W:
edtechnology.co.uk | T: @Educ_Technology
TD: All institutions – from small primary schools right up to large higher education institutions face a number of challenges in their delivery of technology- based learning. Common issues include how to scale on demand, providing access to lecture or classroom content for all students, how to support the needs of students who want to be able to view content anywhere, any time and on any device, and how to facilitate more collaborative learning approaches. These can all be addressed by a move to the cloud.
LS: That’s been our experience. When Google first engaged with the education space, initial interest came from the higher education sector. Now 30% of all UK HE and FE colleges use Google Apps for Education. When Chromebooks launched, there was an increase in interest from the schools sector who were keen to benefit from their simplicity, shareability and cost-effectiveness. Schools using Google Apps are highly motivated by the potential both for content creation and collaboration. From the UK’s largest academy trust to some of the most prestigious universities, we see a wide variety of use cases.
RD: Yes. The growing adoption of hybrid cloud services by educational institutions is evidence of this. Many organisations are using cloud services such as online teaching resources, VLEs and distance learning platforms for remote tutoring, while retaining their traditional on-premises infrastructure to run back office and administrative applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel and Sage Accounting.
Security threats and technical issues have been reasons to avoid the cloud in the past, but do the benefits now outweigh these?
NG: In the world of technology, there will always be risks but the security software available today is sophisticated. I would argue the cloud provides much more security and precautions than having an IT server inside a school environment where the chances of overheating, vandalism and a lack of 24/7 monitoring can be disastrous.
Can the cloud really work for all educational institutions, from primary schools all the way up to higher education?
NG: The days of IT rooms in school with black boxes are becoming extinct. Like electricity, ICT in schools should be invisible. The power of the cloud provides the opportunities for schools to focus on the teaching and learning side of it instead of wasting their energy on managing ICT.
TD: Institutions will naturally have concerns about hosting data outside of their infrastructure, but in some cases where internal resource or infrastructure is limited, it could actually be more secure to cloud host. Where there is a central, cloud-based resource for teachers and academics to store materials, issues around data loss can also be mitigated against. Schools, colleges and universities have to take into consideration their own set-up – the benefits are definitely there, but there is no one-size-fits-all model.
LS: Yes absolutely. Firstly and crucially the cloud simplifies technology for schools. It’s no longer
"I would argue that the cloud provides much more security and precautions than having an IT server inside a school"
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