How Microsoft and AWS for Students Are Changing Higher Ed
Technology continues to rapidly evolve, and college students can benefit from its progressive nature. Many educational facilities are progressively working to provide their educators and students with newer technologies — most specifically — cloud computing solutions.
As a result, today’s students have a vast array of opportunities and tools to empower them to succeed. In no previous time in history have students had the ability to connect, access and utilize such powerful resources. Tech companies are contributing their innovations to help bolster higher education initiatives. For instance, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS) student programs are revolutionizing higher education by providing free and/or low-cost access to cloud platforms, software tools and learning resources.
Market forecasters suggest cloud computing in the higher education market will reach roughly $8,779.1 million by 2027. This is up from $2,182.4 in 2020, so the difference indicates a substantial increase will occur within just a few years from now. In this article, we’ll take a look at the types of programs available to students, along with the benefits and opportunities for educational institutions and students to leverage Microsoft tools and AWS for higher education.
What are examples of tools Microsoft and Amazon are sharing?
Tech giants Microsoft and Amazon are providing universities and college students with numerous tools to enhance educational opportunities. Here are a few examples of the programs students have access to as they pursue their aspirations for higher education.
Azure for Students
Microsoft offers college students a unique opportunity in its program designed to provide them with access to a variety of Azure cloud-based tools and resources. Every year eligible students receive $100 in Azure credits, which is renewable each year they are an active student. To meet the eligibility criteria, students must:
- Affirm they are 18 years or older
- Attend an accredited, degree-granting two or four-year educational institution
- Be a full-time student
- Use a valid university or college email address to verify a student’s academic status
Students who meet these criteria are able to have access to one subscription. A student Azure subscription includes free access to tools such as Agents for Visual Studio, Azure DevOps Server, Hyper-V, R Client, R Server, Remote Tools for Visual Studio, Skype for Business Server, SQL Server Developer, SQL Server, Mobile Report Publisher, SQL Server Standard, System Center, Visio Professional, Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio Community, Visual Studio for Mac and Windows Server.
AWS Educate
AWS Educate is a free program offered by Amazon and is designed to provide cloud computing training and resources for students. Learning is self-paced and includes hands-on labs. Valuable features AWS Educate offers include:
- Accessibility
- Adaptive user experiences
- Education portals
- Badges to show off learned skills
- A job board to help students search for employers
- And more!
This AWS higher ed program is a powerful one that allows students to leverage the cloud to help them succeed in and outside the classroom. AWS Educate Service is only available for student use for academic purposes.
AWS Academy
AWS for education also includes an initiative called AWS Academy which it advertises as “bridging the gap between industry and academia”. Colleges using this product can become leaders in cloud education, help train educators and produce graduates who are ready to get to work in high-demand jobs.
The presence and importance of cloud computing now and in the future cannot be understated. This is not a passing fad but is going to be a permanent building block in the future of technology because of its centralized nature. Employers are going to be seeking this hard skill.
AWS Academy delivers a way to offer higher education institutions with a “free, ready-to-teach cloud computing curriculum”. Designed to help educators stay on the cutting edge and prepare students to pursue industry-recognized certifications to help today’s learners be active participants in tomorrow’s workforce.
Microsoft Learn for Educators (MSLE)
Microsoft’s Learn for Educators program offers educators a plethora of tools, benefits and opportunities to learn themselves and pass their acquired knowledge to their students. This program provides instructors access to Microsoft’s:
- Curriculum, ready-to-teach aligned with Microsoft’s certifications
- Training materials for instructors
- Tech tools to help students
- AI Bootcamps for Educators
- Microsoft Applied Skills
These tools are designed to help educators remain on top of a rapidly changing technology landscape and help them stay up-to-date while helping them assist students in developing skills to help them reach their academic and career potential.
What benefits are students and educational institutions gaining?
Colleges and universities, along with the students attending them, are getting a number of benefits from the tools these tech giants are providing. Let’s take a look at a few of the primary advantages higher education is receiving.
Enhanced learning experiences through cloud-based tools
The above-listed tools and others offered by Microsoft and Amazon empower students to have access to the knowledge they provide, along with hands-on experience. Cloud-based tools are designed to increase accessibility and productivity and, in the higher education learning environment, they can offer:
- Personalized learning, including feedback and support
- Virtual learning environments to immerse and engage students in lessons
- Quick feedback to students from instructors who can use automated grading to help students get a snapshot of how they are doing as they work through lessons
Furthermore, cloud-based tools enhance learning for everyone as they can provide equitable access for all.
Collaborative platforms for students and educators
Cloud-based tools help both instructors and students collaborate more effectively by empowering them to share resources and work in tandem with one another at any given time.
