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How Cloud-Based Systems Can Improve Learning Outcomes
Presentation to Florida School Board Association
Ken Eisner
Director, Global Education Strategy
Agenda
• What is the Cloud (and How Amazon got into the Cloud)
• Speak to some Cloud Myths
• Drivers of Digital Change in Education
• Role of the Cloud in Education
• Career Pathways for Students in the Cloud
• Tenets of a Cloud-Based Education
What’s the Cloud?
Deep experience in
building and
operating global web
scale systems
About Amazon Web
Services
?
…get into cloud computing?
How did Amazon…
Amazon’s Definition of
“Cloud Computing”
On-demand delivery of IT
resources via the Internet with
pay-as-you-go pricing.
NIST Definition of
“Cloud Computing”
Model for enabling ubiquitous,
convenient, on-demand network
access to a shared pool of
configurable computing
resources that can be rapidly
provisioned and released with
minimal management effort or
service provider interaction.
ON DEMAND}UNIFORM
PAY AS YOU GO
AVAILABLE
ON DEMAND}UNIFORM
PAY AS YOU GO
AVAILABLE
Walking up the Cloud Pyramid
Data centers; computing
capacity; networking;
security; management
High cost, heavy-lifting
Infrastructure
as a Service
Platform
as a
Service
Software
as a
Service
What AWS Offers
AWS:
11 regions
28 availability
zones
52 edge locations
Myth #1 – The Cloud doesn’t have physical locations
Customer chooses where your apps and data go
AB
C
D
Where Your Data and Apps are Stored
Security
Reliability
Power
Service Breadth
Myth #2 – Cloud is Less Secure than On-Premises
Facilities
Physical security
Compute infrastructure
Storage infrastructure
Network infrastructure
Virtualization layer (EC2)
Hardened service endpoints
Rich IAM capabilities
Network configuration
Security groups
OS firewalls
Operating systems
Applications
Proper service configuration
Account management
Authorization policies
+ =
School
Working together, we can
achieve systems validated and
certified at the highest levels
Myth #3 -- Cloud is not an all-or-nothing choice
Legacy
Data Centers
On-Premises
Resources
Cloud
ResourcesIntegration
Diving into the Cloud
in Education …
Drivers of digital change in education
• Declining budgets and outdated infrastructure creating pressures
• New pedagogy – blended, flipped, project-based, online/MOOC
• Personalized learning (and big data) in education
• Digital native student population experiences learning in new ways
• Mass changes in formative and summative assessments
• Changing trends in workforce and upcoming job skills gap
To meet challenge, school IT & digital technology must:
• Lower barriers to change (financial and technical)
• Be able to reallocate spend from maintenance to new development
• Innovate – accommodate success AND failure economically
• Truly partner with change agents in school
• Accommodate the changing dynamics of students
… and How the Cloud Can Add Value
1. Lower barriers to change (financial, technical):
On-demand pricing and low variable cost
1
“Average of 400 servers
replaced per customer”
Replace up-front
capital expense with
low variable cost
2
Continuous downward
momentum
Economies of scale
allow us to continually
lower costs
3
Pricing model choice
to support variable &
stable workloads
4
Save more money as
you grow bigger
State or District-
Level
Procurement?
More Pricing
Predictability
Opportunity: Lower cost & ability to reallocate spend
1:1 programs
Fast broadband
Educational technology
solutions (adaptive learning,
blended instruction, formative
assessments, mobile, 24/7)
Hasten shift from
print-to-digital
Professional development
Parental engagement
Challenge: Traditional funding streams, as school bonds
• Thinking about IT differently, as a
utility
• Encouraging on-demand, pay-as-
you-go infrastructure
• Shifting new “variable” expenses
into predictable costs
Traditional IT
Capacity
TimeYour IT needs
2. Don’t guess capacity, scale up & scale down on demand
On and Off Fast Growth
Predictable peaksVariable peaks
DISSATISFACTION = School start, assessments, events …
WASTE = Vast majority of education
Fast GrowthOn and Off
Predictable peaksVariable peaks
WITH AWS
Old World:
Infrastructure in
weeks
3. Launch and scale new technology in minutes
from one server …
…to thousands, in minutes
Buy and install new hardware
Setup and configure new software
build or upgrade data centers
Moves school away
from “legacy” tasksAnd school IT no
longer has to:Data Centers
Power
Cooling
Cabling
Networking
Racks
Servers
Storage
Labor
4. Cloud takes care of undifferentiated, heavy lifting
5. School IT can partner w/change agents and spark culture
of innovation: Experiment often; fail with low risk and cost
And What Type of Innovation?
Think of schools as start-ups
Enable a robust educational technology ecosystem for your teachers
Search AssessEnable /
Procure+ + ++ Integrate Analyze
Modernize pedagogy
+ Flipping the
Classroom
Note: Word cloud images found on Google image search (eg. “social learning”).
Put data to use for adaptive learning, assessments, and improving operations
Meet today’s youth where they are
Prepare youth for an ever-changing world
Skills Gap
“By 2020, there will be a global shortfall of 85 Million high and middle
skilled workers.”
-McKinsey Global Institute
Employment Opportunities
“Cloud computing will generate 14 Million jobs by 2015.”-International Data Corporation (IDC)
21st century STEM, enabling youth to become coders, makers, and data scientists
Working case study of K-12 + College + Industry
Tenets of a Cloud-based digital learning ecosystem
• Think of education as a startup would: test, fail, and iterate.
• Protecting data is a table leg for a 21st century educational environment.
In a secure environment, data can be used to drive massive change.
• In the age of “big data,” analysis and application of that analysis is done
in real-time, and assessments should evolve into real-time as well.
• School technologists need to be repurposed for the strategic means of
education, not for maintaining yesterday’s infrastructure.
Tenets of a Cloud-based digital learning ecosystem
• Meet children where they are. Mobility, interactive media, 24/7, and
project-based learning/DIY must be the new normal for education.
Relevance and “fun” can be the secret sauce in encouraging grit.
• STEM is important, but it also must continuously be re-thought for a
rapidly changing world.
• We need to re-think vocational education and career pathways.
• When industry partners and builds with educators, we can accomplish
amazing things. Without the partnership, we live in our own bubble.
