FEATURES OF USING CLOUD TECHNOLOGIES IN EDUCATION

Abstract

The article investigates cloud technologies and features of their use in educational institutions. The essence of cloud technologies in education is determined. It is noted that the modern institution of higher education provides usage of information and communication technologies, and in particular, cloud technologies. The main characteristics (features) which characterize cloud services are described here. It is noted that usage of cloud services has benefits and problems as well. There are such mandatory characteristics of cloud computing as self-service on demand, universal access to the network, resource pooling, elasticity, consumption accounting. Four models of deployment of cloud technologies are revealed in the article. They are corporate, public, group and hybrid. It is admitted that the most appropriate model of deployment of cloud technologies in the infrastructure of higher education institutions is hybrid. Cloud technologies support such activities as: communication, collaboration and co-operation, which determines certain areas of their usage. The architecture of cloud technologies is presented in three levels: software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS). The most popular cloud services which are used in various spheres, including educational institutions, are analyzed here. Office 365, Microsoft Planner, Microsoft SkyDrive, Google Drive, Google Talk, Google Docs, these are the common cloud services which are selected in SaaS. Popular software platforms which are presented in the PaaS segment are Windows Azure, Google App Engine, Cloud9 IDE, Ideone IDE. Each of the cloud platforms that is described in the article has its own peculiarities. Possible areas of application of cloud technologies in the educational process are identified. They are free access to the programs and services used in the educational process, planning activities, implementation of the working regime of teachers and employees, the organization and conduct of scientific online conferences, seminars, forums, round tables, trainings, joint project work of students, individual independent work of students, electronic interaction with entrants.