Small businesses are getting a lot of attention lately as the driving force for job creation in America. Many small- and medium-sized businesses are doing just that, but at the same time they are looking for ways to lower costs and improve both competitiveness and customer satisfaction.

Cloud-based products and services are a great way for SMB to improve their bottom line and compete with larger companies. It is safe to say that large companies have cumulatively invested billions of dollars in messaging, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM) and other platforms to help manage their business. For SMB, each of these systems can be setup in the cloud in a matter of minutes or days vs. the months or years it takes a large business to do the same. Essential business functions such as email, shared calendars, contact management and collaboration are available from major cloud providers such as Google and Microsoft, and can cost as little as $50/user/year. More than just the essentials are included for a low cost. Mobile device integration, cloud document storage, instant messaging, voice and video chat and more are all part of the package.

Cloud technologies extend beyond productivity to include areas such as marketing and sales. Potential customers/clients can be found via social networking clouds like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. There are any number of ways to utilize these tools to expand a company’s presence, promote sales and build an online reputation. Even brick and mortar business can take advantage of social clouds through promotion and the online equivalent of “word of mouth”.

Some cloud offerings are purpose-based business functions such as accounting or CRM. Here you will see examples of software companies who have adapted to the cloud, such as Microsoft and Intuit, as well as companies who started in the cloud such as Salesforce. Cloud providers, regardless of their origins, are making available powerful software platforms that companies of any size can use.

Cloud services can be quickly implemented. In many cases, getting these services setup is as simple as completing a few forms on a website. When compared to the time and investment necessary to implement similar systems in-house, using cloud-based platforms often shows an immediate return on investment.

Most cloud services are available to companies of all sizes, and while significant numbers of businesses are taking advantage today, many are not. The biggest hurdle for many organizations is simply understanding what is out there and how to take advantage of it. Cloud technologies are here to stay and are quickly replacing traditional technologies, so every business should develop a cloud strategy.

In K-12 education today there seem to be more questions than answers. People need to know the best approach to integrating technology and instruction to update the classroom and support 21st century learning. Here are the types of questions you might hear:

“Should we do 1-to-1 or BYOD?”

“Should we use Apple or PC for our 1-to-1?”

“What size device should we get?”

These questions are good questions that should be asked, but the first questions that one must ask are, “What do we want to accomplish? What are our goals?” Until the goals of the program are fully understood, the device selection cannot be properly made. Even once the goals are established, choosing a device will not accomplish the goals.

There are any number of possible goals that your school might be trying to accomplish. A fairly common goal is eliminating the need to purchase new physical textbooks. Other goals include flipped classrooms, enabling students to create videos, improving students’ ability to collaborate, preparing students with 21st century skills, etc. These goals also cannot be addressed by device selection.

Eliminating textbooks seems like a fairly mundane topic that should be easily addressed, however, it is not. Not all publishers are on the same page with digital textbooks and your platform is pretty much narrowed down to PC or Mac for those who do have digital alternatives. To me it seems like requiring a textbook whether it be physical or digital is a relic of the past. The textbook companies are no longer the holders and maintainers of knowledge. Most lessons can be found online or recreated using the tools of today, eliminating the need for textbooks. Then it is just a matter of organizing and delivering this content to a multitude of devices that you wish to support. In this matter, it is far less about the device than the content. If your goal is to eliminate textbooks, you should consider eliminating them through the use of alternatives, not replacing them with options that severely limit the types of devices your students can use.

One argument I have heard for 1-to-1 programs is to support low-income students who cannot afford a device of their own. I understand and support the need to enable all students to participate and learn. However, I disagree that providing a computer to every child is the best way to make that happen. BYOD on the surface seems to favor higher-income households, however I don’t think this is entirely true. BYOD allows students to use virtually any type of device, this means everything from iPods to MacBook Airs. Remeber that you and I learned by reading books and participating in class. I have read a tremendous amount of information off my little 3.5” screen, so I know that iPods can be used effectively for learning. In addition, the biggest hurdle for enabling the productivity of low-income students outside of the classroom isn’t the device, it is the connectivity. Without Internet access, most devices will be severely limited in function. On the other hand, another problem with 1-to-1 is giving a computer to a child who already has one. What is the point of that?

BYOD becoming more popular and accepted among schools. It is a lower-cost approach to integrating technology into the classroom. I fully support BYOD as an innovative approach that can provide a great deal of instructional value. However, just like the above approaches, BYOD has limitations. The most obvious is the lack of control over the selection of the device. By not directly controlling the device selection, you cannot be guaranteed specific functionality. This is why your instructional materials need to be generic, not platform specific, mostly text and simple images (it worked for us, it will work for them) and HTML based. I don’t view the limitations of BYOD as a reason not to support it, but instead as the framework for how best to format the instructional materials for broad support.

1-to-1 may seem like the best way to support approaches like the flipped classroom (see flipped classroom post here). However, as I stated above, the issue with delivery of instructional materials outside of the classroom has more to do with connectivity, with families not having Internet access at home, than it does with the lack of access to a device. Giving every student a brand new computer seems like a terribly inefficient method for resolving differences in device access outside of school. I would think that partnerships with local libraries and after school programs, where shared devices are provided for students to access school resources, would be much more efficient and effective.

For now, most learning still takes place at school and within the classroom, so that would seem to be the area to focus on first. BYOD helps get devices into the classroom, 1-to-1 puts a device in every student’s hands, but that doesn’t mean that they will be used. The challenge is to incorporate the devices. I will probably write another post on that subject, but here are the basics: 1. Fight the impulse to use them as you would have used previous tools. Having all the students do the exact same thing at the exact same time in class is a recipe for failure. For example do not have all the students in your class open up and watch a video at the same time. This will likely put too much load on your network and make the whole thing a mess. Instead, use the technology as they will use it in the real world. Teach them the tools to find information on the subject they are studying, compile that information, and apply it in a useful way. 2. Do not make the technology critical to the instruction. There is no perfect technology, and devices in classrooms will never be as simple as saying, “Open up your textbooks and turn to page 31.” That being said, the devices can be much more powerful in expanding the resources available to students in class. As you consider how to use technology, do not ever assume that it will work as planned. Don’t allow class to turn to chaos just because the Internet connection is a little slow that day. Instead make sure you have a combination of online and offline content and tools you can take advantage of. 3. Most teachers cannot be trained (in the traditional sense), to integrate technology into their classrooms. Integrating technology isn’t like learning a new subject. In many cases it might be closer to having a history teacher who can’t draw teaching art. The skills simply cannot be taught, they can only be adopted by the individual teacher. New teachers coming in, if given the option, will more likely integrate a wide variety of technology, whereas a teacher who has taught for a long period of time will more likely resist.

So, back to the original idea of which device or approach should schools adopt. Here is what I would do:

1. Support BYOD - Allow students to bring in their own technology to use at school.

2. Provide classroom device sets - Not at a 1:1 ratio, but instead 10-12 devices for a standard sized classroom. This will allow a device for students who don’t have their own and will enforce a common 21st century skill of collaboration by having students work in small groups.

3. Partner with local organizations to provide access to learning resources outside of school, and keep school locations open before and after school to provide technology access.

Having considered many of the goals schools are trying to accomplish with 1-to-1 or BYOD, I feel like this blended approach allows for the best chance of success. At the same time, this approach is relatively affordable for schools who are facing heavy budget constraints.