Optimising resource costs of cloud computing for education

•Context-aware algorithm for allocating computing resources for class- rooms.•Experiment setup based on real-world school data.•Evaluation analysis considering security margin, costs, and QoS.

There is a growing interest around the utilisation of cloud computing in education. As organisations involved in the area typically face severe budget restrictions, there is a need for cost optimisation mechanisms that explore unique features of digital learning environments. In this work, we introduce a method based on Maximum Likelihood Estimation that considers heterogeneity of IT infrastructure in order to devise resource allocation plans that maximise platform utilisation for educational environments. We performed experiments using modelled datasets from real digital teaching solutions and obtained cost reductions of up to 30%, compared with conservative resource allocation strategies.