A discussion on E-learning offered in Malaysian universities: Pros and Cons from the student’s perspective

E-learning (also known as electronic learning or eLearning) is a term used for all types of technology-enhanced learning (TEL). It is the technology which is used to support the learning process. In other words, E-learning means the delivery of a learning, training, or education program by electronic devices. Nowadays, Malaysian universities such as Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti of Malaya and etc, have incorporated the e-learning strategies into their undergraduate programs.

E-learning is able to provide a vast amount of benefits for Malaysian universities which are implementing it.
1. Accessibility.
E-learning can promote great accessibility to all students irrespective of their physical locations. The students are able to communicate with their lecturers, deepen their knowledge in their particular subjects as well as materials through e-libraries by e-classes. Moreover, Universities that are well-equipped with electronic facilities can provide their fast and qualified assistance to their online students. Therefore, students’ interactions with their peers and lecturers will become easier, in comparison to a face-to-face communication.

2. Time and costs savings
By executing e-learning in the educational courses, it can reduce travel time and travel costs for off-campus students tremendously. With this, students can obtain online resources, discussion or communicate with their tutors or classmates at any time without the hassle of meeting and discussing physically.

3. Reduce environmental impact
When people are not required to travel around using vehicle to meet up, it will definitely reduce the overall unwanted waste in our Mother Earth. Waste can be hazardous to the whole ecosystem. Besides, the paper usage will also trim down by applying e-learning. The reason is because the students can directly study from the virtual notes uploaded. As opposed to using paper notes and paper assessments. Without a doubt, e-learning is a more environmentally friendly method of studying.


Nothing is perfect. Thus, there are still a few disadvantages of e-learning, which are:-
1. Inferior connection that will cause frustration.
At times, the students may face the problems due to the inferior internet connection that will result in difficulties in downloading notes, communicating and etc. In addition, they may also face the problems with the virtual notes or assessment being missing because of the usage of electronic device.

2. Lack of face-to-face communication
All in all, E-learning will cause students to have problems with understanding of explanation given by tutors because explanation online is still not as profound as a face-to-face explanation. In the long-run, student that doesn’t communicate physically may have low motivation or dreadful study habits. Other than that, the students can simply become lazier and will always procrastinate their work and in return, not being able to meet datelines. Last but not least, students will tend to feel isolated from their tutors and classmates.


Related Links: -

Electronic Learning
My E-learning talk wawasan open
Advantage of e-learning
Article of e-learning

Corporate Blogging

How does corporate blogging helps the organization?

Corporate blogs are widely used as a marketing communication tool which mainly serves the purposes of brand building, customer service, technical support and promotion for the company.

Not only it helps to build stronger relationships with important target groups (employees, clients, media, general public and shareholder) with low cost, it encourages employee participation in contribution of expertise and allows free discussion on issues or topics, thus generating a collective intelligence for the company.

Besides, corporate blogs also enable the customers to obtain the information needed rapidly through a series of discussion and to share their views or ideas by writing comments. Hence, valuable information and instant feedbacks can be communicated to the company which may inspire new ideas for improvement, therefore creating a two-way communication. Furthermore, it can be used to announce new products and services, explain and clarify policies of the company and to react on public criticism on certain issues.

Examples of corporate blog












· Dell’s corporate blog is a successful one as the company posts with a great conversational voice, and it listens and responds to customers as well as it publishes breaking news on their blogs. It also maintains its blogs postings with a minimum of 1 or 2 postings per day, to keep content fresh and encourage repeat visits. Generally, “Direct2Dell” focuses on Dell’s news such as launching of new products and etc.
Direct2Dell













· Southwest Airlines, unlike Dell, does not make its company as the main discussion topic in their blog postings, which is a relatively good thing for the visitors of their blog. The company blogs about itself as well as the airline industry with a “ personal touch “ and has been uploading a great deal of fun, behind-the-scenes videos which are both captivating and interesting. This is how Southwest Airlines make their visitors keep coming back and enjoy themselves while reading their postings. .
Nuts About Southwest













