19 Tex. Admin. Code § 127.689 – Advanced Cloud Computing (One Credit), Adopted 2025

(a) Implementation.
1. (1) The provisions of this section shall be implemented by school districts beginning with the 2025-2026 school year.
2. (2) School districts shall implement the employability skills student expectations listed in §127.15(d)(2) of this chapter (relating to Career and Technical Education Employability Skills, Adopted 2025) as an integral part of this course.
(b) General requirements. This course is recommended for students in Grades 10-12. Prerequisite: At least one credit from a course in computer science, programming, software development, or networking systems. Students shall be awarded one credit for successful completion of this course.
(c) Introduction.
1. (1) Career and technical education instruction provides content aligned with challenging academic standards and relevant technical knowledge and skills for students to further their education and succeed in current or emerging professions.
2. (2) The Information Technology (IT) Career Cluster focuses on building linkages in IT occupations for entry level, technical, and professional careers related to the design, development, support, and management of hardware, software, multimedia, and systems integration services. This career cluster includes occupations ranging from software developer and programmer to cybersecurity specialist and network analyst.
3. (3) The Advanced Cloud Computing course is an exploration of cloud computing. In this course, students explore cloud computing services, applications, and use cases. Students study cloud computing best practices and learn how cloud computing helps users develop a global infrastructure to support use case at scale while also developing and using innovative technologies.
4. (4) Students are encouraged to participate in extended learning experiences such as career and technical student organizations and other organizations that foster leadership and career development in the profession such as student chapters of related professional associations.
5. (5) Statements that contain the word "including" reference content that must be mastered, while those containing the phrase "such as" are intended as possible illustrative examples.
(d) Knowledge and skills.
1. (1) The student understands the impact of cloud computing technology and compares the major services offered by cloud computing providers. The student is expected to:
  1. (A) describe the benefits and risks of cloud computing and the reasons for switching from on-premises computing to cloud computing;
  2. (B) identify and describe the major types of cloud computing;
  3. (C) generate sample cloud usage plans for a business case study, including a description of how each of the services can be used to improve the business;
  4. (D) explain the purpose of a region, availability zone, and edge location; and
  5. (E) compare the major services offered by cloud computing providers.
2. (2) The student demonstrates how to store and share content in the cloud. The student is expected to:
  1. (A) identify features and functions of commonly used cloud services;
  2. (B) locate and use common services found in cloud computing consoles;
  3. (C) analyze how cloud services are used in real-world industries;
  4. (D) explain the functions of a domain name system (DNS);
  5. (E) create an object storage bucket;
  6. (F) explain benefits and uses of a content delivery network;
  7. (G) configure web content distribution via edge locations and attach it to a website;
  8. (H) identify the benefits, features, and use cases of different types of block storage;
  9. (I) analyze a use case and recommend the best type of virtual storage for the particular situation;
  10. (J) create a block storage volume or physical record;
  11. (K) attach a block storage volume to a virtual computing instance; and
  12. (L) create a virtual computing instance that hosts a simple website.
3. (3) The student applies cloud security best practices in relation to identity and access management (IAM). The student is expected to:
  1. (A) identify best practices for IAM;
  2. (B) analyze the cultural and societal impacts of cloud security;
  3. (C) differentiate between a role, user, and policy in cloud security;
  4. (D) identify and use a process to resolve vulnerabilities in a web server;
  5. (E) describe cloud security best practices and explain steps to fix security lapses;
  6. (F) identify the best cloud security service for a given scenario;
  7. (G) demonstrate the use of an IAM system to set up a text alert event; and
  8. (H) compare monitoring and logging services.
4. (4) The student describes when to use various databases, the benefits of caching data, and how to build a virtual private cloud (VPC). The student is expected to:
  1. (A) compare online transactional processing and online analytical processing;
  2. (B) describe the benefits of caching data;
  3. (C) explain and demonstrate how a load balancer is attached to a webpage;
  4. (D) describe features and benefits of load balancing;
  5. (E) evaluate the performance of a load balancer;
  6. (F) create an application using a platform as a service (PaaS); and
  7. (G) demonstrate the use of a template infrastructure as code to build a VPC.
5. (5) The student understands the landscape of emerging technologies in the cloud. The student is expected to:
  1. (A) define machine learning and discuss its impacts on society, business, and technology;
  2. (B) identify potential use cases for emerging technology in the cloud;
  3. (C) assess value propositions of using cloud technology;
  4. (D) identify cloud services that can analyze and protect data and manage networks;
  5. (E) define blockchain technology and explain its benefits;
  6. (F) explain the infrastructure of cloud development kits or services; and
  7. (G) demonstrate the use of a software development framework to model and provision a cloud application.
6. (6) The student resolves common security alerts, diagrams instance states and transitions, and explains how to choose the most cost-efficient instance type. The student is expected to:
  1. (A) describe the shared responsibility security model;
  2. (B) identify security responsibility for cloud resources;
  3. (C) analyze how the shared security model accounts for common threats to the cloud computing model;
  4. (D) identify the steps required to resolve an automated security alert;
  5. (E) describe the six instance states, including pending, running, stopping, stopped, shutting down, and terminated;
  6. (F) identify and diagram the transitions between instance states from launch to termination;
  7. (G) explain instance usage billing for each instance state; and
  8. (H) determine the most cost-efficient instance state for a given situation.
7. (7) The student differentiates between dynamic and static websites. The student is expected to:
  1. (A) describe and demonstrate the process for setting up a static website;
  2. (B) compare static and dynamic websites;
  3. (C) create a content delivery network distribution to increase the speed of a website;
  4. (D) demonstrate the process to launch a dynamic web server;
  5. (E) create a serverless compute function using a serverless compute console;
  6. (F) describe the main functions of auto scaling;
  7. (G) create a launch template and an auto scaling group; and
  8. (H) develop a plan for monitoring an auto scaling instance or group.
8. (8) The student demonstrates the benefits and risks of using big data. The student is expected to:
  1. (A) define big data and identify use cases for it within various industries;
  2. (B) identify and evaluate the benefits and risks of big data;
  3. (C) explain how blockchain ensures the validity and immutability of transactions, particularly in the cloud; and
  4. (D) evaluate the benefits and risks of blockchain business applications.

Source Note:The provisions of this §127.689 adopted to be effective August 1, 2025, 50 TexReg 3752.