 This paper examines the current state of educational research into cloud-based learning systems. It explores the relationship between these systems and cloud-based learning environments, finding that researchers have focused primarily on the design of the latter. However, when designing a cloud-based learning environment, researchers often treat the former as a component or stage in the process. This paper reveals two main interpretations of the concept of a cloud-based system for educational purposes, one which views it as a collection of cloud services or cloud-based technologies, another which considers each individual cloud service as a cloud-based learning system. The paper also looks at how Ukrainian researchers understand the structure of cloud-based learning systems within their recent work. This article was authored by Mea V. Popol and Maria Kishishkina.