How Cloud Computing Is Changing The Education Sector?
The education sector is growing in leaps and bounds with new technologies and innovations taking place continuously, eliminating its challenge of infrastructure and maintenance. This sector is moving towards a unified framework, which is making it possible for the sector to grow further. Cloud Computing is one such technology used in the education sector, empowering the way it operates and giving the students and faculties access to a huge amount of data from anywhere and anytime. It has especially benefited the higher education sector by making it possible to collaborate with faculties and students across the world. Using Cloud Computing has made it possible for the education sector to shift towards virtual classrooms by enabling various tools available for online teaching and sharing of data. This has made it possible for faculties to gather students from different parts of the world at one network to teach. The geographical barriers have been eliminated with the use of this technology. Cloud computing has also made it easy for students to gather knowledge, by accumulating data in one place. It also lets teachers and students save costs, which has made the process more efficient, resolving many problems related to earlier teaching and learning methods. Cloud computing also benefits universities by making them cost-effective as far as the infrastructure of systems is concerned. Earlier, there was a need to install different resources such as hardware, software, and many more for deploying applications. With the use of cloud computing technology, the need to invest heavy capital to install learning systems has been completely eradicated as everything is in a digital environment, eliminating the need for traditional infrastructure. The use of this technology has made the data highly accessible by making it available to people from anywhere due to the improved quality of service and application tools, which has completely transformed the learning process. The administrative costs have also been reduced by making the enrollment processes digital. Earlier, the whole administrative process was very costly and time-consuming as every data was recorded on paper and there were multiple layers of processes involved. Cloud computing has removed the need to record data on paper, by making every process online, allowing the institutions to focus on core areas and grow further in their business. Cloud computing provides robust security systems which enables the data to be more secure. The systems which were used earlier involved data stored on a hard disk or other devices which didn’t have security options. There was always a risk of data being stolen or destroyed which could lead to loss of important information. Storing data on the cloud comes with a lot of security by password protection, keeping the data safe over the internet. Also, the information stored on the cloud can be kept whenever you want to and can be accessed anytime. The data can also be shared without any fear of losing the records. It has enabled the whole process paperless, making everything available in a digital environment, cutting down the costs to a great extent. Cloud computing works on various devices such as mobiles and laptops, making it possible for students and teachers to collaborate and communicate through various devices without the need for installing any separate infrastructure for the same. By upgrading the systems and managing the bandwidth, the collaboration can be made smoother and more seamless. The scalability and elasticity of cloud computing allow consumers to start with limited resources and can gradually build a service network without the need to incur heavy expenditure. The institutions can adjust the resources as per users’ needs without investing much. Also, the developed applications can be used time and again as per need, reducing the time to implement the process all over again. It also increases the reliability of the data as well as the applications used. The use of cloud computing is still in the early stages and innovations in this technology are taking place, making it a necessity for the education sector. As the competition in this sector is soaring high, the institutions also make sure that the best possible services are provided to students. There is a paradigm shift in teaching patterns, using digital technology and eliminating outdated approaches to maintain a competitive edge. Even the small institutions are now shifting towards using the cloud for their operations as this enables them to save a lot of time, cost, and human resources. This technology makes sure that the users can access the data from any gadget at any place, whenever needed. There are less fewer assets required to move towards cloud computing which makes it possible for organizations to upgrade the systems without much investment. There are various challenges, an educational institution possesses. These institutions need a huge amount of data and storing that data is the major challenge, they have. These shortcomings can be overcome by using cloud technology. They work as per the requirements of the institutes with the guarantee of quality work being delivered. It has tremendous scope for institutions. Though cloud computing is gaining momentum at a rapid rate, its success depends on how it is taken forward. Organizations have to take care of computerization, data security, and the skills that are needed to carry out the technology. The technology needs to be understood thoroughly as per the recent trends and innovate as per the requirements arising. The technology has reformed the education sector’s operations, creating a wide range of opportunities for the institution to change its teaching patterns and offer to share notes and records through a single network. It has empowered institutions to store and manage data online, using various application tools. It has given the option to collaborate in real-time at an exceptional level via the internet, making the process a lot cheaper than the traditional process. Now, educational sectors are using cloud computing wherever it is possible, be it administration or teaching. The rate at which cloud computing is exploring proves that this technology holds a lot of potentials to contribute to this sector in a huge way.