Cloud and Its Effect on Education

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With the change within the education system, many schools are looking for new ways to teach students the same curriculum that was taught when the instructors were in school yet with a new twist. The ways of using textbooks and slide-shows are a thing of the past. “By bringing technology into the classroom, teachers can hone in on methodology that students are familiar with, leading to more effective teaching strategies and better results.” (Chen, 2013) The new twist would not only enable students to access fellow students for study groups. They could also get help from the instructors from home with designated office hours outside of school. Local cyber schools are starting to embrace the cloud computing for teaching students who choose to be home schooled. The cloud should be able to give the students a sense of being in a class from home a sense of being focused, while being independent.

With cloud computing being accessed from the internet, sensitive information about any student should be forbidden. The cloud is encrypted but does have risks of security, privacy, interoperability, or performance when selecting a public cloud. The steps to keep students privacy has been seen as a steady rising problem. A private cloud would be more ideal for deployment that can be scaled to determine what information is shared among the student body, teachers and administrative employees of that school district. With the scalability of a private cloud the cost of its use can be kept manageable. The rules of use with the cloud should be outline in a student handbook that is given to each student and parent at the beginning of each semester.

The cloud computing security is not monitored by the school or the school district but by...

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...easy retrieval from any device. The plans can also be changed at a whim on the cloud. The presentation slides can be shared with students in their class. The security is set by each individual by use of a password that will allow them to access their information that is stored on the cloud. Teachers can set up group studies to work on projects. The scalability to add more storage for more students that enroll in a school year and draw back that amount when the enrollment is low is another way to look at cost savings. The future cannot always be predicted on the amount of students that will be enrolled for the 2015 school year versus the 2020 school year. Knowing that the cloud can be scaled to fit each school year is better than knowing that the district will have to come out of pocket for the same amount with a significantly less enrollment at any given year.

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