Table of Contents

No Title Page
Abstract 2
1. Introduction
1.1 Aim
1.2 Problem Statement
1.3 Definition of Cloud Computing
1.4 Characteristics of Cloud Computing
1.5 Cloud Deployment Models
1.6 Cloud Service Models
1.7 Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloud Computing in Education Institutions
1.8 Benefits of Cloud Computing for Malaysian Education Institutions
1.9 Application of Cloud Computing in Malaysian Education Institutions

2. Methodology

3. Data Analysis

4. Challenges of Cloud Computing in Malaysian Education Institutions

5. Security issues and limitations of Cloud Computing

6. Conclusion

7. References

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Application and Challenges of Cloud Computing in Malaysian
Education Institutions

Abstract

Cloud Computing is an internet-based technology that is rapidly growing in the

educational sector all around the world. Universities make great use of the available cloud
applications which are offered by their service providers and allow their students and
administrative personnel to access numerous application platforms and resources through the
web pages seamlessly. By implementing cloud computing in the education sector, we can
build a very efficient and high-quality education system for future generations. In this
research paper, I will discuss the characteristics of cloud computing, cloud computing model
and services, application and challenges of cloud computing, and issues of cloud computing
in education.

1. Introduction

The education system is continuously undergoing improvements and development

which we can’t keep up with and I wouldn’t be surprised that in the future, most of the
educational services will be hosted in the cloud because it is more reliable and affordable.
Nowadays, lecturers don’t bring pen drives to college anymore because it is more convenient
to save their notes and documents into cloud storage such as Google Drive or Dropbox. There
was this time where my lecturer forgot to bring her pen drive and she couldn’t conduct the
class because all of her lecture notes were in the pen drive. Cloud computing plays a
significant role in this situation because by using cloud computing, we can access any
document, file, or videos from any part of the world as long as you have an internet
connection.

In terms of content creation, communication, and collaboration, universities are

massively dependent on information technology. Students these days are demanding more
information technology facilities from their respective institutions. Furthermore, information

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technology is evolving rapidly and has placed additional financial pressures on the
institutions. One of the greatest challenges universities and colleges face when providing
education is the lack of infrastructure and its maintenance, the cost of maintaining a wide
variety of hardware and software equipment. Cloud computing can help provide these
solutions at a fair price. The top cloud services providers in the world right now are Microsoft
Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.

The term cloud computing is booming in the Information Technology world and has
been adopted in different sectors including the education sector. Cloud computing is
changing the way companies do business and represent their constituents. A group of market
research analysts from Technavio has conducted a market study which covers the current
scenario and potential growth of the cloud computing market in the education sector for the
year 2017 to 2021 and forecasted that the global cloud computing market in the education
sector is estimated to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 26% until 2021.
This proves that cloud computing in education market is developing rapidly because
education institutions are concentrated towards a centralized system. Cloud adoption in
educational institutions is considered to be widespread today. According to a survey of 470
higher education institutions published by Campus Computing at the end of 2014, almost 1/3
reported having a strategic plan for cloud computing and around 50% have implemented a
cloud-based collaboration system to ensure a smooth flow of information sharing across the
campus. (Green, 2014). These figures are gradually increasing as more decision-makers in
higher institutions are aware of the cloud benefits.

Cloud computing not only provides teachers and students with free access to various
cloud resources and applications for both formal and informal use in the education field, but
it also provides greater accessibility and flexibility when it comes to resource management
and creates a learning atmosphere that is more personalized or more to virtual teaching and
learning. Cloud computing also ensures that lectures, staff. students can access any kind of
information from anywhere using any type of device. So, this form of technology can be
implemented by both private and public education institutions as a way to provide better
facilities with the few resources available.

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1.1 Aim

The aim of this research is to recognize the application and challenges of cloud
computing in Malaysian education institutions. Moreover, I will also like to know what is the
security issues and limitations when using cloud computing services. In this research, I will
also identify the advantages of using cloud computing in education institution. Last but not
least, I will like to find out what are the benefits of cloud computing for Malaysian education
institutions.

