The Educational Cloud, Problems and Perspectives

Abstract

Cloud technology is rapidly spreading in educational institutions, sometimes replacing the in-house infrastructure with cloud services. This development seems driven primarily by the promised economic benefits and wider, efficient and accessible resources for students and teachers. The educational impact of this change, however, remains unclear. While traditional learning technically can be integrated or perhaps replaced by learning in the cloud, we also need to identify and formalize new strategies for the delivery and effective use of these resources and for measuring the educational benefit. In this paper technologies and pedagogical aspects of introduction of the cloud model in teaching and learning, are proposed the results of an investigation into the scientific literature of the last three years that outlines the areas in which research is most active. The papers taken into consideration show a strong interest in the implementation of educational activities on the cloud model, also by developing countries. We found many research proposals but little real research and, therefore, little evidence. This implies that we are far from ready solution to be applied in the teaching processes. What is certain is that a new space has been opened to carry out interesting research, both basic and industrial.

Keywords

• Cloud Computing
• e-learning
• educational cloud
• cloud-based campus
• distance education