Depending on the tools being used, there are a variety of communication services available. This may include email, chat areas, personal web pages, forums and more. Students can leverage communication tools to:
- Ask questions
- Search for answers
- Receive feedback
Since cloud computing is accessible to all at any time, there can be either real-time communications or an ability to reach out and wait for responses. With centralized data in one place, students and their instructors can have true collaborative experiences even if they are geographically far away from one another.
New opportunities for research and innovation
Cloud computing is revolutionizing higher education because it possesses the power to process complex workloads, along with managing and storing large volumes of data. With its capacity to rapidly scale resources up and down as needed, this further enhances the ability to perform research and innovation.
Additionally, solutions and/or prototypes can be developed and tested far more quickly with the tools cloud-based computing offers. The collaborative features integrated into cloud-based tools enable real-time teamwork for students performing research.
Essentially, researchers can put their time and efforts toward conducting research and doing coursework rather than dealing with technical hurdles historically present when doing research and developing projects.
Augments the learning experience
The cloud also augments the learning experience in a college classroom, whether in-person or virtually. Many programs fail to keep up with industry trends and are slow to adapt to the technology used in the classroom to keep up with changes.
Improves job readiness with certifications
Integrating cloud-based tools into higher education also helps to prepare students for modern workplaces. If higher ed doesn’t keep up with rapidly changing, new and emerging technologies, students will not be prepared to enter the workforce.
By having hands-on experience with cloud computing in the classroom, students will learn what they need to, along with getting an opportunity to obtain cloud certifications, including, but not limited to AWS Cloud Practitioner, AWS Certified Solutions Architect, AWS Certified, SysOps Administrator, Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) Certification and others.
Give opportunities to experience and gain hands-on skills
In addition to collaborative and other tools, students can gain hands-on experience utilizing a variety of cloud tools. For instance, they can download Microsoft or Amazon software programs for their personal use.
(Keep in mind, any software downloaded is typically only available to the student, it cannot be shared, sublicensed, transferred or lent out else this violates the agreement. They also cannot be used for illicit purposes, such as developing malware or crypto mining.)
Cost-effectiveness for colleges and students
A stand-out benefit for higher education institutions is that most tools are free or low-cost, making them highly accessible without having to invest massive portions of departmental budgets into obtaining the technology colleges and universities need to remain relevant in today’s industries. This helps ease higher education’s budgetary concerns for both the short and long term.
Higher education facilities also do not need to invest and reinvest in the hardware and software necessary, along with the maintenance of them. Cloud tools make it very simple for instructors and students to access what they need without the learning institution carrying the burden of needing to purchase them. Ultimately, these savings can filter down to students, helping keep down technology costs when paying for their college tuition and fees.
Are there challenges in cloud computing that higher education institutions face?
Like anything else in life, integrating cloud computing tools into higher education will probably offer some challenges. Primary challenges include when colleges rely on legacy systems throughout their campuses, highlighting the following issues.
- Ability to maintain proper cloud security due to incompatibilities or other barriers
- Using services and products so outdated, the vendors no longer support them
- Following outdated technology policies and protocols
- Attempting to balance compliance and cybersecurity requirements with systems designed long before these were necessary
However, making the transition by utilizing tools offered by companies, such as Amazon and Microsoft, can help decrease or even eliminate challenges. There will be a learning curve to transition into cloud-based learning tools, but it will be far easier going forward once the transition is complete.
Working with an experienced and knowledgeable partner who can help identify the right solutions and implement them can help bring educational facilities into the modern world and help to keep them there. Most institutions ultimately find the advantages of utilizing the cloud outweigh the drawbacks.
The future is in cloud computing
Long gone are the days of siloed and decentralized systems. In our tech-centric world, everyone and everything relies upon accessibility and connectivity. The educational realm is no exception. Not only do higher education institutions need technology for operations, but they also need to be inclusive of modern tech tools to keep up with the times and position their students to enter the workforce as prepared professionals. Cloud computing, including multi-cloud principles, is the future.
Are You Ready to Take the Next Step? Red River Can Help
Red River is heavily invested in helping higher education institutions gain access to the reliable technology solutions they need while keeping their tech assets and data safe and secure. Both educators and the students they teach can significantly benefit from being introduced to modern technology, which the rest of the globe is gravitating toward.
We understand it can be difficult to work within budgetary constraints, but that is one of the great things about the cloud. Due to its cost-effectiveness and scalability, you no longer have to make investments in technology you do not need or that will quickly become obsolete. Essentially, you can spend less to achieve modernization.
Red River understands the needs of organizations, including but not limited to cybersecurity, compliance, operations and more. Our professional team of experts also understands the challenges you face. We will work closely with you to identify the right products, including evaluating cloud solutions, a workable timeline to upgrade and what strategies should be taken to modernize your technology. Whether you want a Microsoft or AWS for higher education solution or something else, we can help you identify the right technology for your institution.
Ready to take the next step? Contact Red River today to schedule a consultation.