1.2 Problem Statement

The usage of Information and communications technology (ICT) by universities and

colleges to improve the online learning system is rapidly increasing. The demand for storage,
networks, servers, services, and applications is increasing significantly. Nowadays, most of
the educational institutions have wisely invested in the infrastructure to provide efficient e-
learning systems for their students. One big problem face by educations institution when
providing education is the process of purchasing, maintaining, and upgrading requires a large
investment. Using cloud computing will minimise the cost, offers universal access to data,
and makes it easier to maintain, control hardware and software.

Cloud computing has many benefits but it also has some drawbacks, both due to the
fact that all the data and software are stored somewhere on the Internet. The major drawbacks
of cloud computing will be security issues and some limitations when using cloud services.
My research will focus on the application and challenges of cloud computing in Malaysian
education institutions.

1.3 Definition of Cloud Computing

There are various meanings of the term cloud computing. Microsoft Azure defines
cloud computing as the delivery of computing services which includes servers, storage,
networking, software, and databases over the Internet to provide faster innovation, flexible
resources, and economies of scale. Usually, you only pay for the cloud services that you use
which helps you to lower your operating costs, operate your infrastructure more effectively,
and scale up as your business needs a shift.

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 Gartner describes public cloud computing as a form of computing where flexible and
elastic information technology enabled capabilities are offered as a service to external
customers using Internet technology. Despite the difference in the definitions, it is obvious
that the term applies to a supercomputing model that is internet-based. The simple way to
understand cloud computing is to consider your experience with email. There are many email
clients out there but the most famous one is Gmail. When you want to access your email, the
first thing you have to do is to open your web browser. Then, go to the email client and log in
to your account. The most important part of this process is to have internet access.

Emails are not stored on a physical device but it can be accessed from anywhere via
an internet connection. The email is not as same as the software such as PDF or word
processing program like Microsoft Word which is installed on the computer. A document that
is created by a word processing software will store the document on the device to make it
physically move. An email client is similar to the way cloud computing works. Instead of
only accessing the email, you can select which information you have access to inside the
cloud.

1.4 Characteristics of Cloud Computing

The five important characteristics of cloud computing are on-demand self-service,

broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service.

1.4.1 On-demand self-service

A consumer can obtain cloud computing services without requiring human interaction
with the service provider. This means that a manufacturing company can provision additional
computing services when needed without going through the cloud service provider.

1.4.2 Broad network access

Cloud computing services are ready to use over the network and can be accessed by
multiple devices. Network bandwidth and latency are very significant aspects of cloud
computing as they contribute to the quality of service on the network.
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1.4.3 Resource pooling

Resource pooling means that various customers are serviced from the same physical
resources. The provider’s resource pool must be very broad and flexible enough to satisfy
numerous customer requirements. When it comes to resource pooling, the allocation of
resources must not have an effect on the efficiency of critical manufacturing applications.

1.4.4 Rapid elasticity

The computing services should have IT resources that can be scaled out and in rapidly
on a sufficient basis. Whenever the user requests for the services, it is immediately
provided to him and scaled out as soon as their requirements gets over.

1.4.5 Measured service

The usage of cloud computing services is calculated and manufacturing companies

compensate for what they have used. The usage of the resources is tracked, controlled,
and reported, providing clarity for both the service provider and consumer.

1.5 Cloud Deployment Models

Cloud hosting models represent various types of cloud environments that are
categorized by different sizes, access, and ownership. The four cloud deployment models are
public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, and community cloud.

Figure 1 Cloud Deployment Models

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1.5.1 Public Cloud

Public clouds are open to the public and data is generated and stored on third- party
servers. For a public cloud, all software, hardware is owned and handled by the cloud
provider. One of the advantages of a public cloud is reduced costs. Customers are not
required to buy hardware or software because they are required to pay only for the services
that they use. The top public cloud providers are Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services
(AWS), IBM, and Google Compute Engine.

