Teaching practical information technology skills through cloud computing services

Education is in a constant state of evolution, focused on better educating more students at the lowest possible cost. In this context, the role of online education is fundamental to effectively link content with pedagogical and technological aspects - TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge). Cloud computing is influencing education as its adoption becomes more widespread, making it possible for a virtual community to share and collaborate on all kinds of on-demand resources and services with massive, ubiquitous, and open access. In order to teach practical Information Technology (IT) skills online, such as what occurs in a computer lab on a university campus, we must utilise multiple technological tools that meet new concepts of immersive and global education. In this paper, we present a methodological approach to link tools from the three models of cloud computing services, known as: Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), using the five fundamental principles of instruction and contents of information technology studies.