Hopefully you now know a bit more about cloud computing than you had before. As an educational venture analyst, though, you may be asking yourself something like, “What would make people want to switch to cloud computing? Other than cost savings and environmental friendliness, what uses does it have in education which would persuade staffs and students to want to use it?”

What can you do in a cloud?

To facilitate looking at this, let us use Marc Prensky’s idea of verbs and nouns in education. When you think of technology as things (PowerPoint, iPads, or wikis, for example), you’re thinking of them as nouns. These are tools used to do something (presenting, learning, connecting, for example) – these actions are the verbs. What is important to keep in mind is that the verbs stay the same, while the nouns change frequently. So, for teachers and students to be able to hone their skills and do the things they would like to do, they should have the latest and best tools available (Prensky, 2009). They also need to be able to get them in a timely manner. Applications based online – in the cloud – offer the latest and easiest-to-access tools available.

Modern Learning

Access to these tools also enables schools to address learning according to 21^st-Century Student Outcomes. According to these outcomes, students across the world need to grow in four specific areas:

• Core Subjects and 21^st-Century Themes
• Learning and Innovation Skills (creativity & innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration)
• Information, Media, and Technology Skills (information literacy, media literacy, ICT literacy)
• Life and Career Skills

In each of these sections, it is not hard to see how cloud computing is currently important or useful. In the final three especially, where there is a focus on skills, cloud computing as a tool becomes part of the learning process for teachers and students. Cloud computing is becoming more and more an important part of modern learning (Framework, 2011). In fact, at least eighteen of the top twenty tools for learning are cloud-based tools (Top 100, 2011).

In last half of the video below, you will see students reveal their thoughts on using Google Apps. The first half of the video talks more about the savings a switch to Google Apps created for the featured school district.

The Great Equalizer

Another benefit of schools using cloud-based applications is the fact that it may help to lessen the digital divide. It has been shown to have promise in places like South Africa (Le Roux and Evans, 2011), and it is reasonable to think that it would level the playing field for students in our own, more technologically-developed and wealthy countries as well. These common, current tools which enable increased access and decreased costs are therefore valuable in two more ways: locally and internationally – helping to facilitate equality between students in the same school as well as students across the globe.

Your Activity

In a few different versions online, people have created images that combine Bloom’s Taxonomy with cloud-based digital applications. Notice that each level of the pyramid is a skill (or a verb, as Prensky put it), and that certain applications lend themselves to certain verbs.

Your challenge is to make your way to our group’s Lino. On it, either add to the nouns of a verb (add cloud-based tools to go with a skill), or add a new skill / verb that is important in education but has not yet been listed. You do not need to register to use this Lino. The Lino is free for you to add and place stickies where you wish – anonymously or by name, if you choose.

 

References:

Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy Pyramid. (n.d.). University of Southern Indiana. Retrieved October 22, 2011, from http://www.usi.edu/distance/bdt.htm

CEMPVideos. (2010, October 21). Marc Prensky – Nouns v Verbs.YouTube. Retrieved October 22, 2011, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wrMEdTs51M

Framework for 21st Century Learning – The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2011). The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Retrieved October 22, 2011, from http://www.p21.org/overview/skills-framework

GoogleApps. (2010, May 17). Saline Area Schools Talks About Google Apps. YouTube. Retrieved October 22, 2011, from http://youtu.be/x7VPie-Yd0U

Le Roux, C. J. B., and Evans, N. (2011) Can cloud computing bridge the digital divide in South African secondary education? Information Development, May 2011 27: 109-116.

Prensky, M. (2009, July 14). Marc Prensky’s Weblog: July 2009 Archives. Marc Prensky’s Weblog. Retrieved October 22, 2011, from http://www.marcprensky.com/blog/archives/2009_07.html

Top 100 Tools For Learning 2011. Centre For Learning & Performance Technologies. Retrieved October 22, 2011, from http://c4lpt.co.uk/top-tools/top-100-tools-for-learning-2011/