1.5.2 Private Cloud

A private cloud refers to cloud computing services which are used particularly by a
single organization or customer which is operated and managed by the organization or a
third-party service provider. The information stored in a private cloud is protected with a
firewall and it is monitored daily. Information can only be accessed by authorized users only.

1.5.3 Hybrid Cloud

A hybrid cloud is the combination of a public and private cloud which are connected
by technology that enables the sharing of data and application between them. By enabling
data and applications to migrate between private and public clouds, a hybrid cloud gives your
company more flexibility, more deployment options, and helps optimize your current
infrastructure.

1.5.4 Community Cloud

The infrastructure is shared among many organizations of a specific community that

shares similar requirements. It is owned and maintained by one or more organizations in the
community, a third party, or a combination of them.

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1.6 Cloud Service Models
Cloud computing is provided through different service models architecture. Figure 2
shows the most common cloud service models for education.

Figure 2 Common cloud service

models

1.6.1 Software as a Service (SaaS)

Software as a service is a software delivery model that is used for delivering software
over the Internet. It allows user to utilize various application software which is hosted on the
Internet and specifically designed for end- users. With SaaS, cloud providers host and
maintain software applications and the underlying infrastructure, and handle any
maintenance, such as software updates and security patches. The access is network-based and
the operations are handled from one source, which allows its users to access the applications
remotely. Example of SaaS which is used for educations purpose is Microsoft Office 365 and
Google apps.

1.6.2 Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Platform as a Service refers to cloud computing platforms that provide an on-demand

environment for developing, designing, testing, and maintaining applications. PaaS is
designed to make it easier for users to develop applications quickly and adopt it immediately.
Examples of PaaS providers is Microsoft Azure, Force.com, and Google App Engine.

1.6.3 Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

This platform provides consumer infrastructure services such as storage, networks,

database, and other computing resources. The consumer has control over the operating
system and deployed applications. Examples of IaaS providers are Amazon EC2, HP Cloud,
Rackspace Technology, and IBM.

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1.7 Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloud Computing in Education
Institutions

One of the advantages of cloud computing in education institution is that it improves

institutional productivity and makes academic process more productive. Access to repository
of online articles and academic content has increases significantly as the use of online
documents and digital print media is growing, and students from different campus are able to
access the same materials via online. The same online capability can be applied to student’s
data, making their administration more effective in institutions with different buildings and
campuses, where students prefer to study different places in the same day, or even spending
their semesters in overseas.

Cloud computing also boosts collaborative work in an institution. Both students,

lecturers and administrators can access and share information from their computer without
installing any specific program. Online forms, text files, presentation slides and spreadsheets
can be edited by numerous people at the same time from any computer. This indirectly
improves the efficiency of tasks distributions and the quality of information.

The disadvantages of cloud computing are that cloud services are highly dependent on
the network connection of an institution. Education institutions need to have a strong network
connection to send information over the cloud. Besides, the confidentiality of data could be at
risk. Cloud providers have built protocols to ensure the confidentiality and safety of their
client’s data which is stored in their servers. While the internal security of the cloud is good,
there may not be the same safety protocols for a specific computer terminal. Therefore, a
person might be reluctant to key in confidential information in a computer that can be used by
anyone. Real-time monitoring problems could also arise due to the lack of control of cloud
computing. It is a very risky decision to handing over the control of the performance of your
business to the cloud, but it can be overcome by the correct processes in case of a power
outage.

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1.8 Benefits of Cloud Computing for Malaysian Education Institutions

Arfan Shahzad who is one of the strategic advisory board members at Strictly Biz
Magazine said that cloud computing is going to revolutionize the Malaysian education system
in higher institutions. He also identified a few benefits that will be obtained by Malaysian
education institutions after implementing cloud computing. One of the benefits is the
institutions do not need to spend too much on the technology infrastructure. Education
institutions can maintain easy access to information with minimal upfront expenses since
their expenses would be based on their usage. Education institutions will be able to save
costs. This is because cloud-based services can help institutions to reduce costs on separate
hardware, software, or licensing fees.

