Head in the clouds: A review of current and future potential for cloud-enabled pedagogies

This paper reviews the research on the disruptive and transformative potential of newly-emerging cloud-based pedagogies. It takes into consideration the extent to which Cloud Computing can be leveraged to disseminate and scale web-based applications within and across learning contexts. It examines ideas from current literature in Web 2.0- and cloud-based education that might serve as useful when deploying cloud-based services and infrastructure. The paper draws on several key ideas to clarify how cloud- and Web 2.0-based pedagogies are informed by the shifting knowledge landscape, including a review of the concepts of disruptive pedagogies and transformative technologies. With recourse to emerging research on participatory cultures, the importance of coming to terms with newly emerging literacies, modalities, types of citizenship and ways of interacting and collaborating is addressed. Referring to notions of dialogic literacy, constructionist and co-constructivist learning, as well as possible models for online collaborative writing, the paper reviews current research on the capacity of web-based applications in enabling transformed learning and explores how this might enable broader, web-enabled participatory cultures within and beyond the institution, in light of the economies of scale made possible by cloud-based infrastructure.