Over the years, the education industry has come a long way. Teaching and learning activities are no longer confined to textbooks and classrooms, but gradually reach out to computers and mobile devices. This trend in turn leads to the omnipresence of cloud adoption among educational institutions. According to Technavio marketing research, the global cloud computing market will see a compound annual growth rate of 26% through 2021 in the education category as educators within K-12 schools, colleges, and universities try to enhance productivity and improve the overall learning experience. Findings from a recent EdWeek survey also demonstrate that 80% of education technology leaders utilise cloud-based software to save time and money. In order to give practitioners an insight into this transformation, this blog post will elaborate on the extensive benefits of cloud computing in the field of education.
The cloud offers easy accessibility and mobility
In the cloud, applications can be run on any internet browsers, so schools and students don’t necessarily have to own expensive computers or laptops to access lesson plans, coursework and digital textbooks. The cloud also gives teachers the ability to work from home in order to finish up their work. Rather than getting to school hours before the first bell rings and staying hours after the last bell, teachers can grade tests and homework assignments, develop course curricula, enter grades, and respond to parents from the comfort of their home when it’s convenient for them. With the 2017 Educator Quality of Work Life Survey revealing that over 60% of teachers are highly-stressed out and describing their mental health as “not good,” this could go a long way toward helping relieve their stress, which ultimately creates a better learning environment.
The cloud eliminates the need and cost of expensive hardware
A decade ago, most of the educational institutions used to own a room full of on-premise servers for the purposes of system operation and data storage. Whenever the number of concurrent users or the size of database exceeds the capacity of the servers, all of the activities may be disrupted until the new servers are purchased and added into the infrastructure. Moreover, schools need to afford server room cooling systems, maintenance and electricity, which can get very costly especially in warm-climate countries (not to mention the need to keep servers running even when not in use during the many extended holiday breaks).
However, with most third-party cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), educational institutions can utilise the autoscaling power of virtual servers and only pay for the capacity they need, which significantly saves up the costs. For instance, thanks to switching from physical servers to Elastic Cloud Computing (EC2) of AWS, OMT – a school management platform provider, can cut down up to 40% of infrastructure cost, while simultaneously attaining zero downtime and quick rollback. Additionally, scalability also helps OMT to manage the usage peaks and traffic spikes in the check-in/check-out time of schools. Similarly, OMT can scale down instantly during the low activity period to prevent wastage of resources.
The cloud provides strong virtual classroom environment
With cloud-based software, it is possible for educational organizations to have virtual classrooms for the students. The concept reduces the infrastructural costs to a considerable extent. They can even reduce the expenses of onboarding regular teachers in their faculty. Rather, they can collaborate with skilled trainers who work remotely and serve as cost-effective resources.
At the same time, teachers can create and deliver online courses to students anywhere. Students can even appear for virtual exams, saving their time and expenses effectively.
The cloud brings about agility and innovation
Another way learning providers can benefit from cloud computing is through agility and innovation. This can be achieved by implementing continuous integration and continuous delivery with the Developer Tools to accelerate the software development and release cycle.
To be more specific, let’s take a look into the cloud adoption result of Vinschool – a not-for-profit K-12 education system. After collaborating with OSAM – Advanced Partner of AWS to build a CI/CD pipeline on the cloud environment, Vinschool could benefit from the automated test and deployment process, which helped them to release the new features 1.5 times faster than usual. Consequently, they can continuously innovate to create better learning experiences for the students.
Conclusion
The benefits of cloud computing for the education sector are immense. It does not come as a surprise that major providers in the industry are fast embracing cloud technology so that they can enhance the services they deliver. Simultaneously, the cloud is emerging as the best option for the students as well. Nothing matches the convenience of accessing learning at the fingertips and cloud tech makes it possible. Whether it is a large university, a small school or a student, everyone in the industry is experiencing the positive impact of the cloud and things are going to get bigger and better in the future.
If your institution has an intention of applying cloud technology to learning and teaching activities but not knowing where to start? The best advice for you is to consult cloud specialists who can implement cloud computing across the entirety of your infrastructure. As an Advanced Partner of AWS, especially in the Public sector, OSAM will review your current situation, audit your existing systems, and determine the best ways to ensure that you have all the functionality you need with minimal disruption. You won’t need to struggle through the process alone, and your employees will be able to get back to work as soon as possible. Contact us now to receive a free review session and other attractive benefits for your first workload!
