MiNet: Managing Internet Connectivity in Academic Computing Labs

摘要

Educators who teach coursework that rely on computer technology in labs designated for instruction often have to compete with the novelty of the internet for student attention. As a faculty member and administrator of the computing infrastructure in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, one of the most common requests made by instructors is how to disable internet access to lab computers during scheduled class times. The author had an insight how to resolve this problem and built a networking appliance called MiNet using open source software and technology that overcame many of the challenges associated with managing network traffic in an academic computing lab. This paper discusses the design and technologies used to resolve this issue along with ways to deploy the application in academic departments seeking a relatively elegant way to manage a difficult classroom problem.