A Proposed Model for Education System Using
Cloud Computing
Engr. Ali Ahmed
Computer Engineering Department
Bahria University, Karachi Campus
Karachi, Pakistan
aliahmed.bukc@bahria.edu.pk
Abstract—Education is a need of everyone these days for
economical growth. It plays a major role to build up a good
society for future. For quality education, technology plays a vital
role. These days everyone try to get the benefits of technology in
every field of life so as the teachers and students who have
become strongly attached with the technology through their
devices gadgets etc. Currently cloud computing is the most
dynamic and reliable resource for information sharing as it
works in many areas like healthcare, business, communication
and many more. It also takes place in academia as it provides
better on demand services and many other huge and reliable
benefits. Many service providers provide different cloud based
applications so that the users can easily work on those
applications as per their requirements. Teachers and students
can both work for academia with the help of cloud computing for
the challenges they faced in teaching or learning. In this research
paper, we are going to propose a model with the help of cloud
computing for the teachers and students so that the teachers can
share the course materials over the cloud and students can get
the updates regarding their examinations, assignments and many
things by the help of this model. Also parents/guardians can
check the study material, attendance record etc. of their children
with the help of this model. So this research paper provides an
idea about how cloud computing can be used in the education
system to improve the challenges in teaching infrastructure.
Keywords—Education, Cloud computing, Technologies,
Institutions
I. INTRODUCTION
Now a day’s educational institutions and universities are
mostly focusing on the novel teaching techniques tools by
using their own management models. The development of
education process is much faster and growing with the
upcoming technologies especially for education systems. The
existing technological systems do not use education as a key
factor instead they target the advantages which can help the
teachers and students for education management models.
Education is compulsory for everyone so we have to make it
easier with the help of upcoming technologies [1]. In this
research paper, we are going to discuss how cloud computing
works in an innovative environment for smart education
system and how we get things faster in the cloud computing
environment for academia.
978-1-5386-8249-4/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE
Huma Ali Ahmed
Department of Computer Science
Newports Institute of Communications & Economics
Karachi, Pakistan
huma.simran@gmail.com
Cloud computing provides reliable and scalable resources
and become more popular throughout the world by offering
several computing tracks for their resources. Mostly the
biggest organizations related to IT maintaining their
management systems with the help of cloud computing.
II. CLOUD COMPUTING
Cloud computing is the biggest platform of services which
provides hosted services over the Internet. It provides on
demand services and it may be public, private or hybrid. It is
very easy to access the mobile devices and computers with the
cloud environment. It works with large scale computing paths
to provide better services for users [2]. Cloud computing is
widely used in education due to its huge advantages. Free or
less costly cloud based services used on daily basis for support
of learning system, content creation, research discussions and
social interaction which is the most important part these days
in our daily lives. Some examples of cloud based services are
YouTube, Twitter, Google Apps and last but not the least
Drop box.
The basic cloud computing services are stated below:
• Software as a service (SAAS) which delivers software
that provides remote accessibility for consumers over
the Internet
• Platform as a service (PAAS) which delivers the
computing tracks, mostly includes programming
languages, codes, operating systems, databases and
web services
• Infrastructure as a service (IAAS) that is the most
efficient and basic service model in cloud computing
which provides physical and the virtual resources
• Network as a service (NAAS) which is a categorized
based service; it is able to provide the cloud service to
users to use the actual network transport data
connectivity service
Cloud computing is also known as distributed computing.
By sharing the administration of the educational system in the
cloud, education collaboration would be able to concentrate
more on offering distinctive administrations to the
understudies, personnel and the staff by providing a great
support so that they can progress in their field. To fill out the
huge gap exists between the education and the technology,
institutions and universities embraces the idea of the
distributed computing. Throughout the years education
process is consistently getting advanced, convenient and in
access for everybody along with the social improvement and
modernization. Review process for mode of teaching and
learning is continuously in place for enhancement as well as to
make them simple for the stakeholders. This brings to a point
where the idea of e-learning evolved. Tackling of information
and corresponding technology were being utilized the
evolution of education [3]. Understudies could watch
instructional video; download learning materials or online
correspondence with educators and different operations, which
was something new in the conventional training scenario. In
the training process setup, understudies can learn whenever
they want, anyplace to get through the customary training of
the basic approach to attain knowledge, to better prepare
understudies in the idea, featuring the individual student
learning.
