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Cloud Computing Enriches University Education

Rebecca Kutzer-Rice | Date: 02-02-11 | Comments

A new cloud-based program at the University of Buffalo is cutting departmental costs while bringing sophisticated learning tools to students. The tool's designers hope to soon expand it to reach middle and high school students.

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Cloud Computing Enriches University Education
Cloud computing is already helping many businesses cut costs and improve efficiency. Now, a novel program at the University of Buffalo (UB) is bringing the benefits of the cloud to education. Called Pop! World, the innovative computing platform is helping teach UB students biology in a high-tech way. Soon, the technology could be brought to high and middle schools.

Like most university departments, UB's biology department was looking for ways to cut costs without diminishing the education of its students. Cloud computing, which runs programs on remote servers rather than on in-house departmental computers, was the solution. Faculty realized that the cloud could allow them to reach a wide population of students without sacrificing speed or service.

"The cloud serves as a way to distribute resources for free without limits on how many people can access it and with no regard to what kind of computer you are downloading to," says Jessica Poulin, Ph.D., according to a statement from the university. "Everybody can get there."

Poulin is research assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences at UB. She designed Pop! World along with Bina Ramamurthy, Ph.D., research associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Katharina Dittmar, Ph.D., assistant professor of biological sciences.

Unlike many universities, which require underclassmen to take preliminary science courses before completing laboratory classes, the University of Buffalo allows its freshmen to complete science labs in their very first semester. Although these time-intensive, small-group courses are highly educational for students, they are quite costly for the university.

"We put our freshmen right into labs because students who might otherwise be lost from the major are captivated when they get to do science," Poulin said in the statement. "When you sit in a lecture hall with 400 people and someone is talking about flatworms, what do you care? Despite the logistical difficulties, and the intense demands on staff time, we think that getting freshmen into labs is one of our department's great strengths. We didn't want to discontinue it."

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