Cloud Computing for Teaching Practice: A New Design?

1. Introduction

In the history of education, information technology has been thought of as a key factor in education improvement and change. New technologies such as the internet help to make learning independent on a large scale with vast resources at low cost. New technologies force higher education to change its structure. Peter Drucker said “thirty years from now the big university campus will be a relic. Universities won’t survive” (Lenzner & Johnson, 1997). Today’s Cloud computing has been known as the most significant new technologies and is considered as a model for enabling on demand network access to shared computing resources that have capability of rapidly providing and releasing with minimal management effort (Sriram & Khajeh-hosseini, 2010). Institutes of higher education have started to use cloud to gain more flexibility. Cloud computing prepares effective information systems operating for higher education without additional investment in computer and network equipment (Ercan, 2010). Higher education facilities encourage students to use available cloud based applications for academic and non-academic purposes (Ercan, 2010). In one study it was found that educational institutes are eager to use cloud computing because most of them suffer from economic crisis; CC in Africa is an example in which CC is a powerful tool to continue to improve education (Nabil Sultan, 2009). Cloud computing introduces a new supplement, consumption pattern and delivery model for IT related services through the internet (Sasikala, 2011). Recent developments in information technology heightened the need for determining the potential benefits of cloud computing as a new paradigm in education domain. In recent years, factors such as large class size, the diversity of students and changes in student needs play a significant role in examining learning and teaching approaches (Saunders & Klemming, 2003). Over the years, the emergence of new technologies has changed university structure and has brought many benefits resulting in increasingly effective and efficient learning and teaching. New technologies such as cloud computing paradigm prepare opportunities for university by preparing an environment with which to use available resources for teaching and learning processes.

In addition, rapid changes in IT are having a serious effect on teaching. There are a number of standards and frameworks used by the teaching profession. The idea of determining effective instruction behaviors for teachers is not a new concept (Witcher & Onwuegbuzie, 1999). More recently, literature has emerged that offers findings about the impact of cloud computing on teaching and learning. One major concern in early cloud computing and education research concerned the impact of technology on the redesign of teaching frameworks. In addition, no research has been found that concerns cloud-based teaching framework, which we pointed out in our previous work which introduces the first version of Cloud-Based Teaching Framework founded on Danielson Teaching Framework. In this study, we attempted to review recent research into cloud computing in two domains of Danielson teaching framework, and to provide an introductory design for a teaching framework for use in an educational environment using cloud computing technologies.