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Overview: Teaching in the clouds refers to using outside electronic systems to access, manage and store your electronic needs. Instead of one computer doing all the electronic needs a network of computers does it. Applications and information are stored on other computers rather than your computer. For example managing your grade book, attendances, and email are forms of cloud computing. However to truly teach in the clouds more steps have to be taken. All work is done via the internet or intranet through a browser or some sort of client application. In this article I will share my experiences using this technology in my classes.
Before discussing using cloud computing resources in class there are things that a teacher must be aware of. The teacher must know the district policy as it relates to cloud computing. Many districts have policies that prohibit the use of some cloud computing resources. In addition some districts may filter these websites from their servers making it inaccessible. Some district may already have these resources available but it is through a SAAS (software as a service) applications. This is the case of my district we use First class as a means to teaching in the clouds. First class has built in cloud capabilities that allows for email for teachers and students, storage, web publishing, conferences, podcasts, blogs, and chat to name a few.
Before my first lesson in the clouds I had my students understand basic internet principles and an understanding what learning in the clouds meant. Some topics discussed were what sites you can access and what you write in cyberspace. Students need to know that everything done using the district’s resources will be monitored. It is also wise to let the parents know what is going on. In addition I made sure all students were able to access their First class accounts. I also created a conference folder in each student email folder so that the information was effortlessly found.
The first lesson involved responding to a weekly question via my blog that I posted on my website fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us~marcus_a_green. The students were then given a series of questions that I posted in the conference folder. The answers to these questions were found through links that I provided. The students received their grades via email along with comments. All assignments were done completely in the cloud. After the unit the students were very excited about learning in the clouds. It is important to note that there are some downsides to teaching in the clouds. The possibilities of network outages, power losses, and lost work always loom in the shadows. Concerns about outside predators on the network were quickly eliminated by making the network private, invitation only, and by closely monitoring the behavior of your “cloud”.
All in all I believe the benefits outway the risks. Some key benefits in teaching in the clouds were students were empowered in their learning process, students were able to collaborate with each other, and students were able to access their information anywhere where via the internet
Although cloud computing is nothing new in the business world, educators are now becoming aware of its practical use in the classroom. Today there are wide varieties of resources as well as innovative ways to access information. Wiki, blogs, teacher tube.com, Google apps, podcasts, twitter, and buzzword (adobe) are just a few examples of teachers’ cloud resources. So what are you waiting on? See you in the clouds!
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