Final exams are not intended to be taken multiple times, and
students should be supervised while taking the exam. Final exams are sometimes required to receive a certificate of
completion or a certification voucher.

When the final exam is activated by the instructor using the default settings, and multiple exam forms are available,
one will be randomly selected and delivered to the student. However, through advanced activation settings,
instructors have flexibility in choosing the exam form and activities delivered to students.

The final exams are designed so that each form has similar characteristics and difficulty which allows for a similar
testing and learning experience. Such features as the total number of tasks per form, task difficulty, type, objectives,
and content are considered during the balancing process.

Voucher Exams

The voucher exam may be a separate exam or may be incorporated into the course final examination. The purpose
of the voucher exam is to establish eligibility to receive a discount voucher for a certification exam. It does not
indicate preparedness to take the certification. Eligibility requirements are set by the Networking Academy and a
student must meet all criteria set in order to receive the discount voucher for the associated industry certification
exam.

Certification Practice Exams

Certification practice exams are provided in some courses as optional exams for instructors or students preparing for
the certification associated with the course. Approximately 40 to 80 complex tasks are provided in the certification
practice exam. These exams typically include several interactive tasks and simulation activities, similar in design,
difficulty, and experience, to those in the actual certification exam.

Within a course that you are teaching, click the Assessment Center in the left side navigation and then clicking Create
Activations, as shown in Figure 1. In the Assessment Center, you can see all of your activated exams and manage
them from this page (Figure 2). You can also view the Student Performance Summary from here (Figure 3).

Go here to find the Assessments FAQs to learn how to create an assessment activation, how to manage assessment
activations, and how to view student performance results.

Assessment Integrity
Students should be monitored during summative exams to prevent cheating. Before using the assessments in the
Networking Academy, each student and instructor is presented with the following warning:

Cisco Networking Academy content is copyrighted and the unauthorized posting, distribution or sharing of
this exam content is prohibited.

The purpose of restricting the copying and distribution of assessment content is to help ensure that they can be used
as a valid indicator of student performance. Assessment items that become exposed lose this ability. Cisco
continually monitors assessment items looking for signs of over-exposure. Items that have been determined to no
longer accurately reflect student ability are removed from examinations and replaced with new items that have been
statistically validated to accurately reflect student knowledge and skills.

The tools provided to instructors in the Networking Academy are most effective when developed and refined with
input from instructors and administrators. The content in the Academy assessments is always reviewed by
Networking Academy instructors. The assessments undergo a multiple-step quality-assurance process and are
subjected to ongoing statistical analysis to ensure that the items are a valid indicator of student ability. Nevertheless,
instructors or students may interpret a task in an unintended way. When additional clarification or a revision is
required to an exam or assessment task, an instructor can submit a ticket through the Netacad Support link under
Support.

Grade Book

The netacad.com grade book fully integrates all assignments, including student assessments. As students complete
assignments and assessments, grades are automatically entered in the grade book. Instructors have the ability to
modify all scores at anytime. While exam scores can be modified in the gradebook, they are not changed in the
online assessment system.

Go here to find the Grades FAQs to learn how to use and modify student grades.

SpeedGrader

Grading assignments with SpeedGrader can be done quickly and easily. Students upload their assignments to
netacad.com. This allows the instructor to grade assignments online without being required to download and open
individual files. Students can submit .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, and .pdf file formats. Formats not supported can be
previewed usingScribd.

Within a single screen, instructors can view, grade, start discussions, and provide students with written, video, and
audio feedback. This feedback is delivered to the student via the communication method they prefer. When the first
student assignment is graded, simply click the arrow to move to the next.

Go here to find the Grades FAQs to learn how to use SpeedGrader.

Importing and Exporting Grades

With netacad.com, grades can be exported to a .csv file for further calculations, or imported into a separate LMS
system. Grades can also be exported from one course and imported to another.

Go here to find the Grades FAQs to learn how to export and/or import grades.

