1 Table of content 1. Abstract ................................................................................................................................................ 2 2. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 3 3. Potential Scope..................................................................................................................................... 4 4. Strategy for implementing cloud environment ................................................................................. 5 5. Benefits of cloud environment ............................................................................................................ 6 6. Risks of cloud environment ................................................................................................................ 7 7. Challenges emerging from higher education .................................................................................... 8 8. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 8 2 1. Abstract Currently, the use of modern information technology essential to ensure quality education. In connection with ongoing technological progress in education, the information and educational environment is an integral part of training. Implementation information technology in the educational process allows you to achieve. The main goal of higher education institutions is to ensure quality education. Today, one of the rapidly developing areas is use of cloud technology. Gartner Group Analysts Call Cloud computing "the most promising strategic technology of the future", predicting the movement of most of the information technology in the “clouds” in 5–7 years. Cloud technology is used in all industries where high productivity and quick access to resources and services, and the educational environment not an exception. "Clouds" are recognized by many educational institutions in to the whole world. Through the use of cloud technology, students can get access to the university’s reference and information resources from any modern communication devices. It should be noted that in addition to quick access to university information materials, students have the opportunity to connect to virtual machines on which the necessary software is installed software for laboratory and practical work, as well as other studies provided by the curriculum The implementation of new information technologies in education not only improve teaching quality, but also provide new learning opportunities, pedagogical tasks and many other new directions in the development of education. The development of computer tools and implementing cloud-based infrastructure enables educational organizations to understand the specific requirements of their students and achieve their targets. 3 2. Introduction Higher education takes an essential place in social development, which in returns leads to a stronger economy and a healthier society. It is very important for governments to invest in high quality universities and provide them the access to the most effective learning tools such as high standard IT infrastructure, which can be used, for educational software or easy data sharing within the classroom. Current the world crisis has influenced on the budget of many universities negatively. Taking into account the situation, universities are trying to find an alternative solution to cope with financial trial and maintain their reputation among other leading universities. Fudan University is also looking for new; secure IT solution, which enables to share data between university database and students (local and international). Implementing cloud-based IT infrastructure is considered as an alternative solution that creates the numerous advantages for teaching and learning environment. First of all, application of cloud computing in Fudan University is cos-effective, considering the fact that they may be on a tight budget. Secondly, it has a positive impact on the educational experiences of the academicians who are involved in it. In addition, cloud computing increases the productivity of the IT staff. Nowadays, the term “cloud computing” has become a significant idiom in the world of Information Technology (IT). Cloud computing at its core is a technology that uses the Internet and central remote storage and processing servers to support user applications and data. It allows users to access their data or their applications without installation, any local storage or RAM requirement. This is possible from any personal computer that is connected to the broadband Internet. Gmail or Yahoo email services are simple examples of cloud computing platforms. In other words, cloud computing allows individual users to own virtualized computing resources on a central physical data center that is in fact shared among many other users around the world. 4 Considering all above-mentioned benefits of cloud- based infrastructure, it provides to Fudan University the necessary IT infrastructure and other relevant educational services, cloud computing offers many benefits to educational institutes such as lower operation costs, personal and virtual computing resources and centralized storage for data access monitoring. The aim of the current assignment is to scrutinize an appropriate platform for educational software and data sharing in Fudan University taking into account specific need of the university. The author will also try to design the project management plan and risk assessment evaluation of the cloud adoption. Moreover, the study illustrates beneficial sides of cloud environment, possible challenges and how it can help the university to increase the number of international students. 3. Potential Scope The potential scope of the current assignment, which focuses on the adoption of cloud-based IT infrastructure in Higher Educations, involves project management plans, understanding of the specific requirements of the students and staffs who are directly communicate with each other. In addition to this, the report looks at benefits and possible challenges of cloud environment. The scope of this report also includes what kind of changes will be made after implementing the cloud infrastructure, which influences on the teaching quality positively and enlarges the number of the foreign students. Most importantly, strategy for implementing cloud environment is discussed in details in order to understand its risks, benefits and influences on the industry. 