A Simple Classroom Network Access Control System

Hangjin Zhang, Kevin C. Almeroth
Department of Computer Science
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA  93106-5110
{hangjin, almeroth}@cs.ucsb.edu

With the advent of laptop computers and network technology, 
many classrooms are now being equipped with Internet 
connections, either through wired connections or wireless 
infrastructure.  Internet access provides students an 
additional source from which to obtain course-related 
information. However, constant access to the Internet can 
be a distraction.  This distraction could potentially cause 
impaired learning performance. Instructors need a mechanism 
to control how students access the Internet; and researchers 
need a mechanism to monitor students’ computer activities 
and engagement. To fulfill these two needs, we propose a 
simple Classroom Network Access Control (CNAC) system.  Our 
system consists of two major parts: the Ethernet bridge as 
a core and the web-based control panel as the user interface. 
The CNAC system is designed to be easily deployed and the 
simple and intuitive web-based control panel provides a 
user-friendly configuration interface for instructors.  
Through this powerful, yet flexible interface, instructors 
can easily set classroom Internet access rules.