Cloud pedagogy can also bridge the gap between schools and students’ homes to enhance parental awareness of, and engagement in, their children’s education. Using student-specific passwords, parents will be able to access at any time a child’s academic activity, such as grades, papers, test results, scheduling, attendance, upcoming assignments, and school events.
Most importantly, cloud pedagogy can improve learning. The cloud becomes an entire educational ecosystem that offers content, curricula, productivity and research tools, professional development resources, and the universe as we know it. It leverages that children are digital natives and keenly interested in social networking and new media. The cloud enables online, distributed learning communities, similar to scientific and professional communities of practice, that allow students anywhere to collaborate on thematic investigations, making learning dynamic and engaging. Teachers can introduce instruction that not only builds content literacy but also develops students’ critical-thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and communication skills–precisely the skills needed to prosper in today’s economy.
Cloud pedagogy is not futuristic. It uses existing technologies and economies of scale. It offers a solution that can transform education and reduce its costs. America must better educate its students to improve its economic competitiveness, and cloud pedagogy is an affordable, long-term strategy for doing so.
Dr. Boris Berenfeld is president of the International Laboratory for Advanced Educational Technologies (ILAET).
Harvey Yazijian is the senior developmental editor with TERC, an education research and development organization.
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