Cloud computing, more than any other recent development, has made ubiquitous learning a possibility.  

According to dictionary.com, cloud computing is defined as ‘Internet based computing in which large groups of remote servers are networked so as to allow sharing of data-processing tasks, centralised data storage, and online access to computer services or resources’. (dictionary.com). In other words, instead of a user having access to the memory and processing power of a single device, they now potentially have access to the memory and processing power of thousands or even millions of Internet-enabled devices. Furthermore, cloud computing enables many different users to work collaboratively on the same project sharing human brainpower in addition to machine computing capacity. This illustration neatly sums up the idea of cloud computing.

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Although the idea of cloud computing has been in existence since the mid-1990s,  it has only significantly taken off after 2009 as a result of the spread of high capacity computing networks and low cost computers (Wikipedia 2016). Some of the best known examples of cloud computing include the Google Cloud and Apple’s iCloud and applications such as Dropbox, Gmail, Google Docs and iBooks.

Cloud computing is seen as having many advantages and a study undertaken in 2013 of IT professionals in higher education listed them as increased efficiency, employee mobility, ability to innovate, freeing of it staff for other projects, reduced operating costs and enabling them to offer new products and services (Daly 2013).

There are, however, several concerns about the widespread adoption of cloud computing which apply very much to education related to ‘trust, confidence and Surety’ p.7 (Katz, Goldstein and Yanovsky 2009). These include security, privacy and relinquishing control of their content to a small number of Cloud providers.  

Cloud computing is used in several ways at my current workplace. First of all, there is a cloud based calendar system which enables staff and students to coordinate their schedules.Many  projects are also completed collaboratively using cloud-based solutions such as Google Docs. This enables students to work on an ongoing basis unimpeded by time and location. This is especially useful for students on our global MBA programme. Furthermore, more our lecturers collaborate with overseas colleagues using cloud-based solutions.

Some further examples of how the cloud can be used in higher education can be seen in this video from the Netherlands.

References

‘Cloud Computing’ Dictionary.com (www.dictionary.com/browser/cloud--computing) Retrieved August 28th 2016

‘Cloud Computing’ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing) Retrieved August 28th 2016

‘Cloud Computing Issues’ Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing_issues)

Retrieved August 28th 2016

Daly J ‘The State of Cloud Computing in Higher Education’ in EdTech Magazine, Feb. 2013 (http://www.edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2013/02/state-cloud-computing-higher-education) retrieved August 28th 2013

Katz R, Goldstein Yanovsky ‘Cloud Computing in Higher Education’ in Educause, 2009 (https://net.educause.edu/section_params/conf/CCW10/highered.pdf) retireved August 28th 2016