GMO Cloud

April 9, 2013 | Uncategorized

Cloud computing is rapidly emerging as one of the most important resources for the future of education. Its ubiquity, convenience, and ease of customization let students and teachers have on-demand access to a vast pool of resources that can be shared among all participating individuals and institutions. Essentially, the cloud turns the internet into a repository where everyone can have access to infrastructure, platforms, and software without needing to invest in expensive equipment or maintenance. Cloud computing basically allows clients to rent computer resources.

Cloud computing models available for collaborative learning

There are several types of cloud computing service models that can help collaborative learning. SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS all have applications in the market. SaaS has been used effectively for web-based email and online applications, both essential for collaborative learning. PaaS such as AWS and Azure have helped users deliver and deploy their own applications in the cloud. This is especially useful for universities and online learning centers since it allows them to create customized applications adopted for their own services. IaaS is perhaps one of the most important cloud service models in collaborative learning, because it allows online learning centers to have access to expensive processing power and storage.

Cloud computing puts valuable resources in the hands of all educational institutions

All learning centers should be able to provide their students and staff with computing resources, including hardware resources such as terminals and servers, and essential software such as email. It is often also necessary to provide researchers and advanced students with the computing resources they need to carry out research and develop their own projects and experiments. These kinds of services can quickly strain an educational institution’s budget, making allocation of internal resources a priority for most schools.

Cloud applications and services have allowed schools to save on expenses by developing their own apps on established cloud platforms and infrastructures rather than investing in costly data centers and equipment. Research can receive a boost with the help of the computing power and storage provided by an IaaS service provider. It can also allow researchers and students to have access to a variety of operating systems, configuration settings, and libraries, all especially useful for the researchers. To find out more about IaaS, you can visit GMO Cloud’s Hosting page.

Training is also a significant expense for institutions investing in traditional computing models. Because of these budget advantages afforded by cloud computing, many universities around he world have started to use cloud computing as a part of their normal activities, providing collaborative learning opportunities while saving on personnel and equipment. Paving the way in the United States is the University of California at Berkeley, which successfully deployed a SaaS that has become a standard among American Universities. The University of Westminster in the United Kingdom has also gained notoriety for its integration of cloud computing into all of its activities. It is important to remember that cloud computing allows institutions to outsource personnel and other associated costs (such as energy bills), not only equipment expenses.

The bottom line

Universities in Asia, particularly in India, have adopted collaborative learning eagerly. The savings in infrastructure and maintenance are enormous. Virtual machines, in particular, have proven useful in these markets, allowing students to have access to networking exercises and experiments that would previously have only been accessible with a significant infrastructure investment due to the need for multiple machines.

Logistics were also a problem, having to handle borrowing and signing out of machines each semester. This includes maintaining and collecting these computer systems, a significant tax on the resources of any collegiate IT department. The Cloud optimizes college IT infrastructure and resource management. It helps everyone, from lecturers to researchers, to carry out their work more efficiently and with fewer problems. Being able to deploy virtual environments also guarantees a standard platform and environment which assures teachers that students will have the same results when working on their own computer systems, since it actually exists on the cloud. This power of standardization is one of the most important reasons why a cloud-based platform is ideal for collaborative learning and a collegiate environment.

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About the Guest Author:

 

Nida Rasheed is a freelance writer and owner of an outsourcing company, Nida often finds herself wanting to write about the subjects that are closest to her heart. She lives in Islamabad, Pakistan and can be found on Twitter @nidarasheed.