Applying the cloud in education - IBM

1 White PaperIBM Global Technology ServicesApplying the cloud in educationAn innovative approach to IT2 Applying the cloud in educationTable of contentsSynopsis 2 Introduction Rethinking ICT to reinvent education 3 The challenges of education 4 The principles of the cloud 5 What the cloud promises for education 6 Savings 6 Upgrades guaranteed 6 Flexibility 6 Effectiveness 7 Sharing 7 Major trends 8 Good practices 9 Case 1: Shared ENT (Digital Work Space) 9 Case 2: IT resources on demand 10 Case 3: Central resource reference system for research projects 11 Case 4: Collaborative learning 12 Practical scenarios for education 13 Virtual lecture theatres 13 Labs in the cloud 13 Intelligent classroom 13 Scenario 1: personalized supervision 14 Scenario 2: virtualization of desktops 14 Portal for IWB content 14 New professional models 15 Intelligent administration 15 Teaching analysis 16 Innovative research 17 Conditions for the cloud to succeed in education 18 Proposal to open up education to the cloud 19 Annexes The cloud from every angle 22 IBM cloud Academy / cloud education Community 23 IBM Global Technology Services 3 The world of education and training has always embraced new teaching methods and tools, albeit at different rates of take-up.

2 Since the arrival of the computer and later the internet in classrooms, administration departments and our daily lives, schools (in the widest sense of the term) have been in a race to keep up with society s requirements. In this regard, technologi-cal enthusiasm represents an enormous challenge that is made even more acute by budget restrictions and the vagaries common to public procurement purpose of this document is to show how a recent technological development could lighten, in some regards, the burdens of equipment, management and new teaching meth-ods that weigh so heavily on the shoulders of IT solutions (designed and provided in the form of optional, tailored services, with operators and teaching establishments pooling their resources) potentially offer a series of benefits: lower costs, by sharing equipment and solutions, and through the consumption of resources on demand (which allows invoicing for actual usage); a reduction in the technical support provided by each establishment.

3 Faster progression of solutions, thereby avoiding the kind of investments that restrict an establishment s IT system for a relatively long period of time; and the promotion of exchanges and participative or collabora-tive methods between establishments, and among teachers and document presents the main principles and potentials of the cloud , as applied to the world of education . It also uses examples taken from international sources (see section IV) to illustrate some of the routes that might be taken at a regional level to implement cloud technology. A series of existing local initiatives, of which we have taken just three examples here (see section V), also indicates that the key concepts behind the cloud (which, to some extent, are only an extension of current principles) have already been adopted, and therefore already meet the needs and wishes of those involved in on these ideas to initiate projects that could be run by local education providers would enable them to take a valuable step towards matching their own expectations with available tools.

4 A number of theme-based concepts ( intelligent classrooms, virtual lecture theatres, teaching analyses, new professional models, etc.) are detailed in this document by way of examples (see Section VI). These could be used as a common thread in models for future initiatives and developments that would be run by local education providers which have already adopted these concepts, or by those that intend following this path by making the most of their expertise to benefit Applying the cloud in educationThe challenges of education While budgets and resources remain under pressure, the education sector finds itself confronted with the growing challenges presented by technology (in fact, this is both an opportunity and a challenge) as well as by fundamental changes in society. In particular, these are: the increasing speed of innovation (pace of renewal) in information technologies that no longer allows teaching establishments to keep up with the pace of development and stay in line with day-to-day technological reality, even though it is vital that pupils and students are prepared for IT in the best possible way.

5 This means that the burden of investments in hardware would benefit from being shared; the consumerization of IT, which places new tools in the hands of students. These tools change our relationship with knowledge and need to be incorporated into the education process; and the emergence of generations of digital natives who have a perception of life in society and relationships with others that are influenced to a large extent by digital tools and types of behavior that are fundamentally different from those experienced by the generations before phenomena are generating a demand from users to be able to support and incorporate the new types of devices used by schoolchildren, students and teachers (portable PCs, smartphones, touchscreen tablets, e-readers, etc.) as part of the teaching establishment s ICT infrastructure.

6 There is even a need to include users own information sites like portals, blogs and wikis which they themselves may have delay for education in keeping up with technological innovation is likely to make contact between the world of education and society even more difficult, as stressed by the AWT (Wallonia Telecommunications Agency) in its ICT than ever, it is a question of adjusting the context of education to meet the expectations of students better and to fall in line with the new reality of the world of business and the digital , students and teachers alike need tools that are more versatile and that can adapt to new developments. The main effect of the advent of new systems (including mobile ones) has been to open up the teaching and learning space, which is now no longer limited merely to the confines of education is both a growing reality and a requirement for students and teachers.

7 Both now rely more and more on IT tools to prepare or review classes and access resources and knowledge in locations other than the pace of learning has shaken off the shackles of the 8am to 4pm school-day cycle. Increasingly, school pupils and students have come to expect an educational environment that allows them to learn at their own to that is the social dimension: Increasing numbers of students of all ages and education levels are now seeking to combine the learning dimension with the community dimen-sion ( , through social networks).More so than previous generations, Generation Z ( , those children born in the 21st century) sees life through digital tools and devices internet, mobiles, smartphones, chat tools, blogs, social networks, video sharing, and so on. It is their primary point of reference, their main tool for communication, for relationships and even for citizenship.

8 This Generation Z is sometimes dubbed Generation C (Communication, Collabora-tion, Connection, and Creativity).The concepts of just-in-time learning , community learn-ing and found learning are gaining ground and require a Introduction Rethinking ICT to reinvent educationIBM Global Technology Services 5new approach, and a new role for teachers. Generation Z is immersed in an environment where collaboration, exchanges between peers and spontaneous, ad hoc learning in communi-ties and networks are intrinsic. Surfing the Net, looking for new encounters, discoveries and experiences has become virtually first nature . Learning by personal or group experi-ence is a new way of developing one s self and one s knowledge. Using nothing but yesterday s teaching tools can only upset stability and appear artificial to people learning today.

9 In fact, on a more fundamental level, it actually deprives them of the tools they need most to master the skills that they will require both in today s world and tomorrow work and social participation are already a reality in society in general. Society, therefore, needs to take possession of learning spaces, not only in the classroom or between pupils and students in the same year, but also between classes and schools in other locations (near or far).So high are the expectations of the younger generations and all those whose job it is to bring them proper learning content, that they are entitled to demand these developments in principles of the cloudFrom a purely operational and technical point of view, cloud computing is a model for deploying IT resources and capabili-ties that seeks to minimize the implementation and manage-ment load for the user organization.

10 The principle of the cloud is to make available a set of IT resources (systems, applications and/or data) in the form of services that users can call on and consume on-demand via the internet or an intranet/extranet, and only pay for their actual of the very concepts that determine what it is, the cloud is much more than just a technological phenomenon and more than an nth generation computer system (after main-frames, servers, PCs for all, etc.). The principle of the cloud has entered day-to-day practices and will continue to penetrate them more and more. It delivers an in-depth change to the relationship that users, service-providers, businesses and economic or social players of every kind have with the IT resources that underpin what they do and the way in which they carry out their processes and principle of the cloud also corresponds perfectly with a stage in the development of society in which relationships between people, generating knowledge, establishing collabora-tion and even searching for direction are expressed and organized in meshes that are virtual, spontaneous, self-restruc-turing, random and constantly out on the cloud is to deprive ourselves of this flexibility to adapt to, and consume, the abundant resources that surround computing brings together infrastructures, software.