Cloud Services for Learning Scenarios: Widening the Perspective
Marc Jansen · 2012
The term Computing does not primarily specify new types of core technologies but rather addresses features to do with integration, inter-operability and accessibility. Although not new, virtualization and automation are core features that characterize Cloud Computing. In this paper, we intend to explore the possibility of integrating cloud services with educational scenarios without re-defining neither the technology nor the usage scenarios from scratch. Our suggestion is based on certain solutions that have already been implemented and tested for specific cases. provide applications directly to the end-user, again, in a flexible and highly automated way. In this paper, we discuss possible contributions of Cloud Services to new forms of technology-enhanced learning and teaching. The term Cloud Services itself will be explained later on in more detail. Starting with an abstraction of the common understanding of Cloud Computing, transferring the abstracted features to other prominent internet services like, e.g., Twitter and Facebook (which we see as specific instances of Cloud Services in the context of this paper), we argue that in the context of learning scenarios a wider definition of Cloud Services is need to encompass possibly relevant new developments. Furthermore, this paper presents an architecture that allows the flexible usage of services that belong to the extended definition of Cloud Computing. We describe two examples of learning scenarios that build upon the presented architecture to demonstrate how these services facilitate innovative aspects of technology-enhanced learning scenarios. Finally, an outlook for future development of this understanding of Cloud Services is presented.