Should you be integrating cloud technology in your school?

The demand for cloud technology in UK schools is continuing to grow, so what do you need to know as an SBL about how it could work in your school?

The most recent schools white paper, published earlier this year, shared a plan to use new technologies to ‘support innovation’. For schools and students, the drive for technological innovation could come in the form of cloud technology – and the growing use of cloud databases for schools has a number of unique benefits. 

Accessibility and inclusion 

Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic schools had to adapt to a new online learning environment. In this process tech devices, including laptops, tablets and phones, became more accessible for students to obtain and use for learning, so much so that 64% of UK schools are now using technology in their classrooms for teaching and learning. A Smoothwall survey reported that, as a result of this, 56% of respondents reported students are more engaged when technology is used in the classroom. 

The white paper expects remote learning to ‘continue to be used’, so how can you integrate cloud technology into the classroom to ensure learning remains accessible and inclusive?

Student and staff development

Cloud technology is a major driver for student engagement. ‘Gamification’ across cloud software enables students to learn whilst playing games based on their subject curriculum, as well as providing data to enhance their learning experience. Student data can be gathered from assessments, attendance and academic performance. Analysing this data can provide information on what a student is struggling with, and what they are excelling at, highlighting their academic needs.

Additionally, cloud technology plays a role in staff development. By outlining where students are doing well, and where they need more help, they can plan their curriculum to fill these knowledge gaps. In the Smoothwall survey 49% of teachers reported that technology made them more efficient at planning and delivering lessons, whilst a third stated that technology makes marking more manageable. In this context, cloud-based technology can act as a support network for teaching staff to assist them as they manage their workloads. 

Servers and software 

Cloud technology carries the availability of resources and services from across the internet, eliminating the need to a use a school server – and could provide your school with a range of benefits, such as: 

Accessibility – cloud technology provides higher accessibility for students and teachers.

Storage – cloud technology provides a remote storage service for your files, keeping them safe and secure. 

Cost – moving to cloud-based technology can lower your costs by minimising licensing fees, moving to annual subscriptions and saving energy costs that would have been spent on powering and cooling an on-site server. Cloud-based devices are also more widely available and cost-effective to supply. 

However, cloud-based technology also has several risks that schools need to be aware of.

Data security – data in cloud-based databases runs the risk of being lost or corrupted. 

Incompatibility – existing programs and software may be incompatible with cloud-based technology. This could mean you may have to invest in additional software and devices to support cloud-based technology in your school.

Lack of experience – cloud-based technology is a new innovation which, whilst full of potential, may take a bit of getting used to. The lack of experience in the initial stages of cloud adoption could cause some issues due to unfamiliarity with software and systems. 

Cloud based technology is an effective tool to help schools keep up with the evolving technology landscape that they are transitioning into. As the Department for Education strives for all schools to be academies by 2023, the benefits of cloud technology in multi-academy trusts for knowledge-sharing and communication are vast but, even at the present time, cloud computing is already proving valuable as a tool to support both students and teachers as the everyday classroom evolves into the next stage of digital teaching.