How To Streamline Workflows For Student Success With Cloud-Based Suites

by Oleh Maksymovych Published on December 19, 2023

Cloud technologies are constantly increasing their capabilities. The declining access threshold also contributes to the growing popularity of such solutions. Nowadays, not only large companies but also small organizations can afford “cloud” implementation. The use of cloud technologies currently concerns different spheres of life. They are in high demand in the educational process organization. Optimization of such solutions to improve interaction between students and teachers is becoming an increasingly important task. Cloud services help make distance learning more effective. They provide more accessible and safer data storage and create all conditions for the productive learning of students.

The role of cloud technologies and services in the learning organization

Cloud technologies are diverse and are realized within different models with specific properties important in system design. Many of them are now suitable to work for the benefit of education. Such services and resources include complex technical and software tools for organizing distributed data processing.

Servers hosting applications and user data are located in data processing centers owned by the service provider. Such centers may be geographically remote from users. Access to the data and applications hosted on them is done through computer networks.

Today, systems of remote use of information allow for the organization of the main processes that affect the success of student learning. Learning using web technologies implies using teaching materials in formats suitable for viewing with a web browser.

Online learning involves organizing access to resources using computer networks and specialized software.

The terms ‘distance education’ and ‘e-learning’ are considered the broadest. The first denotes a technology where the teacher and the student are at a distance and interact through communication tools. As a rule, E-learning is any way of remotely mastering the material using computer and network technologies.

Cloud-based solutions for student learning: main principles

The essential characteristic of distance learning is the separation of participants in space and time. The spatial barrier is overcome by using modern means of telecommunication and computer technology. The time barrier in the interaction of participants of distance learning is neutralized by using unique methods of communication. The cloud platform plays a key role here, providing asynchronous data exchange, which is absent when working with other information technologies. It includes, for example, conducting video lectures.

Cloud services are widely used in the educational process due to their flexibility and accessibility. You can check here some easy-to-use cloud solutions for the education industry. Useful materials are placed on the server of the distance learning system. The interactivity of operations in this case is at a reasonably high level due to the use of various means of network communication, including:

email;
text messaging systems;
online chats;
video conferences, etc.

Open online courses are one of the options for adequately organizing work with students. They minimize the teacher’s direct involvement, relying on students’ interaction with the computer program.

What do you need to organize cloud-based learning?

Applying cloud solutions for students’ convenience implies solving optimization-related problems. To make the learning process more productive, it is necessary to:

structuring training materials in the cloud, defining and delimiting access rights to them for different categories of employees and students;
development of the content of cloud-based learning resources and methods of their use in various forms of training sessions;
creating tools for documenting, analyzing, and controlling work with the resources of a higher education institution;
training teachers and students in the use of suitable cloud platforms.

Various cloud-based services are now widely used to make valuable learning materials available. They allow the provision of all kinds of classes and require preparation of methodological base and technologies for the best implementation.

Cloud services that actively support the learning process

Student learning is a process that requires constant access to a large amount of information. Only modern, well-organized cloud platforms can provide intensive data traffic, communication between students and teachers, and other such needs today. More and more universities are now adopting core Google Workspace for Education tools. They include the components required for a quality solution of educational tasks. The services of this well-known company, actively used by students around the world, are the following:

Meet;
Classroom;
Docs
Drive
Sheets
Slides
Calendar

They all play a crucial role in organizing the learning process and conducting classes in different disciplines. They help educators set tasks for specific students and communicate with them productively, using the capabilities of remote servers. The systems support text and video messaging and real-time voice and conference calls. Access to all resources of the platforms via computers and mobile devices is organized for users’ convenience. Implementation of these tools for the educational process is possible with a Google Workspace partner who will help you smoothly integrate them

Students can use the user-friendly spreadsheet interface, a dedicated editor for entering formulas, and the full functionality of the Slides platform to complete tasks assigned by the university. Google’s cloud-based platforms are closely related to each other. They offer users, including students and professors, many relevant and helpful features during their studies. Students can successfully master theory by participating in remote lectures. In addition to this, it is much easier for them to perform practical lessons. The leading information is stored on remote servers, so you don’t have to overload your computer or gadget with additional software. In addition, the centralized management of Google’s services makes it more productive to create new tasks and complete them within a predetermined time frame.