Cloud computing is an important way to globalize the workforce as it allows the

creation of a nationwide educational network where tasks can be done effectively with fewer
employees. Education institution can cut down on their employee training as the cloud
services allows fewer people to do more work with a basic knowledge on the hardware and
software problems. Moreover, the usage of cloud computing will lower the environmental
impact of education institutions. Cloud computing helps educational institutions to cut down
on their electricity consumption.

Another benefit of using cloud computing in Malaysian education institution is that

lecturers have access to technology which will help them to standardize the teaching process.
During the coronavirus lockdown, students are not allowed to come to college and they will
be having online classes at home. Cloud computing services makes it easier to create online
classes and can be held electronically between humans and computers. The online classes are
always secured, flexible to changes, and have a lower cost of implementation.

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1.9 Application of Cloud Computing in Malaysian Education Institutions

Cloud computing ensures that education institutions focus more on research and
learning activities, rather than on the deployment of complex IT infrastructure. Cloud
applications that are related to education will form the basis of future IT infrastructure in
education to ensure that the development of hardware and software can progress even further.
Cloud computing applications can be used as a platform for lecturers and students to share
information while performing a task without having to face each other and interact at the
same time. Lecturers or students can save a lot of information or data in cloud storages. The
cloud storages allow them to access their documents anytime and anywhere.

Another use of cloud computing which is starting to appear in education is hosting for
learning management systems (LMSs) such as Moodle, Brightspace and Blackboard within
the cloud. Many institutions outsource LMSs providers because of the high costs involved in
the installation and management of such systems. Some universities have started to the use e-
learning platforms to share their resources at a minimized cost. Students and university
employees use many types of technologies in their daily life, so using cloud computing
services such as cloud-based applications can improve their communication process while
saving an ample amount of time. Lecturers can prepare, upload, and manage their teaching
materials such as presentation slides and notes into the cloud using the latest technologies.

Lecturers, administrative personnel, and students may be required to make use of

services offered by IaaS and SaaS cloud service providers, which are preferably accessible
via clients. Developers are also able to use all fundamental software for their development
purpose from online sources, and all the important hardware which is needed for hosting
applications via the PaaS provider. Figure 3 shows the simplified structure of educational
cloud computing services.

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 Figure 3 Education Cloud Computing Services

2. Methodology

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1.7 Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloud Computing in Education
Institutions

One of the advantages of cloud computing in education institution is that it improves

institutional productivity and makes academic process more productive. Access to repository
of online articles and academic content has increases significantly as the use of online
documents and digital print media is growing, and students from different campus are able to
access the same materials via online. The same online capability can be applied to student’s
data, making their administration more effective in institutions with different buildings and
campuses, where students prefer to study different places in the same day, or even spending
their semesters in overseas.

Cloud computing also boosts collaborative work in an institution. Both students,

lecturers and administrators can access and share information from their computer without
installing any specific program. Online forms, text files, presentation slides and spreadsheets
can be edited by numerous people at the same time from any computer. This indirectly
improves the efficiency of tasks distributions and the quality of information.

The disadvantages of cloud computing are that cloud services are highly dependent on
the network connection of an institution. Education institutions need to have a strong network
connection to send information over the cloud. Besides, the confidentiality of data could be at
risk. Cloud providers have built protocols to ensure the confidentiality and safety of their
client’s data which is stored in their servers. While the internal security of the cloud is good,
there may not be the same safety protocols for a specific computer terminal. Therefore, a
person might be reluctant to key in confidential information in a computer that can be used by
anyone. Real-time monitoring problems could also arise due to the lack of control of cloud
computing. It is a very risky decision to handing over the control of the performance of your
business to the cloud, but it can be overcome by the correct processes in case of a power
outage.

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