As technology gets more personal and remote connectivity becomes more of a necessity, one-on-one coercions between people are slowly ebbing the cloud classroom. The future may look bleak for inter-personal meetings like that between teachers and students in a typical classroom. But it holds a synergy that is highly appropriate for the contemporary hi-tech generation. One of the leading arguments that pro-micro-learning advocates cite is that the fight for mandatory education should go to what learners love most: the mobile, the computer and the social networks. This will bring even more fruitful means of using these cutting-edge technologies, and by the way, recue school budgets at the same time.
Cloud computing has helped initiate learning programs that are heading to a brave new world where classrooms may be a thing to be remembered. Currently, Information Technology schools by one of the leading global computer giants have provided e-learning resources to a tune a million learners in five continents.
The trend of virtual education will not stick to Information Technology and related professions. It is already getting attention from mid-level colleges that have about thirty thousand or so students. The institutions are finding it hard to admit more global students into their programs because the campus space is shrinking. This is why they are aiming to capture the attention of would-be graduates through online means. All tech resources will be charged back to the provider, with the quintessential formula of Software as a Service in cloud computing.
It might seem like a new crop of aliens to have students who have never seen the interior of a physical classroom. The United States’ school program is so flexible that parents are now taking their sons and daughters on long voyages and other land trips while hiring resourceful tutors on the way. Through integrated means, like cloud computing on gadgets, some of these students even do their math homework and score excellently while still abroad. If the student passes and opts to go to university, chances are that he or she will prefer to continue the virtual way.
Future cloud computing and education platforms will have only two tiers. The access point will be the university website which will use its dynamic hosting network to store and stream the materials. The core point will be the lecturers who will be maintaining standards between campus-based and online learning materials. The fact that tuition will be miscellaneous is a welcoming plus to students who can relay podcasts of their lecturers time and again. They can even go to parallel programs on the Internet with no lecturer of theirs getting the wiser of their educational pranks.
The good news is that the cloud will bring a system where students from all over the world can identify with one particular degree model. It will be no longer that university A from country B employs such and such standards. The unified standards will make referencing easier where they are not defined by a particular learning institution.
The question is once again posed: will there be a time when physical classrooms will be an option and not a necessity? The answer is yes, there are plenty of possibilities. There are even new programs that can only be practical online. A good example is the new certification for cloud computing. This is an Instance of the revolution towards an all-inclusive e-learning model, from kindergarten to university.
By John Omwamba
