bringing the cloud into the classroom

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

Paul Boocock

Lecturer

School of Computing

Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Sciences

• Teach across a range of platforms

– iOS

– Android

– Windows Phone

• Lots of mobile oriented modules across computing degrees

– Often optional on many awards

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

• Second Year Undergraduate

– Programming for Mobile and Handheld Devices

– Software Development for Mobile Computing Applications

• Postgraduate

– Android Application Development

– Advanced Android Application Development

– Location Aware Mobile Application Development

– Application Development for iOS Devices

Example Modules

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

• Always looking to improve and ensure modules are relevant

– Android modules all ran Android 4.2 – 4.4.2

– iOS modules were all iOS 7 (Challenging with Sept. release!)

– Windows Phone modules running WP8 with Visual Studio 2012

• Already moved machines to VS2013 and WP8.1

• Module content must also stay relevant

– Bringing the cloud into modules was a big change this year

– Brought challenges and difficulties

Continual Development

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

• Gone are the days of this…

Cloud - Benefits

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

• Now its all inside this building…

• …in Ireland…

• …in storage

containers…

Cloud - Benefits

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

• What used to take 30 days to get set up and running can

now be achieved in 30 minutes*

• Little to no upfront costs

• Easy to scale and many services have little maintenance

• Many Cloud Providers offer access to a Global Footprint

*untested estimate

Cloud - Benefits

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

Cloud - Benefits

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

• Lots of different cloud providers

• Amazon AWS

• Microsoft Azure

• Rackspace Open Cloud

• HP Public Cloud

• Google Cloud Platform

Cloud Platforms – Choices?

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

• Lots of different cloud providers

• Amazon AWS

• Microsoft Azure

• Rackspace Open Cloud

• HP Public Cloud

• Google Cloud Platform

Cloud Platforms – Choices?

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

• The largest Cloud Service provider

– Global Footprint in 9 different regions

• Good value for money

– A popular service for many businesses and one of the first ‘Cloud’

providers

– Many development teams look for AWS knowledge and skills

• Most importantly for us – Educational Grants

– http://aws.amazon.com/grants/

Amazon Web Services

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

• Probably the second biggest Cloud Provider

– Growing rapidly with very rapid development of new features and services

– Available in most regions – US, S. America, Europe, Asia, Japan, Australia

• Offers good performance

– Often tops Cloud benchmark tests and has a very good cost:performance

ratio

• Also has an Education scheme

– http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/community/education/

Microsoft Azure

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

• A reasonably new platform for developers

– Many similar products as AWS and Azure

• Extremely cheap

– Forcing Amazon and Microsoft to drop their prices considerably

• However from the FAQ…

Google Cloud Platform

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

https://developers.google.com/appengine/kb/billing?_ga=1.140828082.1858205834.1406122403#discount

• We could of gone with AWS or Azure

• We chose Azure for a couple of reasons

– Good relationship with Microsoft

– Exceptional Documentation

– More confident of receiving Education passes

Making the right choice – Azure!

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

Microsoft Azure in Education

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

• Plenty of resources for our needs

• Compute

– Virtual Machines

– Cloud Services

– Web Sites

– Mobile Services

• Data Services

– Storage

– SQL Database

Microsoft Azure Features

Many other services are available:

http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/services/

• App Services

– Media Services

– Active Directory

– Multi-Factor Auth.

– Notification Hubs

• Network

– Virtual Network

– Traffic Manager

• Time for a demonstration…

That requires the internet…

So how easy it is?

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

• Software Development for Mobile Computing

Applications was a prime candidate for Cloudification

• An iOS development module

– Focuses heavily on Software Engineering principles and

dealing with data in mobile applications

• Each student was given their own 5 month Azure Pass

Cloudification of existing modules

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

• A new lecture was created to discuss Cloud computing

and the changes it is making to the mobile landscape

• Additional Tutorial materials were also offered to guide

students through setting up their first Mobile Service

• Assignment was altered to offer marks for making use of

Azure Mobile Services

SDMCA Cloudification

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

• Advanced Android Application Development

– Focuses on Device communications

– Earlier Android prerequisites modules focus on core elements

– Students were tasks with building a chat app (e.g. WhatsApp)

• Location Aware Mobile Application Development

– Using Cloud services was a core feature in this module but

many students used their Azure passes and utilised cloud

features for additional marks

New modules utilising the Cloud

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

• Changing the modules to add new technologies without

increasing the difficulty

• Ensuring each student had the opportunity to get access

to an Azure Pass

– Including distributing them (used a mail merge)

• Assessing materials hosted in the Cloud

– Nothing to submit formally

Cloud – Challenges and Difficulties

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

• 3 Live Examples

– Use a Microsoft Azure Mobile Services backend

– Two include custom API scripts

• Across iOS, Android and Windows Phone

• Developed by Undergraduates and Postgraduates

– 15 Credit Modules

Student Work Examples

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

• Awards have just been revalidated

– Still a strong focus on mobile or the option to study mobile

• New Postgraduate Award

– Mobile Application Development

• New 3rd Year Mobile Games module

– 3D Graphics on iOS or WP – Still undecided!

– One of four 30 credit options

– Specialisations on Computer Games Programming BSc

What’s next?

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

Questions?

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

Bringing the Cloud into the Classroom

Useful Links:Microsoft Azure Documentation:

http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/Microsoft Azure in Education:

http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/community/education/Amazon Web Services:

http://aws.amazon.com/AWS Education Grants:

http://aws.amazon.com/grants/

Me: Paul BoocockE-mail: paul.boocock@staffs.ac.ukTwitter: @paul_boocockSlideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/PaulBoocock