Cloud Computing: A Changing Education Imperative during COVID-19

Kishan Mali

COVID-19, Cloud Computing, Distance Learning, Digital Curriculum E-Learning, Teaching.

The world was running at its full swing and a sudden pandemic knocks the door entering through the gates of China.  A worldwide lockdown was declared knowing the growth rate of the pandemic, COVID-19. Struggling with it and the lockdown, Work from home (WFH) all over the world was initiated especially for service organizations. The academic institutions were temporarily shut down following government instructions. The only hope of the education community was virtual classes and since then the boom of online learning and teaching started like never before. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to highlight the impact of lockdown on the teaching – learning process. This paper explores to assess the boom of the virtual classes all over the world and its various benefits alongwith certain limitations. The major problems faced worldwide are the issues of awareness, availability of network and lack of training as well. The significant drawbacks of virtual classes faced are the attendance and lack of connectivity due to network issues especially in remote areas.

The educational institutions alongwith schools, colleges and universities are closed. Home schooling has become a new challenge and it is not only a massive shock to parents’ productivity, but also to children’s social life and learning. Many families around the world are facing number of challenges. The crisis crystallizes the dilemma policymakers are facing between closing schools and allowing workers to work at home to maintain the economy. The scale of teaching is untested and unprecedented and totally moving online. The evaluation and assessments of students are also moving online, with a lot of trial and error and uncertainty for everyone. Many assessments have simply been cancelled. These issues can have long-term consequences for the affected cohorts and are likely to increase inequality.

The modern age of technology is trending with digitalization and reshaping the education around the world. Advancement of new technologies and innovations are transforming education in numerous ways and creating education through computational ecosystem. “Revolutionizing Computing systems called, Cloud computing” which is supposed to be totally changed scenario of computational systems. Since it is cheap, no need to hire professional IT to maintain server, no wastage of money on acquiring server OS licensing, and user friendly. Hence, it could be sustained at any level of educational institution easily. Corona virus, now declared as pandemic, is causing widespread shutdown. It is clear that the world needs a quick & safe solution right now to combat further spread of corona virus. This is where cloud computing technology comes into play. It will be very interesting to see how cloud computing will explore and contribute its effectiveness towards education industry. The aim of this paper is to simply present the position of current state, status and impacts of cloud computing in education system in view of COVID-19.