The UNINETT HE cloud initiative, UH-sky, together with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), is looking into how public cloud solutions can be utilized within education. Talking to lecturers has made it clear that their needs can be filled by IaaS solutions.
A pilot project called Edulab consists of a simple user interface, connected to a cluster of virtual machines in an IaaS solution. This is made available to a group of lecturers at NTNU. The user interface allows students access to learning resources approved by the lecturer, and ensures that costs are allocated to the correct course. Edulab gives the students increased freedom, within the framework set by the lecturer. Second year students are testing the solution.
- We regard the project as interesting, and are well pleased with the solution, says senior advisor Tore Johansen at the NTNU IT department. – We’re still in the testing phase, but deem it likely that Edulab will be useful for NTNU as a fully developed service.
Moving educational services into the cloud gives students the freedom to store and share information in the cloud; while the IT department is assured that, the activity is within the University rules and regulations.