A. Reason for Using Cloud in Education Environment
Some of the advantages of using cloud in education system
are stated below:
• Significant cost lessening
• Access to application from anyplace
• Support for training and learning
• Exposure of new technologies to the students
• Usage on individual devices
• Exposure to advance research
• Convenience in sharing of learning stuff
• Interaction becomes easier
SAAS, PAAS and IAAS are the service models we mostly
use in teaching and learning process. In our proposed model,
we also use NAAS for monitoring the network transport over
the cloud so latency issues can be resolved over the cloud.
Teachers and students can interact easily by using the
proposed model. The proposed model will be more secure as
compared with the other models because we provide private
cloud for the management so it only allows authenticated
users that will also help for the security of data.
Previously, limited features were available for the education
learning process so it was only limited for teachers and
students as shown in Fig. 1. In our proposed model, we added
features for the guardians so that they can also monitor the
progress of their children [1][4].
Students Researchers Teachers
Private
Cloud
Processors Infrastructure
Software
Storage
Fig. 1. Existing Private Cloud for Education
Fig. 1 demonstrates the private cloud design for education
system. Universities can construct their own private cloud by
using their available resources or else different colleges and
universities can create a hybrid cloud called as educational
cloud in which they can share the available resources with
each other [5][6]. Private cloud makes utilization of the nearby
system while the educational cloud makes utilization of open
system like public network to exploit the services available
over the cloud. Both private and educational cloud which is
constructed for education has to indicate the services provided
by them.
B. Benefits of Cloud Computing for Faculty and Students
1. Personalized Learning
Cloud computing manages open doors for more remarkable
student preference in learning [7]. Utilizing an Internet-
associated gadget, understudies can get to a wide range of
assets and software applications that suit their learning styles
and concerns.
2. Lessened Costs
Cloud based system provides costs reduction and faster
utilization of upcoming advancements to meet the educational
requirements [8].
3. Accessibility
By user perspective, availability of the utilities is the major
and significant phase for utilizing the educational cloud. User
demands 24/7 accessibility without any delay and latency issue
so that information can be accessed from anywhere whenever it
deemed necessary [8].
4. No Additional Infrastructure
Cloud computing makes colleges and universities to focus
on their goals that can help them to provide more research
opportunities for their students rather spending their time to
worry about the infrastructure, manpower etc.
5. Convenience
This facility is easy to use, straightforward and convenient
to work. Cloud computing provides user friendly environment
so the communication becomes faster [8][9].
C. Cloud Computing Limitations
Cloud computing provides a possibility for the improvement
of efficiency, cost and ease for the educational sector but it
also have some limitations as well which are stated below
[10][11]:
1. Applications on Cloud
At times due to downtime issue applications are not
running properly over the cloud.
2. Risk of Data Protection
Data protection is the major concern while storing personal
information or data over the cloud. Unauthorized access or data
loss by service provider are the major associated risks.
 3. Organizational Support
Usually it is difficult to adopt such solutions because the
management of any organization do not agree easily to place
data over the cloud.
4. Politics Distribution, Intellectual Property
The data stored on cloud rapidly copied on third party
interfaces and it is very difficult to monitor data over the cloud
so service providers must concentrate on disclaimer clauses to
address this issue.
5. Protection and Security of Data
Cloud computing environment needs more protection for
the data to provide confidence to those people who are
reluctant to place their data over the cloud.
6. Development of Solutions
Development of solutions is not readily available to meet
the requirements.
7. Lack of Confidence
There is a lack of confidence in the people due to different
issues involved in cloud computing.
8. Follow Standards Properly
Existing standards for cloud computing are not followed
properly so cloud computing standards need to be followed to
provide a convenient computing environment.
III. PROPOSED MODEL FOR EDUCATION SYSTEM USING
CLOUD COMPUTING
This proposed model is for education system by using cloud
computing. Cloud computing technology provides reliable
resources which can help in many platforms. Basically in this
research paper we are only focusing on education. The major
users of education cloud include faculty, students, admin staff,
admission, accounts and examination departments. In this
model, we also make a platform for parents as well so they
can see their children attendance records, fee vouchers,
upcoming quizzes, assignments, examination plan, and
especially the results with the help of login id and password
provided by the cloud service provider. Normally students
cannot share their results and class schedules with their
parents so now with the help of this model parents can easily
check their children records and required stuff with the help of
our proposed model. This model also provides facility for the
faculty as well so they can upload the study material, student
attendance and other stuff over the cloud. Also they can
update their class schedules if there is a need of extra classes.
