An Analysis of Applicability of Cloud Computing in Higher Education

Modern education is changing and so is teaching in classrooms due to the advent of technology. Students are expecting and demanding more services from their institutions. Their classes do not get over with school timings. Rather, their learning continues 24x7 wherein they expect their educational institutions to keep pace with their demands. This is where the innovative role of cloud computing comes in order to meet their requirements. According to Mircea & Andreesu, cloud computing is a next generation platform that allows institutions and organizations with a dynamic pool of resources to reduce cost through improved utilization. Educational institutions these days are facing many problems with the increasing need of IT and IT related infrastructure. In such a scenario, cloud computing can be a reliable solution for fulfilling the need of software, storage services, and infrastructure of such institutions as it is based on existing IT technologies such as the internet, grid computing, virtualization etc. Cloud computing has become a buzzword these days. The objective of this paper was to explore the role of cloud computing in Indian educational institutions i.e. how cloud computing through its various deployment & service models can help improve teaching, pedagogy, and agility of an institution? Further, this paper critically evaluated the crucial risks and challenges that institutions face in taking advantage of this emerging cost-effective technology which has the potential of bringing in a revolution in the education sector. This paper used live case studies of various Indian and international educational institutions which are using this technology to meet the ever increasing pressure to deliver more for less as the data for discussion. There are very few papers which discuss live cases of educational institutes where cloud computing is playing a crucial role and even fewer studies discuss the risks and challenges associated with this technology. Hence, this study on cloud computing brings in a real perspective through cases which are of utmost importance for better understanding of this technology in the field of education. It would provide much clearer knowledge of implications of implementation of this technology.