· GM FastLane Blog is a good example of corporate blogging, Apparently, GM has realized that the actual purpose of having corporate blogs are not to republish press releases or news which are already known to the public. Rather, GM emphasizes about their vehicles and the design choices they make while creating them in its blog. Also, it also stimulates discussion on interesting treatises about the current hot issues, such as alternative energy.
GM FastLane Blog

For more examples of corporate blogs, please refer to:
15 companies that really get corporate blogging

Benefits of corporate blogging:-
· Increase traffic of users who provides useful information
· Brand image creating, improvement on media relations, potential community building
· Reduce cost of traditional PR activities
· Search engine positioning (make your website rank higher)
· Centralized hosting and structured conversation threads of posts and comments allow easy information gathering for employees
· Reduce cost of thoughts and ideas gathering
· Employee integration
· Create corporate identity among employees

Although it shows that corporate blogs brings a great deal of opportunities and benefits, there are still problems with corporate blogging that a company must deal with.

Drawbacks of corporate blogging :-
· Make it easy for invasion of privacy or surpassing the information security system, resulting loss of company’s confidential data
· Expectation of updating blog regularly
· Need to responding customers instantly which otherwise would result in customers’ complaints and disappointment
· Accountability and credibility of the information provided by executives
· Risk of losing control over the communication strategy
· Unfavorable organization culture make known to public
· Leak of important insider information
Corporate blogs are basically beneficial to a company if used well, and a menace if used poorly. Hence, companies which participate in blogging activities should manage it effectively to the benefit of their companies.

Related links:
Corporate Blogs Not Trusted
Corporate blogs – innovative communication tool or another internet hype?

E-government in Malaysia

The implementation of e-government in Malaysia was initiated by the introduction of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in 1996. It seeks to improve convenience, accessibility and quality of transactions with citizens and businesses. Besides, it helps to improve information flow and processes within the government and this would enable the government to be more responsive to the needs of citizens.

Current applications of E-government in Malaysia include:
1) Electronic Labor Exchange :
- Includes job registration and matching system, job clearing system for the handicapped and etc
2) E-Perolehan system :
- assists suppliers on the transaction with the Government for the procurement of Government products and services
3) Road tax & driving license renewal
4) Traffic summons information and payment :
http://www.eservices.com.my/speedhp_BI.jsp
5) E-syariah
6) E-filing of income tax forms
7) EPF Account enquiries and payments (KWSP i-Account)
8) MIA(Malaysia Institute of Accountants) annual fee payment
9) Repayment of PTPTN loan :
10) Payment to Telekom, Tenaga Nasional and Indah water

Common problems encountered by consumers:
1) lack of awareness of the services offered
- the lack of advertising done by government about what it has to offer online has resulted in the ignorance of citizens about the existence of such online services, hence, they do not have the opportunity to enjoy the clicks of the mouse convenience.

2) Inaccessibility
- People who live in remote areas where internet connection is not easy to be accessed hinders them to benefit from using the applications of e-government system.

3) Lack of computer literacy and IT knowledge
- People who have minimal computer or IT knowledge will be less inclined to use online services as they are afraid they may not understand the steps for online processing or perceive it as a very difficult task for them to accomplish. Hence, they usually turn to offline services instead.

4) Security of transactions
- Users may not feel secured or safe to use online services as they fear the personal information will be accessed by other party for fraudulent purposes.

5) Language barrier
- Users may encounter difficulties when using the online services if they do not have a good grasp of the language used in the government websites.

Ways to encourage citizens to use these online applications:
1) Government should improve citizens’ awareness of the benefit brought by its online services as it is a convenient, efficient and cost effective to use and to access to the most current information available regarding the services offered.

2) Government websites should be designed in a way that is user-friendly and not too complicated and step-by-step guidance should be given to the users for processing transactions online.

3) To overcome the language barrier, translation of more types of languages should be made allowed.

4) Assurance regarding the security of transactions should be given to users by government. This can be accomplished by demonstrating to the public how strong the system is in preventing data stealing or modification by intruders.

5) Government may also improve the infrastructure of internet connection in remote areas to improvise the accessibility of users to internet and therefore benefitting from the online services provided.

