According to market research, the market for cloud computing in education grew at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of at least 26% between 2017 and 2021. Educational institutions are rapidly dumping traditional classroom-based learning methods in favor of cloud-based systems and strategies. With the recent proliferation of online courses, digital lesson plans, and distance learning, cloud-based platforms are more important than ever. Cloud computing brings great benefits to education, from elementary school to university students.
The benefits of cloud computing in education can be summarized at the most basic level: they are focused on achieving maximum results with minimal expenditure. You may receive a variety of “results” based on your goals, but they can include cost savings, security, flexibility, and IT simplification.
Here are some of the top 3 benefits of cloud across higher education, K–12 and primary schools, and ed tech.
Long-Term Cost Savings
Cost reduction is one of the main benefits of cloud education software. Moving to the cloud supports the IT ecosystem versus managing the on-premises data centre, and cloud migration. Cloud computing dramatically reduces the cost of building and maintaining school networks. It does this by helping businesses move from capital expenditures to projected monthly operating expenses. Since the network infrastructure is based on the cloud, there are no development or maintenance costs as these are incurred by the cloud service provider.
The cloud simplifies IT and allows educational IT staff to focus on organizational goals instead of tedious hardware and software maintenance. The cloud brings flexibility to organizations. This is ideal for budget-conscious organizations with ever-changing needs, tight budgets, and high-growing demands.
Better Collaboration
Some courses require a lot of student collaboration. This can sometimes be a challenge due to the logistics involved in bringing all the parties involved. Cloud computing greatly simplifies the logistics of collaboration. Because relevant information is stored in the cloud rather than a specific physical location, any student participating in collaborative work can easily access, consult, and retrieve it anytime from any geographic location. Real-time collaboration is an important aspect of cloud computing education, including:
Easy Access and Resource Availability
Cloud computing replaced the need for students to consider the geographical location of colleges when selecting where to enrol; the farther the college was from where they lived, the less likely it was to appeal to them. In addition, the strict schedules of traditional high schools make higher education difficult for working adults.
All students have ongoing learning opportunities thanks to virtual solutions such as cloud computing, which are often implemented in accordance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). WCAG, are a list of recommendations that help web-based content be more accessible to people with disabilities and across mobile devices.
Cloud-based educational platforms are also improving physical and digital access to resources. This makes it easy for students to access the same educational materials and resources, regardless of the device or internet browser they use. Furthermore, students can also take classes more easily and conveniently using cloud computing. Students can study any time of day or night, from anywhere in the world.