Back To School In the Cloud

As the sun begins to set a bit earlier each night and temperatures begin to require the occasional morning sweatshirt, we’re reminded almost instinctively that the first day of school can’t be far behind. Due to the dogged persistence of Covid-19, this year students, teachers and parents are feeling added anxiety in addition to the usual first day of school butterflies. For the most part, students and teachers who participated in the nationwide experiment of remote learning last spring (with varying degrees of success) will return to school this fall with a fluid schedule in place to mitigate the potential spread of Coronavirus. With early attempts at a full return to school being met with mixed results, students will likely either learn remotely or use a hybrid model of remote and in person learning for the entirety of the 2020 – 2021 school year. In either case, schooling in the near future will hinge entirely on cloud technology. 

Bringing students back to class (especially college students) is proving to be dangerous in some cases. The University of Alabama is experiencing a surge in cases. In New Jersey, schools have already had to change their best laid plans for reopening. And college students who violated Covid-19 protocol have been expelled from some colleges as at Northeastern University in Boston. 

The majority of schools from kindergarten through college are left with either a hybrid or fully remote learning model. Schools in the hybrid model rely on cloud for half of students and faculty while fully online education hinges entirely on cloud technology. Luckily, the availability of cloud technologies and inexpensive laptops has made this transition a reality. Cloud computing allows almost any computer to use these services. If you have an old or disused laptop, the cloud handles most of the hard processing. And elsewhere, schools are even paying for laptops as in Boston where the school administration recently ordered 20,000 Chromebooks, each costing approximately $250, in order to ensure that every student could transition into online learning. These low prices make them affordable for nearly every schooling district. When paired with cloud computing, cloud storage and a motivated teacher, these can be powerful tools for learning.   

While the verdict is still out on the ultimate efficacy of remote learning, it will need to serve as the next best thing in education until it’s safe for students and teachers to return to school.  The emergence of cloud-based virtual learning across the globe is already having a transformative effect on education, and is likely to provide more flexibility in the way schools deliver education services in the future. The speed, scale, and breadth of the virtual learning services provided this fall and beyond will not have been possible without world-class cloud infrastructure like that provided by Wasabi and its partners. And, due to its positive impact during a time of crisis, the cloud computing and storage market will continue to be one the fastest growing in all fields of business.