The impact of cloud computing on mobile learning

According to the analysis report “DistalUniverse” conducted by EMC Corporation sponsored IDC, as of the author’s writing, the total number of digital information generated and occupied by us in the world has exceeded 374 Exabytes (three-dimensional GB of 374*1024). With such a huge amount of information, how to handle it efficiently and provide users with fast and effective network services has become the primary issue facing the development of the Internet.

In order to solve this problem, from distributed processing to parallel computing to grid computing, the IT community has not stopped the pace of innovation. After 10 years of incubation, a new concept based on grid technology and developed on the basis of the new The Internet computing model, cloud computing, was born. Under the cloud computing model, the Internet service commercial "cloud" provides users with safe and fast information storage and network services. In the field of education, cloud computing provides new development ideas for the new learning approach: mobile learning: Massive educational information from large-scale memory aggregation has laid a solid foundation for the integration of educational resources; it has realized the C/S structure to B. The real change of the /S structure makes the requirements for the learner's terminal hardware significantly lower during the mobile learning process, and even a mobile device (such as a mobile phone, a PDA, etc.) that supports browser technology can be used for mobile learning. Cloud computing will be the main support platform for mobile learning in the future, and it will also promote the development of mobile learning.

1. Changing existing mobile learning modes According to different application technologies and different communication protocols, there are two mobile learning modes: based on short message service (SMS) and through the construction of WAP education sites, which are based on on-demand and browsing-based mobile learning. Both modes have their own shortcomings: Under the SMS mode, learners learn through customized short messages, and the service-side short messages are generally transmitted to the learners via the SMS platform after the editing is completed. The learners cannot communicate with the learners in real time. Even if the problem is returned to the educator as a short message, the educator will have a hard time responding at the first time. Moreover, the sending and receiving of short messages are affected by many factors such as information congestion and network patency. Under the WAP education site model, the number of WAP education sites currently established is limited, and the resources for learning are limited. The second is that this method is based on the WAP browsing protocol, and the data transmission rate is not high, which makes the learner not efficient in learning. In addition, the fee is relatively high, even more than the network learning under the condition of the personal computer, so it is difficult to be popularized. There are many shortcomings of the existing mobile learning model, making mobile learning difficult to form a popular trend, but also fundamentally restricting the development of mobile learning. The emergence of cloud computing will make up for these deficiencies through technology and bring about changes in the mobile learning model. Under the cloud background, a large amount of educational resources will be stored in the cloud server. Learners no longer need to use on-demand SMS or WAP site-to-demand, just use a mobile device to access the “cloud”-end memory to select learning content for learning. In addition, cloud computing integrates multi-computers and new technologies on the Internet, breaking through the limitations of a single WAP protocol. Coupled with the popularization of smartphones and PDAs that currently support the HTTP protocol, learners will be able to use low-cost mobile devices and cheap network charges. Quick communication with the cloud server.

2. Integration of the most abundant educational information resources The greatest advantage of the Internet is the convergence of resources. The fundamental starting point of cloud computing is the integration, storage, and sharing of information through network services. This allows educators to maximize the integration of educational resources. In the current mobile learning model, educators are following the established syllabus requirements to arrange learning content, design the teaching process, and impart knowledge to learners through online means. The breadth and depth of the learning content is still largely subject to teaching. The syllabus and educators' own knowledge systems limit the amount of learning content taught by educators, and learners can only get as much knowledge as they can and cannot form a knowledge transfer. In the era of cloud computing, a large amount of educational resources provided by educators around the world will be aggregated into storage servers on the “cloud” side. Learners can only input keywords to obtain educational resources from all over the world. The need to freely select learning content for learning is as simple as using a search engine. What educators need to do is to categorize, manage, and formulate appropriate access rules for educational resources. At the same time, in the learning process, learners and educators can also supplement and revise the existing learning content under the established rules, so as to constantly improve the resource pool.

3. Creating an autonomous, pluralistic virtual learning community With the advancement of Internet technology, the advantages of Internet technology education applications in information processing, communication and collaboration are increasingly evident. In order to better communicate and collaborate, virtual learning communities with the goal of forming a common culture and learning community have emerged and played an important role. The virtual community is essentially a special learning environment. The learners can choose their own community according to their own needs, develop their expertise, and share knowledge and cooperation with community members. However, due to technical and resource reasons, the construction of the virtual learning community is still based on a specific teaching institution. The scope, composition, content, and learning strategies of the virtual learning community are often controlled by the teaching institution. Learner personality It has not been fully demonstrated. Knowledge sharing, exchange and collaboration among community members are also subject to teaching institutions. Under cloud computing, all resources and applications will be integrated on the “cloud” side. Each learner can use these resources and applications to freely create virtual communities, build their own virtual learning environment, and have common learning goals. Other learners work together collaboratively. Since these virtual communities are independently created by learners and do not have specific instructional leaders or community opinion leaders, the common learning goal is a unique constraint on the order of learners, so learners can give full play to their strengths and demonstrate their individuality. communicate with. Furthermore, because it is web-based, learners constitute a breakthrough in the limits of the radiation scope of the current virtual community. People from all over the world, from different countries, and from different cultural backgrounds can enter the community to learn and discuss together to learn from each other and learn from each other's learning experience. And enrich the learning content and achieve a diversified cultural knowledge exchange.

4. The demand for mobile learning devices is greatly reduced At present, the problems existing in mobile learning devices are still important factors restricting the development and popularization of mobile learning. The main problems are as follows:

(1) The information processing capability is low, and the calculation rate is far less than that of ordinary computers;

(2) There are difficulties in linking different types of devices, and mobile devices require high device performance;

(3) Most mobile devices do not support the HTTP protocol and can only access servers based on the WAP protocol, and the transmission of multimedia resources is limited.

The emergence of cloud computing technology provides a good solution to these problems. Under cloud computing, all data storage and processing will be performed on the cloud-side computer clusters. Its powerful computing capabilities not only make the processing speed much faster than the personal computer, but also can complete some data processing tasks that the personal computer cannot handle. . Since all data processing is performed on the "cloud" side, learners can perform all operations similar to those on a personal computer through the browser, such as the installation and use of some applications, all without requiring a hardware system. The support, so there is no other data processing requirements for the mobile device in addition to the computing power required to run the browser itself, and such requirements, ordinary mobile phones can be competent. Just as Bill Gates said in 1989 when he talked about "the past and present of computer science," "The user only needs 640K of memory is sufficient." From the user's point of view, cloud computing will bring about the death of the hardware. Moreover, the current PDA is developing toward the convergence of computers and mobile phones. Its built-in operating system and browser supporting HTTP protocol will provide users with more complete browser functions. In terms of communications, the current third-generation wireless mobile communications (3G) technology is rapidly developing, and will bring 2Mbps data transmission rate after arrival, which will better serve mobile devices and "cloud"-side wireless communication services.