Announcements

netacad.com offers many ways to communicate with students. One method is through announcements.
Announcements appear on the Course Home page when students log in to a course, and can be used for such things
as announcing a class visitor or speaker, letting students know of a certain event, or asking for input on a certain
topic and starting a discussion.

Go here to find the Communications FAQs to learn how to add an announcement.

Discussions

Discussions are another method of interacting with students. netacad.com allows for threaded discussions to be
started by the instructor or students, and the discussion threads can appear as an assignment in the grade book.

Go here to find the Communications FAQs to learn how to add a discussion.

The Inbox

The netacad.com Inbox is the center of communication between the instructor and individual students. Conversations
between instructor and student appear on the right side of the screen, and are ordered chronologically from newest to
oldest.

Go here to find the Communications FAQs to learn how to manage your Inbox.

The Course Calendar

As an instructor using netacad.com, you will have multiple calendars available to you. One is a personal calendar,
which can only be seen by you. You will also have a calendar for each course you teach. The course calendars are
shared with students registered in the class.

Since the calendar is a global feature, all calendars can be viewed together or individually selected.

Go here to find the Calendar FAQs to learn how to use the calendar.

Student Groups

Students groups can be created for all courses. Each group can have their own discussions, files, pages, and
calendar depending on the settings chosen by the instructor.

Students can be individually assigned to groups, or you can let netacad.com do the work and randomly assign
students to groups you create.

Courses can have multiple types of groups. For instance, you may want a group for labs and another group for
projects. Simply create the overall group name and then the individual groups within.

Go here to find the Communications FAQs to learn how to create student groups.

Chapter 8: Ending a Course

This chapter will discuss:

 Completing Student Surveys

 Ending a Course
  Certificates of Completion and Letters of Merit

 Vouchers

Completing Student Surveys

Cisco Networking Academy values input from you and your students. This information is used to improve the program
by making needed changes and/or adding new features. Student surveys are available for each course and are
intended to be taken at the end of the term. These surveys are optional but strongly recommended as this is the
primary instrument used in capturing student feedback. We have learned that over 90% of students take the course
feedback seriously and enjoy helping the Cisco Networking Academy grow and improve. Results from the surveys
can be viewed by the instructor via the grade book after three or more students have responded to the questions. In
addition to helping improve the program, the student surveys are also used to generate the success metrics provided
through the Academy Success Dashboard. The Academy Success Dashboard is available to Networking Academy
Success Leads and Contacts.

We appreciate and value our partnership with you and your students. Please be sure to activate the course feedback
survey and encourage your students to complete it.

Ending a Course

Courses within netacad.com end automatically when they reach a predetermined date.

When a course is created, a start and an end date are specified. These dates can be changed at any time by the
instructor before the course reaches its end date. When a course reaches the end date, students can no longer
participate in discussions, submit assignments, or interact within the course. This is an automatic process, nothing
more is done by the instructor. The course will continue to appear in your I'm Teaching tab under the Ended Courses
list. As the instructor, you will be able to continue working with the grade book. For the student, the course content
will continue to be available from their I'm Learning tab, but they will not be able to interact with the course or other
students through the course.

As shown in the figure, instructors may continue to access past courses from their Ended Courses list on
netacad.com.

Certificates of Completion and Letters of Merit

Certificates of Completion and Letters of Merit are generated for students meeting specified criteria at the end of a
course.

 Certificates of Completion - These are generated for all students when they are given a passing grade in the
grade book.

 Letters of Merit – These are generated for those students who receive a 75% or better on any attempt of the
final exam and are marked as passing the course in the grade book.

Certificates and letters can be printed by the student, or printed for the student by the instructor. Students will access
their certificates and letters from their profile page.

Go here to learn more about the Certificates/Letters of Merit FAQs.

