point driven by technology advances and the need for more North Carolina State University Cloud Computing Services
powerful and collaborative platforms at lower cost.
The Virtual Computing Laboratory (VCL) at North Carolina State University has been a pioneer in delivering secure on-demand computing services for education institutions. VCL was using cloud computing before the term came into popular use: It has been doing research on virtual computing since 2003 and began offering cloud services in 2004.
Cloud computing can support both the academic and
The VCL academic cloud is based on opensource technology and offers infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and software as a service, including support of high-performance computing services. The advantages of VCL’s cloud computing approach include consolidation of computing resources and technical support services, delivery of applications that would be difficult to install on student computers, and the extension of computing services to education institutions that otherwise would have only limited technology infrastructures. As of 2009 VCL was serving more than 30,000 faculty and staff members. A typical user accesses VCL through a Web interface, going through a set of authentication and authorization steps and then choosing the desired kind of computing environment and time period from a set of pulldown menus.
administrative services required for learning and education. It can enable students and educators to access the same learning resources using different Internet devices anytime and anywhere, both in and out of school. This will not happen automatically, however. School systems and other youth-serving organizations—public libraries, public broadcasting, after-school clubs, and so on—will need to engage each other and seek common platforms or at least technical interoperability. Cloud computing is still in a nascent stage with obstacles to overcome to fully realize its potential. Still, now is the time to move forward with investments that contribute to the shift to cloud computing, with the primary benefits being cost savings and an ability for education institutions to refocus on their core mission, educating students. (See sidebar on North Carolina State University.)
Services Delivered From the Cloud Figure 4 illustrates the comprehensive nature of integrated software services needed for learning experiences and that can be delivered from the cloud.
VCL can dynamically move resources from one application to another, producing increased efficiency and lower costs. During semester breaks, for example, when most students are not using computing resources, the system assigns those resources to researchers with heavy computing requirements for activities, such as running complex models and simulations.
At the top are the users of the services—students, educators,
VCL now offers services on a pilot basis to seven other North Carolina public universities, the North Carolina Community College System, and several out-of-state universities including three in India. Possible extension of these academic cloud services to K-12 schools is being considered.
a variety of educator- or learner-directed ways. They also
administrators, and parents—with a variety of Internet access devices. With these devices, users can find a large and diverse set of digital educational resources from both proprietary and open providers. Education resources and services could be used directly in could be used as ingredients for derivative products that are authored, built, edited, disseminated, and managed as student projects or educator-author curriculum modules through services indicated in the adjacent cluster. In this model, students and educators are both consumers and producers of educational content, with the role of student and educator sometimes interchanged. The framework of services also includes the administrative services for operating the school and school systems.
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Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology