SITTING ON A CLOUD
In the last few years, the idea of cloud computing has taken over individuals and organizations.  |
Furthermore, according to a report by Gartner: “By 2016, all Global 2000 companies will use public cloud services” (http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1465614). In cloud computing, there is also a cost advantage for organizations and for individual use. It is more cost effective to use cloud services than purchasing and maintaining additional computer processors and constructing large data centers on college campuses. Using the cloud helps with regards to short and long term projects that demand additional computer requirements and software applications. Also, learners do not have to rely on computer labs and to purchase expensive applications for particular classes, but instead, users have access on-demand to data.
Furthermore, cloud computing creates a real opportunity for collaboration among learners and administration within a classroom, campus, or even globally without any delay where they can share ideas, work on projects, and research in addition to minimizing additional operation costs. However, one of the main concerns of using cloud computing is the security of the data and the continuation of the services. There are always cyber attacks occurring and it is important for the users to be aware of all the pitfalls of cloud computing. However, there is an increased danger of misplacing and losing USB drives which is more common, rather than incurring a cyber attack! Another issue is if there is no Internet connection, you cannot retrieve your document, although cell phones are creating another way to go around that problem.
The use of cloud computing in education should eliminate students’ need to carry homework assignment and projects on USB drives or in the form of papers. Educators will have the option to view students’ assignments online and post their assignments there as well. This will also help parents to have a better handle of what is covered in class and the students’ progress.
In order for the saving and retrieving of files from the cloud to be successful, educators have to be active participants in it! Rogers (2003) states that how the emerging idea is communicated can affect the rate of adaptation of the new technology (p.222); meaning, if the idea comes from the organization itself, this factor can influence its acceptance by the parties (p.356). According to Gardner 2010 forecast report of strategic planning assumptions (http://www.1105info.com/t.do?id=6589564:17617519): “by 2013, 75% of higher education institutions will incorporate social software in distance learning.” In this case, educators will be less hesitant to implement new technology, especially because there would be no need to purchase additional technology by the schools.
Therefore, I believe that social network integration in the classrooms will increase over time. http://www.dropbox.com/ and other similar options of a cloud computing, where learners can save their information on a cloud and share files with peers and educators, will be incorporated as part of a class curriculum and will help eliminate the carrying of school work in terms of paper and external files for students.
The question is what would make this technology even better. It can improve only if it will be used in education, as new ideas are generated by educators, it will continue to improve the product.
Reference:
Rogers, E. (2003). Diffusion of innovations. New York: Free Press.
Thornburg, D. (2009). Current trends in educational technology. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/Courses/14936/crs-wueduc8812-3526271/when_is_a_technology_emergent.pdf
http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/CollaborationinHigherEducation/199373
http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE%2BQuarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/CloudComputing/213724
You make some interesting points about social software. I am in the K-12 world where social software is taboo. For some reason, administrators have the idea that it is dangerous for our students... However, I think that this will change over time. Schools are already embracing twitter and even creating Facebook pages to share information. The cloud is coming and schools need to open themselves up to it.
ReplyDeleteOrit,
ReplyDeleteI also chose Cloud Computing as the emerging technology in education, although I work with K-12.
In my organization, there is great concern for secure measures of integrating technology, which has led to adoption of "closed" spaces where collaboration and communication can take place "internally" such as First Class email which allows messaging among staff (though few use it since it is also very closely monitored), Infinite Campus student information/grading program which allows information availability to teachers wherever they are located, so long as they have their access code. Infinite Campus also communicates with parents if they so desire to set up automatic messaging when their child experiences failing grades, and they can check student's grades in each class at any time. OnCourse lesson planning which allows teachers to submit lessons to adminstrators, keep them for the life of the contract, post for communication with parents regarding instructional content, even to post missed lessons for absentee students. The county has increased bandwidth so that teachers can integrate technology, and media in lessons, and for storage capacity for both teachers and students, who maintain their own "homer" files.
Unfortunately, each of these programs has limited capacity for storage, so that larger media files cannot all be saved stored in one location. The "homer" files can only be accessed from within the school buildings. Therefore, students who work on their portfolios at home, are forced to either utilize external memory devices such as a flashdrive, or "go to the cloud" by using a web storage such as DropBox. The same is true for teachers who are scrambling to find storage for files previously stored in their laptop, as their 2 year old laptops are being replaced.
The cloud is coming, educators will either learn early or late, they may choose to take the leap, or be forced, but it is coming!
Orit,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you brought up the fact that our information always has the potential to be harmed whether or not it is stored remotely. As a matter of fact, your argument makes me feel more comfortable having my information in the "cloud" than having several flash drives laying around. I am convinced physical storage devices, such as flash drives, will become less prevalent in the very near future.
George,
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that many administrators and educators view social networks as a diversion from education. Instead of going where our students are and using tools they are using to enhance education, we view social networks as the enemy. This is a great article containing creative ideas of how some educators incorporated social networks. "100 Inspiring Ways to Use Social Media In the Classroom" http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/05/100-inspiring-ways-to-use-social-media-in-the-classroom/
Lori,
ReplyDeleteYou are right! The "cloud" is coming! Especially with current budget cuts, school administrations have to seek other options that are scalable and elastic and the "cloud" currently is the answer.
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ReplyDeleteHi Jeff,
ReplyDeleteI think that flash drives will follow the floppy disks and the large external drives. However, I think it will be a slow process, only currently are floppy discs to be discontinued by IBM; I didn’t even know that they still in production!
Security is always a major concern especially with sensitive information such as student records, but there are so many different options that the administration can evaluate and integrate instead of some employees saving the files on their laptops and external drives to work on it at home…
My concern, which you addressed, is that of security. My worry is about who has access to the stored documents besides those that are said to. With everything that happen recently with WikiLeaks, though I am definitely not storing anything like that, some things need to be kept private.
ReplyDelete