Related links:-

Malaysia’s Government official Portal
E-government
Implementation of e-government in Malaysia

MADE IN MALAYSIA: E-COMMERCE WEBSITE (Review)

Our chosen one: Blooming Florist
Blooming Florist is an e-commerce website that is selling flowers, gifts, and etc for various seasonal needs, such as birthday, new born, wedding, valentines, condolences and many others. The products that they offer are quite conclusive, considering they are selling a similar group of products. This is a click-and-mortar e-commerce site because it also possesses a physical storefront.

APPEARANCE IS EVERYTHING.

The foremost thing that we notice from the website is that the website design is just average. This is because its design is lack of the element of attraction. The layout is not very eye-capturing, we believe that the layout should place fewer words in the Homepage because this will make the website look dull and not intriguing. Overall, the layout is kind of crammed and hard to read. Furthermore, they ought to use more vibrant colours in the website to make it look fresh and attractive. The white background colour is rather boring and there are insufficient pictures to detain user’s mind. Above all, the font size is a little too small, which users will tend to avoid reading it. Straining the customer’s eyes is not a good idea of selling ones products. Other than that, we suggest that the website should use “Adobe Flash Player” to create better layout and more interesting animation for superior navigation.
MAIN COMPONENTS OF AN E-STOREFRONT.

Electronic catalog: The electronic catalog provided in this website is in a grid form which is very systematic and organized. The products are well categorized to help user to search for products without difficulty. In addition, the information given in d catalog is adequate for customers. The name of the product, price, picture of the sample as well a “buy now” button for easy purchase.
Search engine: Within this website, they have provided a search engine tool at the top left of the webpage to aid customers to look for specific products. Thus, in this manner, users can seek for products in a faster mode. This can encourage customers to hunt for targeted products by just keying in the keyword instead of going through the e-catalog page-by-page.

Electronic cart: Blooming has also incorporated the “electronic cart” function to hold items that customers wish to buy. With this function, customers need not pay for the first item before shopping for the second item. In this condition, it is less tedious for the customers and thus making shopping with Blooming uncomplicated.

E-auction: The website did not adopt this facility. However, it is not a major component because Blooming is not selling durable products, flowers and fruits have a limited lifespan. For that reason, e-auction is not feasible for Blooming.

Payment gateway: For purchases, customers can make payment by a range of methods which are credit card payment, online banking, Kawanku ATM, WEBCASH, open bill payment and pay cash at Blooming outlets. With these well-diverse methods, it is very convenient for customers to make payment because they can select the most suitable payment means.

Shipment court: Due the the nature of the products sold by Blooming, it is definite that it provides delivery services.

Customer services: The website does offer a wide series of customer service. The list of services presented is as follows:
. Track Your Order
. Payment Methods
. Outstation Order
. Product & Material Used
. Verified by Visa/Master card
. FAQs (frequently asked questions)
. Refund Policy
. Valentine Refund Policy
. Delivery Services
. Outside Malaysia
. Privacy Policy

As you can see, these services are very useful to customers and it strengthens customer’s confidence in Blooming. They also appreciate customer’s opinion by giving an e-mail link for customer feedbacks. This can help them to continue to improve their products as well as the website.

OTHERS
We have also noticed that website’s map is well planned. This helps the navigation through the website. The WebPages are well-linked and one can easily go to the Homepage by clicking “home” icon. This can reduce confusion when customers are using the website.

Security is also important in transactions. For Blooming, they secure their website transactions with VeriSign. With this, buyers can place their trust on Blooming as a seller with integrity.
Fortunately, Blooming also offer “International Delivery”, meaning they are willing to send products to countries outside of Malaysia. This can be useful for customers that wish to send gifts to their loved ones half way round the world. Hence, they have a “currency converter” linked to their website to help customers to estimate the amount of money payable.

The download speed of Blooming is considered fast to us.

Reference:
Blooming Florist

SAY GOODBYE TO HASSLE! (Application of prepaid cash card for consumers)

WHAT IS PREPAID CASH CARD?

A prepaid cash card is a card that affords people without access to credit or debt cards the convenience of cashless payment. It's a sensible, more affordable alternative to having to carry cash and paying check-cashing fees. You load it with a balance of your choosing at the retail location where you purchased the card or via direct deposit of your checks. You can use it anywhere credit cards are accepted. For better illustration, we provide examples of prepaid cash card, which is, Touch ‘N Go, Octopus card in Hong Kong as well as Ez Link in Singapore.











