Evolution of data in schools

In the UK, schools have been a dominant part of a young person's life for hundreds of years. However, the way schools are run and how pupils are taught is constantly changing.

Think back to your time at school and you may remember the usual register routine -- the teacher would call out each individual's name to tick off their attendance or absence in class. This process, with a trusted pen and paper, was an age old way of securing this important information. The method and process has now, to an extent, been replaced by the keyboard, computer and the cloud. How the class register is taken is just one example of how data capture and processes in schools are evolving.

The register is no longer just a daily attendance record; it now stores a great deal of information. Teachers are able to easily track how often a pupil turns up to class late, without lunch or homework, incorrectly dressed or without everything needed for the lesson. It is no longer simply a register, it is a database of information that teachers can use to record, monitor and evaluate pupils' progress and welfare.

Today, the register has become a living document that provides important personal and behavioural information, something that would otherwise be extremely difficult to record in one place.

The storing of this information in the cloud makes it more readily available to everyone that needs it, whether this is teachers, parents, students or social welfare organisations.

It is not only within the register that there has been a clear evolution in the way in which data is recorded and available to users within schools, it is also changing the way pupils are learning. Schools are moving towards digitally supplemented teaching and submission of work. Pupils no longer work exclusively within an exercise book but also on a computer or tablet, accessing information through an often cloud-based learning portal, so that information is immediately available to all parties and stored with the cloud.

This development has been one of the major changes within education over the last five years. Schools are looking to move towards a paperless environment where documents are stored and delivered electronically via the cloud. This shift is critical for the learning and education of the next generation, who spend their daily lives working with technology.

The cloud means that for pupils, every working document and piece of data is securely recorded and readily available from any location. Theis means that there is no longer the excuse that homework has been mislaid, or that the dog had eaten it. The cloud has also made working more flexible for teachers. They're able to log into their school learning portal and in the process, immediately gain access to classwork and documents.

This evolution in schools is very positive development and the cloud has certainly changed the way that schools consume and use data. It has changed the way in which teachers interact with parents by creating and opening different channels of communication.

The cloud is also changing the way in which teachers and pupils interact, as teachers are able to access more data, draw more detailed conclusions to better understand their pupils and as-a-result, have a stronger pupil/teacher relationship that aids learning.

The cloud has been crucial in changing the way that pupils learn. Technologies will continue to evolve and become more refined as schools understand how to draw even greater benefits from the cloud that help parents, teachers and most of all pupils.