During the last decade, higher education has undergone significant changes marked by the development of technology and its influence on the new generation of students ^[1][2][1,2]. Current educational models have introduced innovative practices using digital technologies to enhance traditional education methodologies [3]. An example of this are the academic models that use blended learning, e-Learning, and mobile learning, as well as continuous and ubiquitous education initiatives and programs such as MOOCs, online classes, the use of mobile educational applications, augmented reality, virtual reality, web applications, etc. [4]. These models, being new and innovative, reveal a deficiency in learning; the causes of this deficiency can be associated with factors such as educational modality, educational materials and resources, learning challenges, and assessment methods [5]. In a traditional modality, the teacher becomes the main actor of learning; they are the one who defines what and how students learn in the classroom, which is a controlled environment [6]. By eliminating the environment and the control that the teacher exercises over the group, problems increase, especially when the resources, activities, and methods of the face-to-face model are not adapted to the new modality [7]. These factors cause a lack of interest in the student, who by not having the physical presence of the teacher, avoids their participation, which can create gaps in learning that are difficult to identify until they become problems such as academic dropout [8].

Online, distance, and hybrid study modalities, due to the isolation caused by the pandemic, had an incredible surge [9]. It has been a challenge for higher education institutions to adapt to these changes due to the new educational needs and the digital culture of the new generation of students [10]. This adaptation can generate indicators, which must be properly addressed for a correct deployment in the implementation of new strategies and methodologies that use digital technologies in the educational context [11]. In addition, this need for the use of digital technologies in education arises from the new educational modalities and technological contexts in which students and their new learning needs are included [12]. Nowadays, the use of technology plays an important role in education, and an educational model that is shaped using digital technologies and emphasizes student-centered learning activities is possible ^[4][13][4,13]. The learning process using digital technologies can provide students with a self-paced learning environment [14]. In this way, students can learn according to their learning ability. In addition, it has been shown in several empirical studies that the use of technology can improve academic performance in students [15].

Nowadays, the development of technological skills in the educational context is a priority in formal education from early learning to higher education [16]. All this must go hand in hand with teacher training and professional development, which involves identifying the role of the teacher and the student to transform the learning environment [17]. These skills and innovative educational models supported by emerging technologies contribute directly to the fourth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) [18]. This goal seeks to improve access to quality education and thus ensure the sustainable development of countries [19].

2. Emerging Digital Technologies in Education

Today’s education has become one of the biggest challenges; in many countries, teachers face material shortages, lack of content, lack of equipment, and lack of opportunities for self-directed learning [20]. To address these challenges, educators are turning to the use of digital technologies to help improve the quality of teaching and learning [21]. The integration of technology in education can give way to the creation of educational models in online, face-to-face, blended, and hybrid modalities [7]. It is for this reason that the use of technology in education has the potential to reach people living in remote places, in conditions of vulnerability, and where there are no educational institutions, teachers, or libraries [22]. Therefore, it is expected that in the future, the use of digital tools will become the basis for the creation of new and innovative learning environments [23]. Higher educational institutions have several challenges to address for the deployment of digital technologies in education, but undoubtedly, a point in favor is the new generations of students [12]. Digital natives have a new way of accessing knowledge; they are technologically advanced, and this contributes to the use of technologies in the educational model [10]. In recent years, initiatives have been developed using digital technologies as a support in the educational model ^[15][24][15,24]. Some works use mobile applications for learning indigenous languages to preserve the culture of a country [25]. Another example is the use of augmented reality (AR) for learning enhancement in higher education ^[15][26][27][15,26,27]. Virtual reality has also been used in the educational context to create immersive educational environments so that students can observe how knowledge can be applied ^[28][29][30][28,29,30]. In recent years, the concept of gamification has become relevant in education through gamification [1]. Motivation, entertainment, and competition mean that this digital technology is being used in the educational environment with very encouraging results regarding learning ^[1][31][32][1,31,32]. Whether a technology is considered emergent depends on where it is being used, the domain and knowledge of its operation, and the application given to it [33]. An important characteristic of these technologies is that they do not need to have a limited life, even when they have been used for a long period of time. They can begin to become emerging when they are used in innovative ways in the service of people to achieve their objectives ^[34][35][34,35]. Emerging technologies for education (ELTs) are those that are being incorporated into education, which favor communication and allow easy access to educational information [36]. Some of the ELTs that contribute to an innovation system in higher education are mobile learning, MOOCs, social networks, gamification, augmented reality, virtual reality, and web applications ^[14][33][14,33]. The use of ELTs is quite diverse, for example, one research proposes the use of smartphones to run educational applications and contribute to improving the quality of teaching and learning. In addition, the author indicates that the use of mobile learning helps to compensate for the lack of infrastructure and the scarcity of school supplies and books in the place where the research was conducted [37]. They are also used for learning English as a second language for native speakers of Chinese [38]. One of the most widely used digital technologies is web pages which, depending on their design, can store information, generate educational games, serious games, manage learning resources, and automate processes, etc. ^[39][40][41][39,40,41].

3. Literature Review on Network Automation

Network automation is performed using software, which automatically performs the configuration, provisioning, management, and testing of data network devices [42]. This technology is used by organizations and service providers seeking to improve the efficiency of their network management and administration processes [43]. In addition, using network automation can reduce human errors and operational expenses involved in existing manual configuration ^[42][44][45][42,44,45]. Network automation tools can perform simple jobs such as basic network mapping or much more complex jobs such as managing and evaluating the configuration of a technology infrastructure and provisioning resources needed for a virtual network [44]. Automation can be used in any type of network—for example, a local area network (LAN)—and even encompasses a wide area network (WAN). In addition, it can be used in data centers, in the cloud, and in wireless networks; that is, any network equipment that uses the command line interface (CLI) or an application programming interface (API) can be automated [42]. In recent years, as organizations have begun to digitally transform, their technology infrastructure has become much more complex, which has made way for new open-source programming languages, such as Python and Ruby, which have gained popularity for their ease of use and flexibility of work ^[42][46][47][42,46,47].

