The term Cloud Computing describes software thst is avaiable online, either free or paid for. The J2E suite or 2Simple’s Purple Mash are curriculum examples of Cloud Computing and Google Docs or Live@EDU ( the latter soon to be an option in its learning) examples of online office suites, albeit slightly cut down.
I came across this article on the it’s web site which provoked some thought.
In an earlier blog about J2E/JIT, I wondered if this was the way forward for education. Still wondering, but there is certainly a move in this direction, and if your Learning Platform is online, why not have your software online?
However, this does tie in with another agenda… bandwidth. Some schools have purchased an internet connection using a KC business line and whilst the download speeds are ‘up to 20Mb’, the upload speed is 1Mb and if schools do start using cloud computing more, then I really do think that this just isn’t going to be enough.
At the it’s learning Client Forum, Dr Albin Wallace,Group Director of ICT and e-Learning at United Church Schools Trust , gave an ineresting talk on what they would be spending money on in the future. Not ICT suites: possibly not laptop trolleys; possibly devices such as iPads, other tablets and Chromebooks, but the big spend would be on: “bandwidth, bandwidth and more bandwidth’.
