Next year I will be attending Villanova University’s College of Nursing. This blog touches on the research I have done to learn how the cloud will influence my studies as well as my career.
The first place that I experienced the cloud in my college process was when I logged on to the ‘myNova’ account, which is Villanova’s online hub for giving information to incoming freshman including to-do lists and a list of classes for our first year. This learning management system, called SunGard, seems very outdated and is not taking advantage of the collaborative capabilities of the cloud. This is what my homepage looks like. Throwback to the early 2000s? I think so too.
At first I did not think much of it. I was able to see my courses and check lists. After starting my internship with SAP and with a better understanding of the cloud, I would expect a University such as Villanova to use the data that they have access to in order to improve the experience of incoming freshman. For example, they could require every sophomore nursing student to rate classes and provide advice that is shared with all incoming nursing students. For collaboration, they could provide a chat room for incoming freshman to discuss anything. To go even further they could provide chat rooms for people from the same county or state to help the students feel more comfortable before they even step on campus.
Check out the screenshot below – a simple list of my courses with almost no additional information. If Villanova took advantage of the data that the cloud provided they would be able to engage the students better. I would expect each course to have feedback, advice, reviews, or links to other websites readily available. This way the students would be engaged and better prepared for the class and would be more successful throughout the year. The professor would also be able to give students a way to get to know them before the first day and build an important connection. They are given the chance to involve students and help them success before the first day of classes. Instead, Villanova is missing their opportunity and leaving students unimpressed and disappointed.
Although that cloud application is not as modern as it could be, in the classroom there are multiple forms of cloud that aid learning:
- Gmail: Villanova assigns a Gmail account to every student. This means we all have access to our email at any time or place and can always reach a professor.
- Dropbox: Many professors now require students to turn in their assignments through this cloud application. This preserves class time as well as decreases paper usage. This is more efficient for the students as well as the professors.
The more impressive usage of cloud computing I’ve found is in hospitals. A company called CareCloud creates cloud-based medical practice software that more and more hospitals are moving towards.
- Reduce IT costs: no need to hire a team to install the on-premise hardware, not to mention the up-keep.
- Improve efficiency: access from anywhere at anytime as well as having an appointment calendar and the health records on the same device.
- Faster and more profitable: doctors are able to see more patients daily.
- Intuitive: does not require training.
- Big picture: compare similar diagnoses, symptoms, and medication to help treat patients more accurately.
As a millennial, I am being shaped by the idea of cloud in all aspects of my life. Whether it is in the classroom or potential workplaces, the cloud is creating innovative ways to promote collaboration and efficiency. Stay tuned for more blogs from me having to do with how the cloud will come into play in my studies and nursing as a whole.
