Platform architecture
Teacher Platform & EdTech FinOps
Instructor analytics and per-student AWS cost visibility — connecting curriculum delivery to cloud accountability at Campusna scale.
The challenge
EdTech platforms that provision real cloud labs cannot treat cost as a finance-only problem. Instructors need to see which cohorts drive spend, which students leave resources running, and how lab activity correlates with curriculum progress — without logging into twelve separate tools.
As Technical Manager at Campusna, I directed architecture for a Teacher platform that unifies LMS signals with organization-level cloud billing.
Architecture
A Teacher API aggregates Moodle gradebook events, virtual classroom usage, and VPL submission patterns. A React dashboard gives instructors and program leads operational views. Per-student cost tracking pulls from OpenCost and AWS organization billing, mapped to student lab accounts in the Students OU.
FinOps for education
- Per-student AWS spend visible alongside course and cohort context
- OpenCost and AWS Budgets aligned with tag policies at account vending time
- Lab account lifecycle — active, archived, quarantine — reflected in cost views
- Connects to multi-account rationalization: retiring idle platform capacity when programs end
When students provision cloud resources, FinOps is a curriculum product feature — not a monthly finance report.
Instructor analytics
- Engagement signals from Moodle, BigBlueButton, and auto-graded exercises
- Cohort-level views for institutional program managers
- Teacher discovery flows integrated with the custom Moodle product layer
- Same SSO plane as VS Code online, JupyterHub, and intranet tools
Design choices
Cost and curriculum data stay logically separate but visually unified for instructors. Platform engineering owns the integration; finance owns policy. Teachers see accountability, not raw billing exports.
Results
- 18
- Student lab accounts
- Isolated in Students OU
- 40,000+
- Learners on platform
- Institutional deployments
- ~47%
- Org spend reduction
- Peak to trough after rationalization
Key decisions
Cost visibility in the teaching workflow
Instructors should not need Cost Explorer training. Per-student spend belongs next to gradebook and lab activity — where decisions about curriculum pacing actually happen.
API-first teacher surface
Dashboard and future integrations (mobile, reporting exports) share one Teacher API — the same pattern used for payment and workspace services on large clients.
Tied to org governance
Student lab accounts, SCP guardrails, and tagging standards make per-student FinOps possible. Without multi-account design, you only get one blended bill.
My role
- Technical Manager at Campusna — architecture direction for Teacher API and dashboard
- Integrated OpenCost and org billing with student lab account model
- Connected instructor analytics to Moodle, BBB, and VPL data sources
- FinOps narrative owner alongside AWS Organization rationalization