The impact of cloud computing on mobile learning

According to the EMC Company sponsored IDC research project "Distaluniverse" Analysis report, by the time I write, our world generated, occupied by the total number of digital information and replication has exceeded 374Exabytes (374*1024 three times GB), in the face of such a huge amount of information , how to effectively deal with and provide users with fast, effective network services, the Internet has become the primary issue of development.


　　


in order to solve this problem, from distributed processing to parallel computing to Grid computing, the IT industry has not stopped the pace of innovation, after 10 years of gestation, a new Internet computing model based on the concept of grid technology and developed on its basis-cloud computing, was born. Under the cloud computing model, the Internet service Business "cloud" provides users with secure and efficient information storage and network services. In the field of education, cloud computing provides a new way of development for the new learning Method-Mobile Learning: The mass education information of large memory aggregation lays a solid foundation for the integration of educational resources. It realizes the change of C/s structure to B/s structure in real sense, So that the mobile learning process to the learner's terminal hardware requirements greatly reduced, even a browser-enabled mobile devices (such as mobile phones, PDAs, etc.) can be mobile learning. Cloud computing will be the main support platform for future mobile learning, and will also promote the development of mobile learning.


　　


1. Change the existing mobile learning model


　　


According to different application technology and different communication protocols, there are two modes of mobile learning: Based on Short message Service (SMS) and through the construction of WAP education site, which is based on VOD and browsing based mobile learning. Both models have their drawbacks: SMS mode, the learner through the custom message to learn, service-side messages are generally edited through the text message platform to disseminate to learners, learners can not communicate with the teacher in real time, even if the problem to reply to the message to the educator, It is difficult for educators to answer at the first time. Moreover, the transmission of short messages, the reception by the information congestion, the network is smooth and many other factors; WAP Education site model, one is currently established WAP education site is not much, limited learning resources. Second, the method is based on WAP browsing protocol, the data transmission rate is not high, which makes the learner's learning efficiency is not high, in addition, its charge is higher, or even more than the personal computer network learning, it is difficult to popularize. There are many deficiencies in the existing mode of mobile learning, which makes it difficult to form a popular trend, and also restricts the development of mobile learning. The advent of cloud computing will make up for these deficiencies through technology, bringing about changes in mobile learning patterns. Cloud background, a large number of educational resources will be stored with the cloud server, the learner no longer need to use SMS or WAP site on-demand mode, simply using mobile devices through the browser to access the "cloud" side of the memory to choose their own learning content to learn, and cloud computing integrated the multi-party computer, Internet technology Through the limitation of single WAP Protocol and the development of the current smartphone and PDA which support HTTP protocol, learners will be able to communicate with the cloud server quickly with Low-cost mobile devices and cheap network charges.


　　


2. Integrate the richest educational information resources


　　


The biggest advantage of the internet is the aggregation of resources, the fundamental starting point of cloud computing is the integration of information, storage and sharing through network services, which enables educators to maximize the integration of educational resources. In the current mobile learning model, educators are in accordance with the established syllabus requirements, the layout of learning content, the design of teaching processes and through the Internet to impart knowledge to learners, the breadth and depth of the content is still largely subject to the syllabus and the educator's own knowledge system constraints, educators impart how much learning content, The learner can only get much knowledge and cannot form the transfer of knowledge. And in the era of cloud computing, the vast amount of educational resources provided by educators around the world will be aggregated into the "cloud" Storage servers, where learners can access educational resources from all over the world, and then freely choose learning content to learn as needed, as simple as using search engines. What the educator should do is to classify, manage and establish the corresponding rules of access to the educational resources. At the same time, in the learning process, learners and educators can also be under the established rules of the existing learning content to supplement and modify, thus constantly improve the resource pool.


　　


3. Creating autonomous and pluralistic virtual learning Community


　　


With the development of Internet technology, the advantage of Internet technology Education application in information processing and communication collaboration is becoming more and more obvious. In order to better communicate and collaborate, the virtual learning community, which aims at forming a common culture and learning community, appears and plays an important role. Virtual community is essentially a special learning environment, learners according to their needs have a direction of choice for their own community, develop their own expertise and community members to share knowledge, mutual cooperation. However, due to technical and resource reasons, at present, the construction of virtual learning community still relies on a certain teaching institution, whose radiation range, learner composition, learning content and learning strategy are often controlled by the teaching institution, the learner's personality is not fully demonstrated, and the knowledge sharing among members of the community, Communication and collaboration is still subject to teaching institutions. Under cloud computing, all resources and applications will be integrated on the "cloud" side, and each learner can use these resources and applications to create virtual communities freely, build their own virtual learning environment, and collaborate with other learners who have common learning goals. As these virtual communities are created by learners themselves, there is no specific teaching guide or community opinion leader, the common learning goal is the only constraint on the learners ' order, so learners can give full play to their specialty, display their individuality and communicate freely. Furthermore, because it is web-based, learners constitute a breakthrough in the current virtual community radiation limits, from all over the world, different countries, different cultural backgrounds, people can enter the community to study and discuss each other, learn from learning experience and enrich the learning content, to achieve a diversified cultural knowledge exchange.


　　


4. Significantly reduce the demand for mobile learning devices


　　


at present, the problem of mobile learning equipment is still an important factor restricting the development and popularization of mobile learning. The main problems are as follows:


　　


(1) The information processing ability is low, the computation rate is far inferior to the ordinary computer;


　　


(2) It is difficult to link different types of devices, and mobile devices have high performance requirements for devices;


　　


(3) Most mobile devices do not support HTTP protocol, only access to WAP protocol based servers, multimedia resource transmission is restricted.


　　


The advent of cloud computing technology provides a good solution to these problems. Cloud computing, all data storage and processing will be in the "cloud" side of the computer group, its powerful computing power not only to make processing faster than the personal computer, but also to complete some PC can not cope with data processing tasks. Since all data processing is done on the "cloud" side, the learner can do all the work on a personal computer via a browser, such as the installation and use of some applications, all without the support of a hardware system. As a result, there is no data processing requirement for mobile devices other than the computational power required to run the browser itself. As Bill Gates said in 1989 about "the Past and the future of computer science", "users need only 640K of RAM." From the user's point of view, cloud computing will bring hardware death. And, now that the PDA is in the direction of computer and mobile integration, its built-in operating system and the browser to support the HTTP protocol, will provide users with a more complete browser capabilities. Communication, the third generation of wireless mobile communication (3G) technology is rapidly developing, its arrival will bring 2Mbps data transmission rate, will be better for mobile devices and "cloud" end of the wireless communication services.