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June 14, 2019

How Has Cloud Computing Transformed Education?



When the cloud has just appeared, people were using it for reducing IT costs and improving scaling and flexibility. More and more organizations were using the cloud as storage. These days, we take the cloud for granted. It is so convenient to have access to our data across all portative devices anytime and anywhere.



The cloud has transformed many domains, and education is not an exception. Thanks to the cloud, many people have access to training and educational programs. Such self-education is flexible, affordable, and available to all who want to grow professionally. It is complicated to imagine modern education without the internet. Students use online resources when they have to do urgent college assignments like to write a Romeo and Juliet persuasive essay. When you simply can’t meet the deadline and do not want to fail the exam, such writing services can be much in need. 

Let’s have a look at how cloud computing transformed our modern education system.

Reduced costs for hardware/software

Many schools and educational training centers have to struggle all the time to cover the costs of IT staff, hardware, and software. If we compare the cloud, the price is much lower. Usually, you can choose the most suitable subscription-based plan to support your educational institution.

To start using the cloud, you just need a web browser and a constant internet connection. You can forget about installing and updating the software manually. Not a long time ago, many schools started using the suit by Google (News - Alert), which provides access to classroom tools like presentation software/spreadsheets/processors. Now students and teachers have access to cloud applications like Google Docs, allowing teachers and students to work on assignments in a user-friendly environment. Even Microsoft (News - Alert) presented the cloud solution to teachers and students for use.

Virtual educational classrooms

Thanks to the development of the cloud and its implementation to the educational sector, now students have access to virtual classrooms directly in the cloud. Now teachers can follow a paperless way to set up their entire course or an individual class. Such cloud-based virtual classrooms are very convenient for distributing educational material and assignments for students. The process of tracking or grading student directly from their desktop browser/smartphone has never been so fast and easy.

Old-style software for virtual classrooms used to require heavy technical/financial requirements. Nowadays, companies such as Blackboard offer top cloud-based services. Many educational institutions have already enrolled. Google also enters the cloud-based market launching the Classroom app, which is a part of Google Suite. Microsoft has released the cloud-based Classroom.

Virtual training labs

Cloud-based platforms are widely-used in professional education. If you want to conduct professional IT training in a traditional way, it will require a substantial monetary investment in hardware. It is better to use specialized cloud-based platforms, which provide users flexible, affordable, and intuitive services. One of the best cloud-based virtual providers is CloudShare, which helps companies with setup virtual training labs. Trainers can easily make VMs of different OS in a virtual class environment. Later they can be assigned to students. When needed, trainers can monitor students actively.

By using cloud computing in IT training, you will reduce hardware costs and will have an interactive experience. Companies will benefit from using the cloud while giving professional training to employees who are based all around the world. You will save a lot of money on training fees and travel.

Open access to professional education/training

The demand for higher education and professional training does not stop to grow. Thanks to the cloud, people all around the world have the opportunity to enroll in professional/academic courses. Various online courses become more and more popular. Significantly, young people have access to new knowledge and useful professional training.

Now students do not have to do a full-time study at universities. Various cloud-based platforms offer online training courses. After completing such courses, you can get a degree in computer science, medicine, engineering, data science, etc. The best universities use cloud services to make education accessible to everyone worldwide.

If you want to give a try to online education, you should pay your attention to a popular platform names edX. It has a lot of similarities to Coursera, which was created by Harvard University. Even high school education is now available across the world to get access to secondary education.

Tech corporations offer their own education platforms for gaining knowledge in specific fields. Check out a free platform Big Data University with the goal to put as many people as possible into data science/machine learning jobs. Everyone who has an internet connection can have access to lectures, educational materials.

Conclusion

With such fast IT development, many people ask where we go like this. Many experts claim that the next step is the integration of Artificial Intelligence. Potentially it can assist both students and teachers in the learning process. Time will show.



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