Cloudy skies ahead
Cloud computing is forecasted to be one technological development that could have major implications for education. A recent post by Tim O’Reilly gives some background to its potential.
Not only is O’Reilly’s post interesting because it contextualises some of his comments about web 2.0 – particularly his absolute focus on the user’s role in successful web 2.0 applications (applications win if they get better the more people use them), but it highlights different types – or levels of use of cloud computing. O’Reilly labels them: ‘Utility Computing’, ‘Platform as Service’, and ‘Cloud-based end-user applications’.
All of these have implications for the way in which some educational services can be organised and delivered. The implications of ‘Utility Computing’ of mass procurement of infrastructure; supporting developers of educational resources, to providing the necessary computational power for high level simulations and games. The implications of ‘Platform as Service’, potentially with lower barriers to entry than that described as ‘utility computing’ is the possibility for more specific applications being developed from existing APIs for education. This level of cloud computing allows those closer to the end user to develop more specific application: what tweaks would you make to Google Docs to use it more effectively in your classroom? How would a collaborative mindmapping tool be different if it were designed for your students and location? The possibilities of greater customisation and development for local need becomes more apparent and potentially opens up routes for greater collaboration between developers and educators/students.
The most obvious implications for education though come in O’Reilly’s category ‘Cloud-based end-user applications’. Any web 2.0 tool you care to think of, that provides the structure or tools for learners to build on their own input, is part of ‘the cloud’. Learners accessing the tools they need, when they need them to make sense of their own data. The possibilities of harnessing this potential in education is that we can really support the mobile learner where it is not the technology that is mobile, but the learner and – importantly – their personal data and information. The possibilities of cloud computing for enhancing education, if not defined are certainly becoming clearer. The task now is to investigate the preferable nature of these opportunities.
