Cloud computing and mobile technologies offer new possibilities for producing and distributing IT applications and services. Rapid, elastic and scalable provisioning of IT resources allows organisations to be more innovative, agile and cost-effective. In our personal lives, cloud and mobile technologies let us store, access and share information online. Storing and processing information without apparent physical location or legal authority raises concerns around governance and security. In this module, you’ll learn about the technical and social aspects of cloud computing and mobile technologies and gain hands-on experience.
What you will study
This online module will provide you with an understanding and practical experience of cloud technology and the web technology which underpins it, as well as their role in the provision of modern mobile applications. You will gain a technical and business perspective of these technologies' advantages, problems and risks. Several case studies demonstrate the application of the technology in different contexts, such as start-ups, established organisations and collaborations.
The module is organised into three blocks:
Web Foundations
Mobile Applications
The Cloud
The module focuses on the principles behind cloud technology and its use in different contexts. Web Foundations provides an appropriate grounding in the enabling technology, and Mobile Applications demonstrate how to capitalise on cloud infrastructure in developing flexible mobile applications.
Trust and security are important themes running through the module, alongside the social, political, technical, and legal issues that recent IT developments raise. Case studies draw together key features from each part, setting the scene for a project where you will use your new skills to specify, prototype, and demonstrate cloud and mobile solutions for an organisation.
Block 1: Web Foundations
This first block sets the scene for the module by exploring how the internet supports access to networked services and applications. The block first provides an overview of the underlying standards and protocols of the web (HTTP, HTML, CSS, etc.), including the security features (TLS, HTTPS, Certificates) that underpin modern web services. Based on this, it then reviews distributed architectures and protocols used to deliver and consume web services. The block also includes a range of practical activities using tools to develop, deploy, consume, and test various web services.
Block 2: Mobile Applications
The second block explores the current state of the mobile market, the prospects for mobile technology, and its combined use with cloud technology. The block commences by investigating a range of challenges facing developers of mobile apps, including dealing with the multiplicity of:
communication technologies (Web services, HTTP, and TCP sockets).
The block examines a range of considerations in developing a mobile application, including deployment and upgrading, user interface design, performance and memory management, connectivity, back-end storage and security. The block also includes a case study element, exploration of toolkits for developing applications and the practical development of a mobile application, which is subsequently extended to exploit cloud facilities.
Block 3: The Cloud
The third block introduces the cloud model and the types of resources (processing power, databases, general storage, and networking) that can be provided by a typical cloud infrastructure. Different levels of cloud models, such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS), are investigated and contrasted with the web services model.
The block briefly reviews consumer cloud offerings, such as Dropbox and Google Drive for storing assets, before moving on to more sophisticated commercial cloud infrastructure offerings, such as OpenStack, Kubernetes and Amazon Web Services (AWS). Virtualisation and hypervisors are outlined with a focus on the common facilities of the dominant mainstream platforms, including monitoring resource usage, load balancing and automatic scaling of resources to meet demand.
In addition to technical aspects, the block considers the business case for cloud in different contexts (start-up, corporate, projects, collaborations) and different approaches to distributing cloud infrastructure (private, public, and collaborative), as well as the security and legal implications for each approach.
Cloud operations are demonstrated and included in practical activities to provide hands-on experiences. These activities include:
creating resource descriptions to run applications and other components
controlling access to cloud resources
launching, accessing, monitoring, and destroying cloud resources
creating infrastructures that automatically scale up and down to handle different processing loads.
Each of the three blocks includes a tutor-marked assignment (TMA) with a practical and written element. After completing the three blocks, you will undertake an end-of-module assessment (EMA), an individual project. This requires that you produce a considered evaluation of cloud and mobile technology for an organisation and also apply the methods and tools used during the module to provide a technology demonstration for the organisation.
This module aims to give you the knowledge and skills to use web, mobile and cloud technologies from a technical and business perspective. The teaching material introduces a range of business scenarios and technologies, highlighting key decision-making points you must consider. The module teaches key threshold concepts associated with using the technologies and how to program them, but does not teach programming fundamentals. This teaching will help you complete the assessment, but if you aim to become proficient, you’ll need additional study time and use the documentation provided by the developers of the technologies, books (available in the OU Library) and other resources. The module points you towards these, but does not require you to study them for the assessment.
Entry requirements
You'll need competence and experience in programming, along with some familiarity with web technology. Typically, you should have completed either Object-oriented Java programming (M250) or Web technologies (TM252) (or TT284).
Experience with JavaScript is recommended. Below are links to JavaScript YouTube videos produced for the module Web technologies. These are ideal if you need a refresher on JavaScript.
Video 1: Introduction
Video 2: Basics, if, loops and functions
Video 3: Library Functions and Validation
Video 4: Using The Debugger
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You’ll get help and support from an assigned tutor throughout your module.
They’ll help by:
marking your assignments and offering detailed feedback to help you improve
providing individual guidance, whether that’s for general study skills or specific module content
guiding you to additional learning resources
facilitating online discussions between your fellow students in the dedicated forums.
Online tutorials run throughout the module. While they’re not compulsory, we strongly encourage you to participate. Where possible, we’ll make recordings available.
Assessment
Course work includes:
3 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs)
End-of-module assessment
What's included
You’ll have access to a module website, which includes:
a week-by-week study planner
course-specific module materials
audio and video content
assessment details and submission section
online tutorial access
access to student forums.
Computing requirements
Primary device – A desktop or laptop computer with at least 8 GB of RAM and a quad-core processor (2.4 GHz minimum speed). It’s possible to access some materials on a mobile phone, tablet or Chromebook; however, they will not be suitable as your primary device.
Peripheral device – Headphones/earphones with a built-in microphone for online tutorials.
Operating systems – Windows 11 or the latest supported macOS.
Internet access – Broadband or mobile connection.
Browser – Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge are recommended; Mozilla Firefox and Safari may be suitable.
Our OU Study app operates on supported versions of Android and iOS.
Software – Any additional software will be provided or is generally available for free.
If you have a disability
The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone, and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying TM352 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.
To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our Disability support website.
Future availability
Web, mobile and cloud technologies (TM352) starts once a year – in October.
It will next start in October 2027.
We expect it to start for the last time in October 2028.