I have to admit, I am fairly new to the cloud concept. I have always been the person running around with disks and more recently thumb drives, or even emailing myself documents all over the place. The idea of cloud computing is supposed to make all of that unnecessary and life a little more simple.
Recently I started my venture into cloud computing by signing up for Dropbox. This handy little app allows me to place a folder on my home computer and anything I put in that folder is synced with my account online. From there I am able to access my files from any other computer I can access the Internet with or even from my phone. The days of running around with multiple media drives or emailing things back and forth between work and home are over!
The best part is that there is no need to keep track of which copy is the most up to date or what do I do now that I forgot to email that to myself.
The future of cloud computing is bright and brands like Apple are ready to jump on board. The next release of Apple's mobile os, OS 5, will be very much cloud based and I for one cannot wait. My iPhone will wirelessly sync with my computer when I plug it into a charger in another room, my iPad and iPhone will seamlessly allow me to move from one device to the other because my documents are stored in a cloud and not on the device itself. I will be able to start a text conversation on one and pick up the other as I walk out the door without missing a beat.
In the world of education the potential is for huge increases in academic collaboration as entire research projects could be cloud based and accessed real time from universities and students all around the world. Grade school students can collaborate with children in other parts of the world. Assignments will not be lost and the transfer from working at home to school and back again will be painless.
All in all the advent of cloud computing is a huge step in the right direction for the technology world and even more so for the Educational Technology world.
