'Cloud' computing is rapidly becoming more than just another buzzword in our digital lives. The expected paradigm shift has implications for schools that are not yet fully understood, and with data integrity on everyone's mind these days, Continuing education looks at exactly where the buck stops.
The cloud is something we all hear plenty about, but many are confused. Even less understood is the impact cloud computing will have on schools. There is a sense of confusion, as there is with any emerging technology, around the risks and responsibilities inherent in the idea.
Understanding the cloud
Essentially, we've all been using the cloud for many years, we just didn't realise it. If you've used Facebook or streamed a video, you're interacting with the cloud. In fact, as Neil Melhuish from Netsafe, a non-profit organisation working toward a safer online environment, puts it, the cloud could be thought of as simply a rebranding of the internet.
"If you've interacted with Facebook or anything similar, you're in the cloud. All that's really happening is that modern data transfer speeds have made it cost-effective and reliable to the point that people can effectively use off-site storage, and software that isn't actually on your computer."
Officially, the word 'cloud' (with reference to communication technology) is jargon, but it's an appropriate term in that it is nebulous and evolving.
Cloud computing is basically that which is done somewhere else. For example, where a school might previously have had a server (basically a storage computer), and a network that joins the server to computers throughout the school, there is now the option to use the internet itself as the network and server. So all documents, photos, video and so on is instead stored on computers that could be anywhere in the world. In fact, it no longer makes a practical difference where the data is stored ... or that's the idea.
The concept goes further. Applications no longer need to be on the computer you're working from. Google Drive and Dropbox are examples that millions use every day. When you create a spreadsheet from Drive, your computer is sending instructions to software that lives on a Google computer. Many predict this concept heralds the end of the personal computer as we know it, and we'll end up with a 'brainless' screen and keyboard.
Cloud on the rise
The key has been the exponential improvement in broadband speeds. Not so many years ago, sending something as small as an email could take half an hour. Cloud computing is a logical progression simply because it's no longer a pain to use. Applications that are responsive and don't 'hang' like they used to, making them a viable alternative to 'local' software (hosted on your computer).
The issue of whether schools should embrace cloud computing at this relatively early point is a topic for another article, but a little online research can give anyone a good grounding. The two dominant models in terms of application and storage 'ecosystem' packages are, predictably, Google Drive and Microsoft Office 365. Google, in particular, has a jump on the field, largely due to so many people already having a Google account. Microsoft has been comparatively late to market, but continue to make inroads.
Advantages of the cloud
Most commentators list the following as some of the chief advantages to moving your school's digital life into the cloud:
-Increased opportunity for collaboration: This is across all areas of the school, from learning to administration. Taking the example of Google Drive or Microsoft 365, the most immediately obvious advantage is that students or staff can contribute to the same document, at the same time.
-Risk management: Data cannot be destroyed by a local failure or accident.
-'Anywhere, anytime': Students and teachers can access work from home, at school, on the bus, anywhere they like. All that's needed is an internet browser.
-Potentially greater data security and privacy: This is a tricky one. Some insist that servers maintained by the 'big guns' at enormous offshore data centres are less vulnerable than local servers. Others would refute that claim, in part due to the fact that a school's servers aren't such a tasty target to an ambitious hacker as are Google's, for example.
-Savings potential: Many New Zealand schools have a roll of around 300, and therefore may struggle with resourcing to employ IT professionals to maintain servers and networks. Savings in cost of software could also have an impact.
Disadvantages Reliability is rapidly becoming a non-issue and, as far as schools are concerned, the advent of the N4L (Network for Learning) managed network looks set to improve things in this space dramatically.
Major incidents of the tech giants tripping over a cable and plunging the planet into information darkness are becoming rare. However, there are a number of parties in the chain between you and them. Some of our local internet service providers (ISPs) have experienced some embarrassing lapses in this regard.
But the real crunch point for schools is privacy. Most have probably not given this much thought until it was revealed the level of data sharing that many major corporations are engaged in. That's without even going into the intentions of the service provider itself.
A vulnerability trade-off
Melhuish believes a school that adopts cloud computing as all or part of their digital modus operandi needs to think about what he calls a 'vulnerability trade-off'. This means that any increase in connectivity will ultimately lead to an increase in potential for both malicious attack and privacy risk.