Examples of cloud services used by universities

Thanks to continuous technological advances, cloud services are widely used in universities and schools. They help students learn more about academic subjects, perform practical tasks, and communicate with teaching staff.

More and more educational institutions in different countries are now adopting cloud technologies in their work. For example, the University of Cambridge actively uses the Google Workspace platform in its practice. Due to the university administration’s efforts, this technology is available to all its employees. Of course, if they register a profile on the official resource of the University of Cambridge.

North Carolina State University at Raleigh previously had only obsolete e-mail services. Such resources were unsuitable for students because of too small disk space for storing and transmitting the information. Teachers, in turn, found it challenging to automate scheduling due to the use of completely different programs and standards. To solve these problems, the experts proposed transferring all university staff and students to a single platform supporting cloud storage of information. Quite popular services were chosen as candidates:

Google Workspace;
Microsoft Live;
Zimbra.

After numerous discussions and testing of these three platforms with the participation of rank-and-file staff and university students, it was decided to choose Google Workspace.

According to Sarah Noell, associate director of the Office of Information Technology and head of technical services at Google, the most effortless transition to this cloud-based service was for those with a Mac-equipped computer. Faculty and staff at the institute have also positively evaluated Google Workspace. Introducing this service into the university helped solve almost all the problems students and teaching staff had previously faced.

Today, the number of clients of this popular network is steadily growing. The help of Google Workspace in training and other organizational processes is quite apparent. Nowadays, it is difficult for a university to do without this platform. It has taken on the most complex tasks in the educational process and communications of North Carolina State University at Raleigh.

Growing popularity of cloud platforms

Increased demand for cloud services in education is an objective reality of recent years. The higher load on online conferencing platforms in 2020-2021, characterized by the pandemic, continued in the following years. According to statistics provided by Gartner, in 2021, the total cost of delivering cloud services globally reached $304 billion, with an 18.4% year-on-year increase. By 2024, Gartner predicts it will reach 14.2% of total IT industry spending.

A huge advantage of any modern cloud platform, suitable for organizing and managing the educational process, is placing the primary resources in the cloud. This approach saves space on the client’s device. In addition, the work of all the envisioned proper functionality is significantly accelerated.

Problems of implementing cloud solutions

Implementing a cloud service into an education system is quite complex. However, it is worth it because your efforts will quickly be paid off over time. Everyone involved in education benefits from the availability of large amounts of valuable information.

In the most favorable prediction, the introduction of cloud technologies into the educational system of an institution may take a month or more. Most of the time will be spent on identifying the required information’s features and coordinating the work within the HEI.

First, it is necessary to determine the tasks the platform will have to solve. It will be required to outline a more specific plan to evaluate its effectiveness. It would be best if you had a good understanding of what goals the system should achieve. What should it give to the university itself and its students?

Once the goals have been selected, you should plan the learning management system (LMS). It is necessary to choose its primary and secondary options and proceed directly to implementation operations. The most popular such platforms offer their users the best interface and the ability to master it quite quickly.

There are different LMS customization functionalities available for users. You can configure the system by taking only its standard functions necessary to coordinate the learning process. As an alternative option, several platforms offer additional features as well. In addition, more and more cloud services are focusing on a personalized approach to their customers. It means a higher education institution or any other organization has personal needs. At the same time, all of them can be realized in one or another cloud storage product.

What are the advantages of cloud services in education?

Based on the experience of implementing such systems in the work of universities around the world, such innovations have several undeniable advantages:

High speed of operations and the ability to quickly access data.
Uninterrupted communication and management of departments and branches of the institution that are far away from each other.
Savings on-premises and other organizational costs are inevitable in traditional forms of training.
Availability of new technologies and methods, including artificial intelligence.

An important point is that each student can freely choose how to communicate with colleagues and professors. Cloud services worldwide blur the boundaries, allowing students to select an individualized way of interacting with HEI resources to achieve the best results. In addition, students get a huge space for storing and processing helpful information, independent of location and national borders.