2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper introduces Pod-Pi, a scalable, low-cost, and fully sandboxed hardware laboratory environment designed to bridge the gap between network simulation and real-world implementation. While virtualization and simulation are common in IT education, they often obscure the physical complexities and unpredictable failure modes of production-grade hardware. The Pod-Pi architecture utilizes a Cisco router, a Cisco switch, and five Raspberry Pi devices to create an isolated "branch network" where students can safely configure routing, VLANs, firewall policies, and site-to-site VPNs. We employ a unique two-stage instructional model: students first complete a Packet Tracer simulation individually, followed by a collaborative, role-based lab on the Pod-Pi hardware. Evaluation through pre- and post-surveys and convergence-based performance checks demonstrate significant gains in student confidence and troubleshooting efficacy, particularly in complex security configurations. These results suggest that Pod-Pi offers a replicable framework for institutions seeking to provide authentic, hands-on networking experience without the high cost or security risks of traditional production infrastructure.