5 4. Strategy for implementing cloud environment Carrying out the project and analyzing the structure of Fudan University the following strategy was designed in order to meet the requirement of both local and international students. For successful cloud implementation all the targets of the university were taken into account. As for many educational institutions for Fudan University, the first step in using cloud computing was to provide services using the SaaS model. Today, the university has implemented a number of electronic services: mobile applications, management system self-developed educational process, corporate email, etc. Transfer educational services in the "cloud" will allow you to switch to the format "learn everywhere and always", when students can access their study materials at any time, regardless from the location. The university has a large number of basic and applied applications and services whose users are students, research workers units, administrative and management personnel. As part of the expansion of university cloud services, we have taken steps to provide a number of services of the educational portal of the university through mobile applications. The analysis showed that most students use functions educational portal through its BYOD devices. This prompted us to think about creating mobile applications for user convenience and quality improvement services provided. Developed mobile applications for the Android and iOS platforms. The following features are available: user authorization, viewing performance and timetables for students, maps of the location of educational buildings, as well as additional service functions, such as interface settings, information about application. Another area of work for the provision of SaaS services is associated with the development of learning management systems of Fudan University. Electronic Learning Management Systems (LMS- learning management system) allow you to automate administration functions the learning process and the delivery of educational content to students. LMS Fudan University is flexible in management and easily adaptable system integrated with educational university portal. 6 As the next stage of introducing the cloud solutions paradigm in FDSM it is planned to implement such areas of cloud computing as: infrastructure as a service (Infrastructure as a Service, IaaS), a workplace as a service (Workplace as a Service, WaaS), access to which will be carried out both from the university and from the external environment. 5. Benefits of cloud environment Thanks to this trend, Fudan University (FDSM) may become equal market participants in network cloud services, while having a number of competitive advantages: Using the cloud, FDSM can open their technology infrastructure for the real economy; Growing cloud computing power can help FDSM implement projects in the field of exact sciences; The extended reach of cloud computing will enable FDSM to learn students in a new educational space; Cloud technologies can enable FDSM to create information infrastructure for international academic interaction of students; The cloud will allow students and teachers through the Internet, jointly, use applications without installing them on computers. In addition, students have access to development platforms, and the opportunity develops its own applications on university infrastructure. AT in this case, teachers focus on project management student activities. The use of cloud technology FDSM is one of the promising trends today, and offers a new form educational process organization. “Clouds” offer a wide range of online resources, creating the conditions for personal training, interactive classes and teamwork anywhere in the world (with the Internet). Application "Clouds" not only improve the educational process, but also reduce the cost of the acquisition of resource-intensive software that is necessary for receiving a quality education. 7 It is also worth noting that, majority of universities are participating in the IBM Cloud Academy program, which provides free access to a diverse range of educational resources. Although, cloud computing is a new area of focus information systems, but already has a number of advantages: 1. Access to materials from anywhere in the world where there is Internet; 2. A wide range of online collaboration tools various materials; 3. Minimum hardware requirements; 4. No need to install and configure software on computers users 5. Simple and require minimal support. 6. Risks of cloud environment Despite a large number of advantages, cloud technologies have limitations. The most common is privacy and information security. At the moment, a solution has been developed to protect and confidentiality of information, which includes several components: protection data that provides security using encryption keys; organization of an access policy providing access to information only authorized users; intelligent system support that includes collecting information and analyzing user behavior, as well as alerting if suspicious activity detected. To achieve a high level of reliability and Information security must fulfill each of the above conditions. Another significant drawback of using cloud technology is the need to ensure uninterrupted access to the Internet. Currently much attention is paid to this problem, since uninterrupted access to the network necessary not only in higher education, but also in all developing sectors, what is characterized by modern society. Comparing the current year with 2014 year, you can see a significant reduction, almost half the network outages, as well 60% reduction in troubleshooting time. 8 7. Challenges emerging from higher education Since the cloud infrastructure is always, to a certain degree, an open and shared resource. Therefore, it is major targets for cyber attackers. Cloud computing systems and services are subject to malicious attacks from both insiders and outsiders. Side-channel attacks, identity hijacking, and distribution of malicious code have all been observed. Therefore, FDSM management of security in cloud environments needs to be carefully analyzed and maintained by. There are other challenges facing rapid adoption, including the costs of managing the cloud and the speed of uploading files. The cost in the cloud could increase rapidly such as for certain customizations to meet education needs. Large files can take a long time to upload causing frustration and inconvenience for day-to-day business. Other challenges include governance and control, complexity of building a private cloud, defining What Services Should Move to cloud, and performance issues. 8. Conclusion The use of cloud technology in higher education is one of the promising trends today, and offers a new form educational process organization. “Clouds” offer a wide range of online resources, creating the conditions for personal training, interactive classes and teamwork anywhere in the world (with the Internet). Application "Clouds" not only improve the educational process, but also reduce the cost of the acquisition of resource-intensive software that is necessary for receiving a quality education. Noting the benefits of using cloud technology in higher education, it should also highlight some disadvantages, namely: the lack of a specialized regulatory framework the use of cloud technology, the risk of unauthorized access to data. However, the development of technology does not stand still, and soon the use of cloud technology risks will be reduced to a minimum. 9 The development of cloud computing has gone beyond the research phase; the stage of mass implementation of cloud computing as infrastructure solutions is beginning. Today, taking into account the existing IT infrastructure of FDSM, unique conditions have been created for the organization of the university’s electronic educational environment based on cloud computing technologies, implementing various types of services.
