Cloud computing is a model that permits suitable, on-demand admission to a shared pool of services, systems, and applications, which can be quickly provided (CDW-G 2011). It is applied in many areas such as businesses, healthcare facilities, state and federal governments and higher education. This paper will mainly deal with the higher education sector where cloud computing was necessitated by lack of or diminishing government funding in institutions of higher learning; this led to workers’ layoffs and closure of some departments in colleges (eds Ehlers & Schneckenberg 2010, p. 15).
Cloud computing is an important area of research; in the prevailing economic context, it is not an option but rather a necessity. This is necessitated by the dismal performance in institutions, the struggles they experience in their advancement, learners’ achievement, increasing operational costs, and revenue pressure (Sasikala & Prema 2010, p. 113). Cloud computing will indeed help in cutting down the costs and its implementation could sustain the institutions of higher learning that are faced with financial crises. Institutions, departments and schools of various universities in the U.K, U.S.A, Africa, and Asia have identified and verified the potential and effectiveness of cloud computing (Sultan 2010, p. 112)
The main objective of this research is to seek an understanding of the cloud computing challenges facing institutions of higher learning. Cloud computing has many advantages such as its capacity to save costs, but in spite of these successes, it still faces numerous challenges. These challenges include failure of authority, conformity hazards, information protection, seclusion breakdown, lock-in problems, wicked insiders and unsafe information removal (Sosinsky 2011, p. 29). Secondly, the proposal will seek to study how future challenges can be avoided to experience a smooth flow of ideas. Lastly, the unique challenges affecting the different sectors where cloud computing is applied will be discussed.
The literature review comprises accessible topic databases, online store registers, in-print articles, and industry-precise statistics (eds Ivanov et al. 2012, p. 77). The most important research that has been already carried out in this area is the benefits of cloud computing particularly in institutions of higher learning. These benefits include increased availability of the rare IT expertise, cost-cutting of IT in institutions, free software, maintaining an around-the-clock model, supporting additional IT standardization and accessing information from anywhere (Mircea & Andreescu 2011, p. 3).
The research methodology will include the two broad approaches of quantitative and qualitative research. Under quantitative research, the types of cloud computing that include data, storage, network, security, software, infrastructure, and platform services will be discussed (eds. Furht & Escalante 2010, p. 335). The data gathering formats comprise areas where a system gadget drives the information to the data assortment package (Josyula et al. 2012, p. 169). The qualitative research will seek to understand each one of these cloud computing areas with a view of identifying which one of them is the most widely used and why. This will be obtained from different institutions’ portals, as well as other organizations that utilize cloud computing. This will be done by emailing or physically visiting the institutions and making requests to be allowed to use their databases. This is the ethical consideration that will avoid breaching the institutions’ rights of privacy and unauthorized data collection. Different surveys will also be carried out by utilizing the conventional method of respondents.
The resources required to carry out the research mainly include recently published books and professional journals in the area of cloud computing. In addition to that, internet sources and some high-end common audience periodicals will also be used to explain some points that will arise in the study. Resource persons such as lecturers in the field of cloud computing shall also be consulted to help in advising on the key field areas. Other conventional methods such as the use of questionnaires and interviews will also be employed to help in collecting the information. The interviews will be structured and formal to help capture the main reasons a particular institution decided to adopt cloud computing; this will mainly involve the heads of IT departments. An analysis tool such as the SPSS will also be required to help in analyzing the data collected (Carver & Nash 2012, p. 27).
There will be eight chapters as listed in the outline including the introduction and references. I have by now carried out significant investigations on the area of cloud computing majoring in high education; consequently, within the first year, the provisional report will be ready. In the first six months of the second year, the research will mainly focus on the quantitative collection of information on the institutions of higher learning. The next six months will be spent qualitatively analyzing the data collected and organizing it into chapters. The first six months of the third year will be set aside for the integration of cloud computing, carrying out revisions based on new findings, and production of all 6 chapters, including the conclusion. The last six months of the third year will specifically be concerned with the revision and fine tuning of the conclusions and the closing chapter. All my former degrees were done within the specified period of time and it is my belief that this one shall also be concluded as scheduled above.
References
Carver, RH & Nash JG 2012, Doing data analysis with SPSS, Version 18.0, Richard Stratton, Boston, MA.
CDW-G 2011, From tactic to strategy: the CDW 2011 cloud computing tracking poll, Web.
Ehlers, UD & Schneckenberg, D (eds.) 2010, Changing cultures in higher education, Springer, Heidelberg.
Furht, B & Escalante A (eds.) 2010, Handbook of cloud computing, Springer, New York, NY.
Ivanov, I, Sinderen, VN & Shishkov B (eds.) 2012, Cloud computing and services science, Springer, New York, NY.
Josyula, V, Orr, M & Page G 2012, Cloud computing: automating the virtualised data centre, Cisco Systems Inc., Indianapolis, IN.
Mircea, M & Andreescu, AI 2011, ‘Using cloud computing in higher education: a strategy to improve agility in the current financial crisis’, Communications of the IBIMA, vol. 2011, no. 2011, pp. 1-15.
Sasikala, S & Prema, S 2010, ‘Massive centralised cloud computing (MCCC) exploration in higher education’, Advances in Computational Sciences and Technology, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 111-18.
Sosinsky, B 2011, Cloud computing bible, Wiley Publishing Inc., Indianapolis, IN.
Sultan, N 2010, ‘Cloud computing for education: a new dawn?’, International Journal of Information Management, vol. 30, pp. 109-16.