WHAT ARE THE GOODIES INSTORED FOR USERS?

It’s a real world out there, only things that are highly beneficial will be well-supported by public. Thus, let’s look at the advantages a prepaid cash card brings: convenience, cost savings, and security are the biggest advantages of the prepaid cash card. As a substitute of having to rely on cash, consumers can have the convenience of a “credit card” to pay for purchases online, pay your bills, and even access ATMs nationwide. You also will save a lot of money by not having to pay check-cashing fees every time you get paid. A prepaid cash card enables you to take control of your financing by limiting your spending to money you actually have. Finally, you will enjoy the security of knowing you don't have to carry large amounts of cash around to pay for things anymore. You also will enjoy security protection with your card, so you will not be liable for charges if it is lost or stolen.

APPLICATIONS

The most popular prepaid cash card in our country is Touch ‘N Go. It is mainly used in highway tolls and public transportations, selected parking sites and theme park as a substitution to paying cash. As at today, Touch ‘N Go hasn’t venture into e-tailing yet. E-tailing is selling and buying products online. Example of usage of Touch ‘N Go is:
1. Highway: PLUS, ELITE, SILK and etc.
2. Public transport: RapidKL buses, Ampang Line, Kelana Jaya Line, KTM Komuter and KL Monorail.
3. Parking: Armada Hotel PJ, Pantai Hospital, Sunway Pyramid and etc.
4. Theme park: Bukit Merah Lake Town Resort


One the other hand, the Hong Kong Octopus card is also an example of prepaid cash card. The Octopus card has a built-in microchip containing an electronic purse and other applications which can accurately record the holders' transaction details. Consumers can simply hold their Octopus over a reader, and the correct amount will be deducted automatically. There's no longer a need for coins. Octopus is widely used in Hong Kong for purchases on public transport, and in convenience stores, fast food shops, supermarkets, cake shops, vending machines, schools and parking. Octopus is also used for office and residential premises access control. By possessing this card, people don’t have to worry if they do not have cash-on-hand, they can still travel, buy foodstuff and etc.






In other countries, they also have their own prepaid cash card to ease the users in their daily life. One of our neighbouring countries, Singapore, is using Ez-Link as their prepaid cash card. As for India, they have ItzCash card to act as cash.


FUTURE PROSPECTS

As consumers with high expectations, we will definitely look forward to the advancement of the Touch ‘N Go card in order to simplify our daily transactions. It is definitely a good concept because users won’t fall into debts with it as it does not function like a credit card. Besides, consumers will not overspend. Therefore, in future, Touch ‘N Go is trying to press on into providing services/payment methods for fast food purchase, dining, groceries and many more. In our opinion, Touch ‘N Go will become a successful prepaid cash card and more functions will be available in the near futur

Credit card debts: Causes and Prevention

A credit card can also be called as a charge card. It allows the consumers to purchase the products and services without using cash and only have to pay them at a later date. Thus, many card holders tend to take advantage of it and start spending impulsively. This is how they started to accumulate credit card debts. What causes them to be the credit card “slaves”?


Poor Money Management
Many credit card holders failed to manage their money properly. When they have free time, they will go shopping without having any purpose or target in mind. Hence, they spend hundreds or thousands of dollars each month buying things which are not needed and without realizing their excessive spending until the credit card bill arrives.

Low Income, High Expenses
Normally this will happen when there is a member in the family who has lost his/her job, rendering the total income of the family to shrink. With less cash in hand, people will start to rely on credit cards to make ends meet, having in mind that they will certainly be able to find a way to pay for the debts later on. Also, the purchasing habit of a person who relies on credit card heavily is not easy to change as a habit is not cultivated in just one or two days. It takes time before people can make adaptation to his/her buying behavior.

Non Financial Communication
Non financial communication is also one of the causes that contribute to the credit card debts. Parents should communicate more with their children about the current financial situation in their family. Without proper communication and sufficient understanding of the current situation, children will continue to be a big spender (i.e. loves to buy expensive branded goods using parents’ credit card) without realizing that the family in fact could not afford these luxury goods. Ultimately, the parents who are the credit card holders had no choice but to struggle to find ways to pay for the heavy credit card debts.

