We’re going to look at Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing for education as an example of products and services that can provide benefits to anyone.
What is AWS Cloud Computing for Education?
AWS Cloud Computing for Education is a collection of offerings designed to assist educators and students. Amazon’s stated goal is to accelerate digital transformation across all sectors of the education community. Three broad categories encompass AWS’s education initiative.
AWS Cloud for Primary and Secondary Education
This program has two complementary objectives that work to enhance educational opportunities.
Improving the student experience with tools and capabilities that:
- Provide 24-hour secure access to desktops and applications from any device;
- Offer pay-as-you-go pricing to add capacity when needed;
- Allow IT resources to be added or removed easily;
- Share student data across platforms to view performance and uncover insights.
Modernizing and securing educational facilities with features that include:
- Support for numerous security standards and compliance certifications;
- Reliable, secure, and scalable data storage;
- Disaster recovery capabilities to minimize downtime.
AWS Cloud for Higher Education
Similar capabilities are built into this offering regarding modernizing and securing educational facilities and creating an enhanced student experience. Additional capabilities such as powering virtual computer labs and using artificial intelligence and machine learning speak to the advanced nature of higher education.
Further goals of this program include turning data into knowledge using analytics to improve decision-making and lower educational costs. Methods used to achieve these objectives include:
- Storing, managing, and deriving insights from large volumes of data;
- Supporting real-time streaming and business intelligence tools;
- Sharing data across platforms for enhanced collaboration.
Researchers can also benefit from the higher education cloud by taking advantage of pre-built infrastructures to accelerate timelines. Participants have access to open datasets and training. They have access to secure computing resources that can be launched within minutes.
The AWS Educate offering is aimed at adult students who are interested in learning about the cloud or improving their cloud computing skills. As more companies migrate workloads to the cloud, possessing these skills is increasingly important for professionals in the IT field.
Individuals can opt for training focused on specific roles or cloud computing solutions. Educational tracks concentrate on building the skills needed to become an architect, developer, cloud practitioner, or DevOps engineer among other disciplines. Solution-based education covers items such as machine learning, advanced networking, game tech, data analytics, and security.
AWS Educate can also help employers struggling with a lack of in-house cloud computing skills. Free hands-on labs are available with content designed to educate learners who are new to cloud computing. Students can earn learning badges and certifications that demonstrate their knowledge to peers and employers.
AWS Cloud Computing for Education is an excellent example of the cloud being used for more than maximizing profits. It helps students and educational facilities take advantage of technology and opens the door for anyone to learn about cloud computing.