Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Diving Into the Cloud

One of the most misunderstood concepts in educational technology at the moment is cloud computing. In a two-part series, T.H.E. Journal offers an in-depth guide to help you decide if cloud-based services are right for your school district.

  • By Charlene O’Hanlon, Dian Schaffhauser, David Raths, Rama Ramaswami
  • 01/04/12

Is it any wonder that the forecast is calling for cloud? It’s a perfect storm out there, with powerful forces remaking the IT landscape in education. On one side, devastating budget cuts are pushing IT departments to identify ever-greater cost savings. On the other, the explosion in mobile devices is pressuring IT to provide anytime-anywhere computing with no downtime. And finally there’s data--a flood of never-ending data--that need to be stored and analyzed.

Implemented correctly, the cloud can help school districts tackle all of these issues. It promises to allow IT departments to support their institutions faster and more cheaply. But the term itself has become so abused that most people have no idea what "the cloud" means anymore. Right now, it’s more like a thick fog.

In this two-part series, T.H.E. Journal hopes to lift that fog and help IT administrators--and their constituents--understand the cloud, and what it can do to help districts ride out the storms buffeting their schools.


Table of Contents

Part I
Defining the Cloud
Know Your Clouds
Weathering the Thunderclouds

Part II
Making the Business Case for the Cloud
Look Before You Leap: Imperatives for Cloud Implementation
Build a Case for Cloud
Breaking Through the Cloud Cover: Virtualization and the Cloud Are NOT the Same Thing

About the Authors

Charlene O’Hanlon specializes in technology reporting and is based in the New York area.

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

David Raths is a Philadelphia-based freelance writer focused on information technology. He writes regularly for several IT publications, including Healthcare Innovation and Government Technology.

Rama Ramaswami is a business and technology writer based in New York City.

Featured

  • Students using laptops in classroom

    Stop Asking Whether Students Can Use AI

    As generative AI has become embedded in the tools students use to search, write, create, translate, organize, and receive feedback, the boundary between "using AI" and "not using AI" has become increasingly difficult to define. More importantly, treating AI use as a binary choice does little to help students understand the different roles AI can appropriately play in learning.

  • abstract malware attack

    Security Researchers Find AI Ransomware Can Now Run Much of an Attack Without Human Help

    Ransomware attacks are becoming more automated, and AI could take that much further, according to cybersecurity company NCC Group's July 2026 threat intelligence report.

  • abstract spiral of multi colored lights

    OpenAI's New Astra Model Reaches Critical Cyber Threshold

    OpenAI has introduced GPT-6 Astra, its most capable broadly deployed model and the first system the company says has reached the "Critical" cybersecurity capability threshold under its Preparedness Framework.

  • Blurred silhouettes of business people in a modern office with a glowing blue network overlay

    Open Secure AI Alliance Moving Under Linux Foundation

    Governance of the Open Secure AI Alliance has moved to the Linux Foundation, giving the initiative what the organizations describe as a neutral home for developing open source tools, shared standards and defensive practices. The Alliance was launched by NVIDIA in July to develop open security technologies for AI systems and agents.