"The more secure a network is, the less accessible it is. If you unplug completely and isolate your school's network from the wider internet, then it is 100 per cent secure. But then, nobody can use it effectively. That's why disclosure and on-going risk management are so important."
Cost is one of the considerations that will be uppermost in the thinking of schools, he says. When asking which is more cost-effective, a cloud-based network is increasingly becoming the answer. It's this financial imperative that is driving many schools to seek guidance.
The bottom line is that there are, as yet, no hard and fast rules schools can follow. Schools are responsible for making their own assessment of cloud service providers. The Privacy Act dictates schools are responsible for ensuring that personally identifying information is protected "by such security safeguards as it is reasonable in the circumstances to take." The reality is that the buck stops with the school.
T's and C's
Melhuish says that, unfortunately, the complexity of the disclosure documents that many providers cover themselves with is so great that most schools are unlikely to have the capacity to make a legally thorough assessment of terms and conditions. Again, media coverage has highlighted the dangers therein. The Ask.fm social media site generated headlines due to cyber-bullying, and Melhuish says the example illustrates that there can be caveats that providers may build into their conditions of use that might contravene New Zealand law.
" Initially the terms and conditions of that site said basically, 'challenging behaviour on this site is to be expected because the whole thing runs anonymously'. That has clear implications for schools."
The upshot is that schools must do everything in their power to make sure they're not exposed to risk.
Credibility
A consequence of this inter-connectivity, and one usually a positive, is the ability to aggregate opinion. Thanks to the continuous collation of feedback, it's easy to see if punters have been raving as much as a business' owner.
Netsafe cannot give schools a 'thumbs up' (or down) on any particular cloud-based service, but Neil Melhuish says there are some key themes that should be considered during the assessment of any supplier.
The big news in New Zealand e-learning is of course the advent of N4L. Aside from improving reliability and speed, one feature will influence schools when it comes to making judgements about cloud service providers. Network for Learning marketing manager Andy Schick explains.
"[N4L] is really undertaking two key streams of work. The most known is around the building of the infrastructure. This will connect schools to each other, and will significantly improve a school's ability to get the best out of cloud services.
"The second is the development of what we're calling 'the portal' at this stage. This will be an online location that teachers and students can find lots of learning content, resources, and services, many of which will be cloud-based. It's really a hub for digital learning. This will become a central location to find good cloud services.
"The portal will have a catalogue, which will be populated by educators who are out there using these services right now. They will log in and say 'here are all the services that I use. I trust them because of these reasons, and I would recommend them for these reasons.' It's a community discussion approach. They will be rated and ranked, and searchable as such."
The N4L portal means that over time, a far clearer picture will develop as to which cloud services are trustworthy and useful. In the absence of any list of officially sanctioned services, this information-sharing approach will become invaluable.
Best practice approachGovernments are only just beginning to address the jurisdictional implications of our wired world, so risk mitigation for schools should be two-pronged, says Melhuish. Schools must do everything they can to arrive at a reasoned assessment of a cloud provider, but keeping the community 'in the loop' is just as important.
"The 'informed consent' approach is generally effective when implementing safe and responsible educational use of technology. This is because ongoing disclosure emphasises a process, rather than a one-off 'case closed' type of judgement. And that is appropriate to the online medium, which is never static."
This means the community should be kept informed as to the assessment a school undertook to ensure the privacy of students' data, and schools should be transparent about what the cloud service is being used for.
Minimising vulnerability with common senseMelhuish re-affirms the fact that we all take a risk when doing anything online, but that shouldn't scare schools off capitalising on the opportunities afforded by cloud computing. After all, the alternative is much less palatable to the future of our young people: 100 per cent security equates to 100 per cent isolation. But if there's one thing that the internet has in spades, it's the potential for community, and collective knowledge is power in the online universe.
"Where does that leave us? Whenever you do anything online, you are taking a risk, that's the nature of the beast. So reputation becomes important. If my school uses a blogging platform, for example, which is used by lots of other schools and there's nothing in the media to suggest any misuse of data, it's likely to be okay. That is part of the common-sense approach schools need to follow. The risk cannot be taken away altogether, only mitigated."
-Education Review