Since the credit card debts issue has become a burgeoning problem in this modern society today, here are some useful tips for its prevention measures.

Treat your Credit Card as your Cash
Always think of your credit card as a sum of cash that you hold it with you. For instance, set an appropriate amount of money that you can use on your credit card. Once it reaches the limit which you have preset, cease using the credit card. Also, every time you swipe your credit card, think of how many pieces of “imaginary” cash notes is gone and how many is left in your credit card. This way, you will have a better idea of how much you have spent and how much is left for you to spend.

Control Yourself
You should know your own ability to afford for certain items. The expenses you spend monthly should not exceed the amount of your income. If ever you have the urge to buy something which is out of your budget, think twice, and analyze whether it is really needed or not. You should be able to stay conscious and control your own buying desire before things are too late: feeling regret of bringing unwanted things home.

Good Finance Management
A well management of your finances will prevent you from getting loaded with credit card debts. You should determine your own monthly budgeted expenses and follow closely to your budget. The budget should only include the expenses for your daily necessities and perhaps some extra money for you to satisfy your shopping desire. However, this should not be an opportunity for you to spend excessively by swiping your credit cards. With a proper management of finances, you would not face the credit card debts problem at all.

Related Links:-
Credit Card Debt Resources
Credit Card Debt

Electronic currency

Electronic currency is also known as e-money or electronic money, digital cash or digital currency. It can be explained as the act of users buying goods through the internet. The money can be only be exchanged electronically. Usually, this will involve the use of computer networks, internet, and digit value systems. These institutions became popular in the 1980s among domestic right-wing extremists. By using e-currency, it provides some of the benefits and disadvantages to the users.

Advantages of Electronic Currency Payment System
By using e-currency, it will be safe from natural disasters like tsunami. It is because there is no physical currency. Base on the records from various servers, the restoration of the record is very simple.

Electronic currency payment can also easily replace the cheque book. The online payments are definitely far more easier and secured compared to paper transfer of money. It can save plenty of time because users do not have to queue up and wait at the bank.

Above and beyond that, the holders will not have to fear or worry about robbers as and when they are dealing with the physical cash for depositing and withdrawal purposes.

The privacy and confidentiality of the customer’s information will be protected by the usage of the electronic payment system.

Disadvantages of Electronic Currency Payment System
Electronic currency is facing a lack of records and difficulty to determine the identity that receives the money. As a result, the fraudster can easily carry out illegal activities over internet such as money laundering and etc.

Moreover, peer to peer double spending is also one of the significant disadvantages. Only when the consumer uses a peer-to-peer transaction, does the drawback surfaces. The bank is able to check the serial number of each coin in a transaction against its database of spent coins, and if the coin has been spent, the transaction will be denied.

Apart from that, let us introduce the many types of electronic currency that are in existence: click and buy, peppercoin, digicash and etc.

Click and Buy














Click and buy is one of the payment systems on the internet. About 26 countries have more than 14,000 merchants benefit from this complete service. It eases users in buying and selling online. Click and buy internet payment and billing system are one of the market leaders in whole of Europe. Normally, it is used by msn, Skype, ScanDisk, Apple iTunes, and etc.

Peppercoin

In the light of the current events, Chockstone had announced that it has acquired Peppercoin, which is a provider of card-based merchant loyalty programs and related consulting services. In order to tie customer loyalty programs to credit and debit cards at the point of sale, leading restaurant brands used the Peppercoin’s PCI-compliant services. Peppercoin also develops and markets an innovative suite of products and services for processing the payments to increase the revenue through the sale of low-priced offerings.
Related Link:-
Peppercoin acquired by Chockstone


DigiCash
DigiCash is another type of electronic currency. DigiCash Inc. was a pioneering corporation which is founded by David Chaum in 1990. However, it was declared bankruptcy in 1998 and the assets were sold to eCash Technologies. DigiCash allows consumers to make any amount of anonymous payment against other e-cash schemes. DigiCash will become more innovative and transform the online incentives into powerful new tools, establishing a strong, high-value connection between ecommerce companies and consumers.

Other Related Links:-
The New Money
Major e-micropayment vendors
GIST ABOUT E-CURRENCY SYSTEM