3.1. Network Automation Benefits

Some of the benefits associated with network automation are as follows:

• Reduce operational expenses. By eliminating manual tasks, network equipment provisioning, and management can be improved, allowing organizations to operate in an agile and efficient manner [44].
• Low probability of human error. Manual configurations bring with them errors, which can be quickly propagated in the network, and this can have significant consequences. This can be avoided if the task is automatically configured properly only once ^[42][44][42,44].
• Improves network efficiency. Automating the configuration processes in a technological infrastructure immediately improves network efficiency, as there is no need to perform time-consuming manual tasks [44].
• Improves network performance. Without the need for disruption from manual network configuration, organizations can offer and deliver a higher level of services consistently [46].
• Improves monitoring. Automation allows better control of the network, making it adaptable to specific needs. In addition, it allows for greater capacity and response to changes and better resolution of incidents and problems [44].

3.2. Network Automation Tools

For configuration automation in data network equipment, there are several platforms and protocols, based on scripts and software. These tools are open source, and examples of them are Ansible, Chef, and Puppet [48]. These tools offer an automation model and provide a library of common commands or workflows that can be easily used [45]. In recent years, automation has been used in the configuration of networking equipment. Software-based platforms have been developed that offer automation capabilities that work only with specific brands of networking equipment and use a specialized API ^[42][44][49][42,44,49]. All these tools simplify the amount of work and eliminate repetitive processes in the configuration of IT infrastructure equipment [50]. Some initiatives use Python libraries to perform data network automation, but these automation tools were not created for educational environments ^[44][46][51][44,46,51]. Examples include the web tool called Network Configuration Manager, which automates backups, monitoring, and change management, thus improving the productivity and reliability of the enterprise data network [52]. Another available web tool is Ansible Automation, which is used to install system software, automate daily tasks, prepare internal infrastructure, and improve data network security [45]. Mazin, et al. [51] in their research shows positive results regarding the efficiency of using automation in network equipment configuration versus using CLI, but their results were not analyzed in an educational environment with students. Other network automation initiatives using emerging technologies include “Implementación de un sistema para la administración de las funciones básicas de un Cisco Meraki MR33 mediante Cisco Devnet y Amazon Alexa en el Data Center académico de la Universidad de las Américas”. Its objective was to implement a system for the administration and management of the functionalities of Cisco Meraki equipment through Cisco DevNet Sandbox and Amazon Alexa, using Python as a tool for the migration of the UCS admin system [53]. In “Network Automation and Abstraction using Python Programming Methods”, a network was simulated in the GNS3 simulator with an Ubuntu container in Docker to run the Python scripts. Netmiko and Paramiko libraries were used to perform virtual network configuration, routing protocols, and backup configuration independently of the network equipment vendor [46]. The goal of “Diseño e implementación de un agente de administración, configuración y monitoreo para dispositivos de red Cisco” was achieved by using functions that enable serial communication between the computer running the program and the network equipment to which it is connected [54].

4. Web Application to Automate the Configuration of Networking Equipment

To achieve the objectives of this research, an educational web application was designed and built, which contains a GUI for the automated configuration of equipment in a data network or technological infrastructure.

4.1. Programming Languages and Frameworks

The tools listed in Table 1 were used to develop the web application. 62]. It is responsible for the management of interfaces, resources, routing, routing, quality of service (QoS), security, etc. There are several modes of operation for configuration through the CLI, which are hierarchically structured, and each of them allows specific tasks. The IOS configuration modes are hierarchically defined as follows:

• User mode (User EXEC)

• Privileged execution mode (Privileged EXEC)

4.2. Configuration Modes in Network Equipment

The executable file Putty with an SSH client is used for secure access to communication equipment and input and output peripherals (monitor and keyboard). This tool allows securely connecting to remote servers and communication equipment through a serial session allowing remote administration of equipment within a data network [61]. The Internetwork Operating System (IOS) is the software used by most Cisco-branded equipment [

• Global configuration mode
• Specific configuration modes

To automate the network configurations, Cisco IOS commands were used to manually configure the protocols and services. Table 2 shows the commands that should be configured manually through the CLI and which were automated to be configured more easily through the graphical interface of the designed application. Figure 1 shows the Python code of the application designed for configuring virtual local area networks (VLANs). A VLAN is a collection of network devices or nodes that communicate with each other as if they form a single local area network, but each VLAN is a different network [44]. VLANs are used to segment enterprise networks and divide broadcast domains. To configure VLANs, communication equipment must support the IEEE8202.1Q standard. Figure 2 shows the GUI presented to the user to enter the data required to create a VLAN using the developed web tool. The first field to fill in is the IP address of the computer where the VLAN is to be created. Next, a username and password are entered for the SSH connection to the computer. Next, you add the ID number corresponding to the number of VLANs you want to create. In addition, you add the name corresponding to each VLAN separated by a comma. Finally, to execute the configuration, click on “Submit” and verify that the execution was successful by checking the output screen. As shown in Figure 2, the GUI is user-friendly and very easy to use to achieve the necessary configurations in the proposed network. It is important to note that users need some knowledge of data networks and IP addresses to access the computers involved through SSH. The operation of the web application can be summarized in the flow diagram presented in Figure 3. This diagram shows the functionality of the application and the steps required for the correct configuration of the network devices. It is important to note that the application ensures a level of security by requesting authentication for access to the configuration.