Schools are either already on the cloud or heading there very soon.

The way in-person classes took a hit during the pandemic—affecting over a billion learners worldwide¹—has underscored one truth that many in the education and technology sectors have been advocating for years: that the move to the cloud is crucial and inevitable.

For long-time educators, thinking about something as abstract as the cloud may be a lot to take in, but using it for schooling is actually quite straightforward. Whether they’re aware of it or not, teachers who use their smartphones on a regular basis are already active cloud users. They just have to learn how to apply what they normally do on their gadgets to the way they conduct their classes.

But what is the cloud anyway?

In the simplest terms, the cloud is a bunch of servers that are accessible via the internet.² Organisations utilize the cloud to host websites and apps that most of us use daily. We take advantage of the cloud every time we listen to music on streaming sites, send out emails, or like posts on social media. In education, the cloud enters the picture when we share lesson content through Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams, write instructions on cloud whiteboards, or hop onto a video call to reach home-based students when classrooms are inaccessible.

Education systems across multiple countries have already shifted to cloud services to virtually extend their classrooms to remote students.³ It’s a trend best reflected by the steady increase of active cloud service users in schools. Zoom, for example, reported a record-breaking increase in their number of monthly users after extending their enterprise-focused video conferencing services to the education sector.⁴ Similarly, both Google and Microsoft noted how their daily active user bases grew significantly throughout the pandemic, and have continued to do so since schools returned to face-to-face teaching. Educational institutions realised afresh that the cloud tools that worked for remote teaching & learning were effective in a more traditional setting.

By 2025, Gartner forecasts that as much as 85% of organisations worldwide, including schools, will adopt a “cloud-first” approach. This means that cloud infrastructure and applications will be more heavily integrated with new systems or be used to enhance existing ones.¹¹ Hybrid and remote modes of learning will be mainstays in education. Analysts recommend that CIOs, particularly for K-12 schools, must make it a goal to invest in bolstering their existing infrastructure and supply their students with the necessary devices to better facilitate these cloud-dependent learning setups.¹²

Despite the increasing prevalence of the cloud in schools, there has still been some pushback from educators. Much of their hesitation stems from preconceived notions of how cloud-based technologies complicate teaching.

In a study published in 2013, researchers noted that although teachers have had experience using cloud-based educational tools for their lessons, the general consensus was that these were more of a nice-to-have rather than a necessity.¹³ In a separate study conducted by the University of Bristol, a number of instructors believed that, compared to regular rote instruction, using apps and gadgets made their teaching less effective.¹⁴

Many educators have expressed that the introduction of new technologies in schools has doubled their work.¹⁵ Not only do they have to quickly figure out how to incorporate these tools into their lessons, but they may also be tasked with helping out students who are struggling with using unfamiliar devices and programs.¹⁶

Although these collective sentiments are valid, much of these apprehensions are temporary. Research has shown that lack of knowledge is actually one of the biggest factors why teachers are either averse to new educational technologies or unable to use them to their full potential.¹⁷ Up to 70% of the teachers who participated in the research were able to find creative ways to integrate EdTech into their classes after sufficient training.

Several universities recognise the impact of the cloud and EdTech in teaching, so much so that they have made it a point to incorporate online and hybrid teaching methodologies in the curriculum of their education graduate programmes. Education undergraduates are now being trained on how to use available technologies such as cloud apps, video conferencing systems, and interactive displays for classes.¹⁸ For tenured educators, adapting their teaching styles to accommodate the cloud may seem like a bothersome task, but as the pandemic has clearly demonstrated, the need to adapt is necessary.¹⁹

Despite initial doubts, these long-term benefits of cloud adoption in schools make the investment well worth it:

No matter which stage your school is at in terms of cloud adoption, BenQ can support you. Whether you’re using cloud-based platforms like Google Workspace and Office 365 or even locally installed programs like Microsoft Office for teaching, you can easily load cloud files and apps on BenQ Boards for more engaging in-person classes and hybrid learning sessions. Click any of the links below to learn how.

• Accessing Google Workspace Files on BenQ Boards
• Activities with Google Docs
• Activities with Google Sheets
• Activities with Google Slides
• Activities with Google Meet

• Accessing Microsoft Office Files on BenQ Boards
• Activities with Microsoft Word 
• Activities with Microsoft Excel
• Activities with Microsoft PowerPoint
• Activities with Microsoft Teams

For thorough instructions on how to utilise your interactive displays for classes, you may request specialised training sessions through your local BenQ sales representative.