Protecting the environment A major benef…
Protecting the environment
A major benefit of cloud computing is that it helps to protect the environment. It is a “going green” initiative. For example, schools can opt to use cloud computing for hosting jobs and storage that are Internet based such as email applications offered by Google or Microsoft Office Live instead of using their own physical servers. Although this move will save what little is left of the planet’s resources, there are concerns. For example, using clouds means someone controls how the application works and there in little or no flexibility in the way things are done.
Cutting cost
Cloud computing can leads to cost savings for schools especially at this time when technological efforts are being hindered by the high cost of technology, inflation, and limited funding due to budget cuts especially since the global recession of 2007. Cloud computing can reduce energy cost and the cost of acquiring hardware such as servers etc. Cost saving could be used in other areas that will benefit students.
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Angela Novoa 5:08 am on October 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Keisha,
I think that both protecting the environment and cut cost are one of the major benefits from cloud computing. Last year I worked with my students of grade 11 on ePs through a blog. At the end of the academic year their reflections on the benefits of this project were relating to caring for the environment and using a free platform as well. They appreciated not having to print and use a lot of paper as they did before with their physical portfolios.
Angela.
Keisha Edwards-Hamilton 5:34 am on October 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Angella,
That is so true. Printing for example cost so much and many time my students can hardly find funds to print coursework and assignments. What I have been doing lately is making use of clouds for assignment submissions. My students really appreciate this.
Keisha
khenry 6:25 am on October 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Keisha,
The ‘green’ benefits are great indeed. I have a no paper policy in most of my classes, which helps to save my college on printing costs. There are instances however, where such costs are transferred to the student as some students prefer to interact with printed material rather than working from a screen.
In terms of ‘little or no flexibility in how the applications work’, I do not see this as a challenge in that most cloud technology are responsive to users’ needs and there are a myriad of them and many possibilities. Companies are also open to creating customised packages. In fact, cloud technology offers ease within such customisations at little or no extra cost – http://www.commensus.com/Cloud-Services
.
Kerry-Ann
Juliana 9:55 am on October 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Keisha,
I am glad that you brought the “protecting the environment” aspect. Through cloud computing there is definte chance of decrease our carbon footprint and consolidating everything. And you are right in that when we use cloud computing, we do give up control. We also have to worry about their servers going down and losing our data. At least when we save our data, we can back up in a variety of ways and we have control, but through cloud computing that is not true.
I wonder if we could get cloud insurance 🙂
Juliana.
ashleyross 12:49 am on October 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I suppose I may just be used to storing all of my data in the cloud, but I am honestly much more comfortable with the backup capabilities and infrastructure at Google than I am in storing everything on my personal computer’s hard drive and maybe an external USB drive. They spend millions of dollars on making sure our data is safe and secure, and use their own cloud storage and applications for the entire company. I can’t imagine a Fortune 500 company like Google would be willing to use Google Apps if they weren’t 100% sure that the information was safe. If you still don’t trust Google to store your data safely, there is always the option of downloading a copy to your personal computer as discussed in this article: https://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=49115. 🙂