Trakia Journal of Sciences, Vol. 15, № 4, 2017 277 Trakia Journal of Sciences, No 4, pp 277-284, 2017 Copyright © 2017 Trakia University Available online at: http://www.uni-sz.bg ISSN 1313-7069 (print) ISSN 1313-3551 (online) doi:10.15547/tjs.2017.04.001 Original Contribution APPLICATION OF CLOUD SERVICES IN EDUCATION G. Kiryakova* Faculty of Economics, Trakia University, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria ABSTRACT Educational institutions in information society rely heavily on information and communication technologies. They allow them to follow innovative pedagogical paradigms and approaches and implement modern forms of training that are tailored to the needs and characteristics of the new generation of learners. More and more educational institutions are turning to the use of cloud services, because they are extremely effective alternative for providing the high quality resources and services to all participants in the learning process at an affordable price. The main objective of this study is to present the most popular cloud services – cloud-based office suites and cloud storage services, focusing on their use in education. Keywords: Cloud computing, education, cloud-based office suites, cloud storage services INTRODUCTION Modern education is invariably linked to the widespread use of information and communication technologies (ICT). They allow realizing training which is based on new pedagogical paradigms where the learner is central figure and actively participates in the learning process, interacts and collaborates with all other participants. For many schools cloud computing model offers efficient, in terms of expenses, solution to the problem of how to provide resources and services to the rapidly growing number of students without making significant capital investments in hardware and software that also have to be maintained (1). On the other hand, the continuous access to information and the options for sharing it are among the most significant advantages of cloud computing. Currently, cloud-based services are very important and necessary for modern education. NATURE OF CLOUD COMPUTING AND MAIN FEATURES Cloud computing is not another technological phenomenon. It is based on a number of existing technologies. Cloud computing is the result of the evolution of different technologies that come together and change the way organizations build their IT infrastructure and host their systems (2). __________________________________ *Correspondence to: Gabriela Kiryakova, Faculty of Economics, Trakia University, Bulgaria, gabriela@uni-sz.bg According to (3) cloud computing is “a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on- demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction”. The main characteristics of cloud computing that distinguish them from other technologies are (3, 4):  On-demand self-service. Users can unilaterally request and receive computing resources when they need them.  Permanent network access. Computing resources are available anytime from anywhere in the world over the network through standard mechanisms. Users can use various devices and platforms that facilitate access to services.  Pooling and sharing of resources. Computing resources are pooled and provided to many users. They are not set aside and fixed between the consumers in advance. The resources are dynamically assigned according to users’ needs.  Rapid elasticity. Users can dynamically change (increase or decrease) the rented resources depending on their current needs. The possibility of scaling the rented infrastructure allows users to react promptly to dynamically changing needs.  Pay-per-use. Cloud computing is characterized by payment for only actually used computing resources, therefore the price depends on the level of users activity.