Virtualization technology is becoming ubiquitous in the classroom, particularly in the computing fields, and could potentially make technical education more accessible by reducing cost to the student. Does this potential gain come at the costs of quality of education? To understand the drawbacks, if any, of virtualization in the classroom, a network engineering class at an undergraduate institution is taught to two separate groups of students; one group using physical labs for evaluations and lab work, and the other group using virtual networking software. The effectiveness of both classroom teaching methods are compared and evaluated based on the performance of the students and their perceived confidence in the material. Our results indicate that there is no significant difference in student performance or perceived confidence in the course material, supporting the argument that the benefits of virtualization technology in the classroom far outweigh the drawbacks.