Vouchers
Vouchers for discounts on certification exams are available for many of the Networking Academy courses. Discount
vouchers are provided to students who achieve a minimum score of 75% on the first attempt of the final exam and
are marked as passing the course. Vouchers can take up to 14 days to appear on the student’s profile, and are valid
for up to three months after completing the final exam.

Go here to learn about the Certification Exams/Discounts FAQs.

Chapter 9: Learning with netacad.com

This chapter will discuss:

 The I’m Learning tab

 Accessing IPD Learning Material

 Accessing Current Course and Historical Courses

 Viewing My Tasks, Assignments and Grades

I'm Learning Tab

TheI'm Learning tab is available for instructors and students. For instructors, the I'm Learning tab is where Instructor
Professional Development (IPD) courses for which you are enrolled can be found. This is also where you will find
courses for which you have been added as a student. For instance, if you are surveying a course with another
instructor within your academy, the course will be listed on the I'm Learning tab instead of the I'm Teaching tab.

Students also have their own I'm Learning tab. Here they see courses they are currently taking and any future course
which has been published by the instructor. Students will be able to see published courses in the course list, but will
not have access to the course until the start date arrives.

Enrolling in an IPD Course

Instructors can easily enroll in IPD courses on netacad.com. Under the Resources menu, find the Instructor
Resources section and select Course Resources. On the Course Resources page, select the Instructor Professional
Development link under Additional Instructor Resources.

After you are enrolled, the course will appear under the I’m Learning tab.

Accessing Current and Historical Courses

Students can access historical courses from the I'm Learning tab. All courses for which they are currently enrolled
and those that have ended, will appear in the list.

Assignments

Assignments can be accessed in the I'm Learning tab in a number of ways.

 From the Syllabus tab

  From the Assignments tab

Go here to learn about the Modules/Assignments FAQs. You can find out how to publish, edit, delete, or add an
assignment.

Grades

Grades can be seen by students by clicking Grades on the left side Course Navigation bar. Students are also able to
run different scenarios to test potential final grade averages. Go here to learn about the Grades FAQs. You can find
out more about SpeedGrader, Graduation Requirements, Student Graduation, and how to add and/or modify a
student's grades.

Chapter 10: Networking Academy Summary

This chapter will discuss:

 Support resources available to instructors

 Role of the Academy Support Center

 Shared materials leveraged by the community

Resources

Here is a summary of some of the resources available to you as part of the Cisco Networking Academy:

 Instructor Professional Development resources

 Community Forums

 Academy Support Centers

 Instructor Training Centers

 Global Support Desk

 New and updated netacad.com support materials as new features are released

Academy Support Center and Instructor Training Center Partners

Academy Support Centers

Academy Support Centers (ASCs) provide an important service to academies that join the Cisco Networking
Academy. ASCs are leaders within the community who provide academies with guidance and ongoing support.
Academies that plan to teach IT Essentials, CCNA, CCNA Security, or CCNP courses are required to affiliate with an
ASC.

Academy Support Center (ASC) partners lend support in the following ways:
  Onboarding support for academies

 Training on the use of success metrics

 Localized communications

 Assistance with the use of netacad.com

 Assistance with the Membership Agreement process

 Assistance with locating services, information, and tools

Instructor Training Centers

Instructor Training Centers (ITCs) are responsible for the initial training of Networking Academy Instructors via:

 Instructor training classes for Networking Academy curricula

 Instructor professional development opportunities

 Technical support for a Networking Academy instructor for one year after successfully completing curriculum
training

Improve Teaching as You Teach

As mentioned earlier in this course, the Networking Academy approach to teaching encourages you to grow as a
reflective practitioner and improve your teaching as you teach. To that end, we hope you take advantage of the
resources available, including:

 A global community of instructors and technology professionals that make up the Networking Academy

 Shared materials built by peers and intended for use by all members of the community

 Personal reflection and classroom-based action research you and your peers will undertake

 Feedback received through the Networking Academy support system

 Specific Networking Academy online communities