In case of any delay due to Internet or unavailability of cloud,
users can access only the last updated data. For further
updation, they have to wait for the system restoration. While
implementing this model, backup Internet connectivity must
be available to avoid any delays. Our proposed model
provides a friendly environment for all the stakeholders. Fig. 2
illustrates the said concept.
Admission/Accounts and
Examination Departments
Student
Record
Cloud
Parents/Guardian Login
Student
Login
Class Updates/Lectures Updation of Exam
Attendance Record and Results and other Marks
Results
EDU Cloud
Fee Lectures/Assignments
Records Exam Plans/Study
and Exam Materials
Schedules
Faculty
Login
Fig. 2. Education System Model Using Cloud Computing
The proposed model has different phases as shown in Fig. 2.
The flow of the model describes that the main phase is
admission/accounts and examination departments where all
the data of students is available. This phase shows the
enrollment of students in different programs, the strength of
students in each program, fee status and exam plans for
students. In the proposed model, we use two clouds namely
student record cloud and EDU cloud which is education cloud.
Student record cloud maintains profile of students, their
courses, attendance record and study plans. Students can login
via login id and password provided by the cloud service
providers so they can connect with the education cloud to get
their assignments, quizzes, results and attendance record as
well as they can get their lectures from EDU cloud. On the
other side, we also facilitate the faculty as well so they can
also login with their provided login id and password to update
their course profile, uploading lectures, study plans, schedule
of upcoming quizzes, assignments, marks and a buzz of extra
classes if needed. Teachers can also maintain students
attendance record so if any student does not meet the
minimum attendance requirement as per the institutional
policies for appearing in the exams. Another major phase of
this model is to facilitate the parents as well because mostly
students cannot share their study status and results with their
parents. Parents/guardians phase provides the facility to check
the children profile like marks attendance, class schedules,
exam plans and fee status. In case if the parents are not able to
check their children profile then they can seek help from the
guardians to check their children status. We wish that this
proposed model helps our society to make our education [7] Ishaq A. and Brohi M. N., “Cloud Computing in Education
system better. Sector with Security and Privacy Issue: A Proposed
Framework,” International Journal of Advances in Engineering
IV. EXPECTED RESULTS FOR THE PROPOSED MODEL & Technology vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 889-898, 2015.
[8] Yadav K., “Role of Cloud Computing in Education,”
1. Education learning process becomes easier with the help International Journal of Innovative Research in Computer and
of this model. Communication Engineering vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 3108-3112, 2014.
2. EDU cloud will be more helpful to check updates and [9] Kumar B. V. P, Kommareddy S. and Rani N. U., “Effective
study material easily. Ways Cloud Computing can Contribute to Education Success,”
3. Users will get their updated data over the cloud. Advanced Computing: An International Journal (ACIJ ) vol. 4,
4. Students will get their study material without any delay. no. 4, pp. 17-32, 2013.
5. Communication between teachers and students will [10] esds, “Importance of Cloud Computing In Education Sector,”
2016. [Online], Available:
become easier with the help of this model.
https://www.esds.co.in/blog/importance-of-cloud-computing-in-
6. Faculty will also upload their lectures, study material, education-sector/#sthash.9XtkqKo6.n4tUGI8A.dpbs. [Accessed:
lesson plans and maintain attendance record over the 30-November-2018].
cloud. [11] aspect, “The Benefits of Cloud Computing in Education are
7. Parents/guardians of students will also check their study Huge,” 2013. [Online], Available: https://blogs.aspect.com/the-
material, attendance record and upcoming activities with benefits-of-cloud-computing-in-education-are-huge. [Accessed:
the help of this model. 30-November-2018].
8. Students will not be able to hide their marks or attendance
record from their parents.
9. This model will play a vital role in our education system.

V. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

As we seen that now a day’s cloud computing provides
faster services by their infrastructure. Cloud computing
services are so helpful in different areas. It allows us to access
our required information whenever there is a need and also
provides sharing of the particular information with anyone. It
also helps us to make convenient environment where you can
use the resources available on cloud computing environment
in a very reliable manner. In this research paper we introduce
an education model for faculty, students and parents. The
proposed model provides a very user friendly environment for
the stakeholders. For future work, we will add more properties
and attributes in the hierarchy of this proposed model.
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