Cloud Computing: Opportunities in HE
P. Y. Thomas
University of Botswana
Presentation Outline
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What is cloud computing?
Online data storage: a feature of cloud computing
Personal digital workspace as well as for storage
SoTL versus educational potential of of cloud computing
Specific cloud tools: the Google Docs and Microsoft’s
SkyDrive.
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Uses of cloud computing to academics
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Final Comments
What is cloud computing?
Cloud
computing allows individuals and organisations to access:
 computing resources for processing and storage over the internet,
 without having to buy, deploy, maintain or upgrade.
Online Computing resources as a service on a pay-for-usage basis:
 Software
 Infrastructure
 Storage -to store and retrieve anytime, from anywhere on the web.
Access to the ‘cloud’ is possible from anywhere, anytime over a browser.
Cloud Tools
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Two specific tools: The Google Docs and Microsoft’s SkyDrive
 Urls: //docs.google.com & //skydrive.live.com
Google Docs: //docs.google.com
Google Docs: //docs.google.com
Microsoft’s SkyDrive : //skydrive.live.com
Google Docs: //skydrive.live.com
Cloud Computing- Benefits
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Flexible
Inexpensive
Reliable
Shared data centre
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
Requires a framework for:
 Peer review;
 Making the process of learning public;
 Adoption by peers through modification if needed;
 Research/investigation of issues around student
learning.
(Shulman & Hutchings,1999)
Uses of Cloud Computing to Academics
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Cloud-based applications can provide students and teachers with free
or low-cost alternatives to expensive, proprietary productivity tools.
eMail, word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, collaboration,
media editing, and more can be done from a web browser, while the
software and files reside in the cloud;
As a personal workspace;
Online storage of elements of digital scholarship that can be shared
among peers and experts;
Can be interactive & can enable ‘virtual communities’ for educators
researchers;
A convenient tool to engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning;
Uses of Cloud Computing to Academics
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Active collaboration with colleagues to succeed in research
projects and to develop quality work through iterative processes;
As an “idea generation factory” to generate ideas on a topic of
interest and collate them for publishing as a book or an article;
A domain for preparing and displaying teaching portfolio;
As a Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) used by many
people as an alternative to institutionally controlled Virtual Learning
Environments (VLEs)/LMS with different personalised tools
Provides opportunity for ubiquitous computing;
No need for backing up everything to a drive and transferring it
from one device to another.
Cloud Computing: Issues
It raises a range of important policy issues which
include:
issues of privacy,
protection of intellectual property,
security,
anonymity,
government surveillance, and
reliability.
Final Comments
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The storage feature of ‘cloud computing’ may be utilised for
advancing the much needed practice of collaboration among
educators, and hence in achieving the ideals of SoTL.
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The cloud computing has a significant place in the higher
education landscape both as a ubiquitous computing tool and a
powerful platform that can enhance engagement among
educators to understand and improve practice, and thus,
increase productivity.
QUESTIONS?
He who is afraid to ask is afraid of learning.
– Danish proverb
“The road to success is always under construction.”
by Author Unknown
Thank you
P. Y. Thomas
Centre for Academic Development
University of Botswana
Reference
Hutchings, P., & Shulman, L. E. (1999). The scholarship of teaching: New elaborations, new
developments. Change, 31(5), 10-15.