A successful graduate cloud computing class with hands-on labs

Modern web-based services increasingly have a cloud-based component, which only in recent years has been studied in an academic manner. Many cloud-computing courses focus on fundamental concepts that, while universal to cloud computing understanding, may not provide students with enough background to actually deploy an application to the cloud. To that end we present a cloud computing class that through the use of labs, presentations, and research projects, integrates practical hands-on experiences with academic research. The labs not only deploy to multiple public cloud environments, but also walk students through the process of creating, configuring, and maintaining their own private clouds. We maintain that this juxtaposition of practice and theory leads to not only better learning outcomes in the classroom in the form of refereed publications and further study, but also leads to practical skills which better prepare students for joining the workforce.