Electronic learning, known as E-Learning is a term for all types of technology-enhanced learning , where technology is used to support the learning process. Often the medium of instruction is through computer technology, particularly involving digital technologies. It does not require any face-to-face interaction throughout the learning process. It has been implemented by several colleges and universities in Malaysia, such as Open University Malaysia, Multimedia University, University Tun Abdul Razak and so on.

There are ample of PROS can be derived from e-learning:

1) Ease of Accessibility
E-learning has shown its great advantages through its accessibility to all students irrespective
of their residence. It help students to communicate with their lecturers and tutors, get clarifications regarding their subjects and study and access teaching materials through Internet. What you need is just have a computer and a line connectivity.

2) Flexibility
Another advantage of e-learning is its time flexibility. Students may be able to get online resources and communicate with his lecturers, tutors or classmates at anytime, anywhere, even during midnight as the resources can be access for 24*7*365. Despite, students can arrange their timetable according to their own time when he or she is available.

3) Low Cost
E-learning has been becoming more and more popular among students because they can afford getting higher education degrees at respectable universities and colleges by saving extra expenses for traveling, accommodation, food and high fees for tutors. E-learning can offer such students much easier and affordable way to get a good education and a prestige higher degree.

However, there are several CONS in implementing e-learning too:

1) Lack of Communication
Lack of face-to-face communication with lecturers and tutors leads to a lack of understanding between a student and a tutor. While a tutor cannot easily feel a student’s demands, interests and motivations, a student can simply be lazy being non-motivated enough and having free time schedule for his e-learning. This may result a low scope of the student’s knowledge and the teacher’s accusation in lack of proficiency.

2) Language Barriers
The extensive use of English in e-learning contents is also one of the factors that has hindered the success of e-learning. this is obviously occur in Malaysian universities, especially to the student who is weak in English, they need to refer to a dictionary whenever they are learning. This may cause the student to loss interest in studying and become lazy and unmotivated.

3) Bandwidth Issue and Connectivity
E-learning requires a rich combination of multimedia components.However, due to bandwidth and connectivity limitations, downloading of the e-content to the students will be slow. This creates frustration and boredom among students and affects the ease of learning. This issue happens in most of the Malaysian universities regularly.

Related links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_learning

http://asiapacific-odl2.oum.edu.my/C33/F80.pdf

http://writingandsnacks.blogspot.com/2006/08/pros-and-cons-of-e-learning.html

Prepared by Chong Hui Qi'

Nowadays, definitely everyone will has a mobile phone by his side. mobile phone is no longer a luxurious but a daily needs in this generation. Widely known, mobile phone features has been expanded from dialing and answering a call to sending and receiving a message, having a radio, MP3 to payments. Mobile payment, widely known as M-payment can be defined as making a wide range of payments through a mobile device, such as a cellular telephone, smart phone, personal digital assistant( PDA), or any other wireless devices without any cash, credit cards, checkbooks, or having to go online either. What is required is just your mobile phone and you do not even have to be at the point of purchase to pay. You can pay from wherever you are, whether at the office, in the car, at home or just about anywhere!

This brand new system is going to take the lead in the near future. It is an innovative closed loop payment system where consumers will be informed via SMS each time he or she makes a payment. In short, it simply means that it brings payments to you instead of you having to go to make payments, that's why it is also named as Mobile Money. Was Mobile Money safe? Mobile Money is convenient yet secure and rewarding. It is designed with 9 levels of protection to enhance security and to minimize fraud. Each transaction will also be rewarded with instant cash rebate and the “e-cash” accumulated can be used to make purchases at any “Mobile Money” retail outlets. At the same time, participating outlets are also running their own loyalty programmes and offering bonus points to their “Mobile Money” customers, further enhancing the benefits of paying via this mobile payment system.



Mobile Money is a PIN-based mobile payment solution to address the limitations and bottlenecks created by cash, cheques and credit cards. It unlocks the power of the mobile phone to make payments, allowing registered users to pay for goods and services at anytime, anywhere using only a mobile phone secure with a 6-digit security PIN via SMS. This gives the freedom to shoppers to buy products online and pay the merchant using his or her mobile phone without being physically present at the store. Indirectly, crime rate and robbery case might decline due to lesser cash in hand.



There are a great room of potential for this payment system to grow more rapidly. With the mobile payment system, consumers no longer need to carry cash, credit cards, or clicking through ample of different websites or going to the outlets looking for parking and queuing up to pay bills. Thus, it is extremely convenient! What you need to do is to get yourself registered to the Mobile Money service provider and top up with M-payment” instantly and you can start paying your bills or doing remote shopping by just typing a SMS code, and your transaction is done! Anywhere, anytime, anyone!

In order to pay using mobile payment, a shopper must have either a savings, current or credit card account within the related bank. It functions like a credit card. It is advised to have sufficient money inside the shoppers' account so that the transaction can works successfully. The shopper will be billed by the bank accordingly by month's end. In addition, it functions as a debit card if it is tied to shopper's savings or current account. The amount will be deducted immediately from the account upon successful transaction. By doing so, the frequency of bounced cheque and the amount of credit card debts will considerably decline.

As long as the mobile payment system perform as well as it designed to, Malaysians will adopt this new convenient payment method. Moreover, in order to make this payment system being adopted quickly, mobile payment service providers should work hand-in-hand to do aggregate advertising and educate all Malaysians with the benefits of M-payment and lastly please bear in mind that " Your mobile phone is your credit card".

Related links:

http://www.hlb.com.my/news/2005/corn143.jsp?flag=092005

http://www.neowave.com.my/mobilemoney_overview.asp


Prepared by Chong Hui Qi'

My FLOWER florist.com

My first visit to this website, it grabs my attention as its layout, color, pictures are attracting me. My flower florist.com is a website which sell flower and gifts. There is a variety of flowers designation for customers to choose accordingly to different occasion and festivals or for other purposes. I have a review on the features of this website, and i would like to share with you about the features.

Type of product
They will provide you a series of product which bring different meaning according to customer wants. For some special days such as anniversary, father's and mother's day, valentine's day and so on, they will help you to design the wrapping as it is meaningful to dedicate to you love one.

Catalog

This the catalog site, it provides the thumbnail photos which the small photo that can be enlarged by clicking on the photo. It also provides the product price below the product features.
However, it do not display a return policy in the page.


Download Speech

The download speech of the website is consider fast and the animation icon is not too much. Therefore it do not required a longer time to run the page.

Site design

"Simple and nice" can be used to describe in this website designation. As i love this concept a lot. In addition, Some of the features are created by flash player and make it more attracting.

Layout


The layout is smooth and tidy, the arrangement is follow sequent and in categories. So the users will easily get what they need and it is nice to view. There is one thing that i am very interesting which is the icon on the heading bar. It is aesthetic and easy be recognized , people will easily get the meaning from that icon.

Availability of search engine

Search engine can access a database of the Internet resources, search for specific information or keywords, and report the results. While search engine is available in this website and users search by keywords or by code.


Shopping cart


It is an order-processing technology that allows customers to accumulate items they wish to buy while they continue to shop. Shopping also available in this website where it shows as below.

Cash Out Features

This site provided information of payment option such as payment by credit card for Master Card and Visa, direct Bank-In, payment by mail (cheque, bank draft, money order) or third party fund transfer (Maybank2u.com).

Security

The company provides the buyer with information as to how the buyer's information is secured and how it will be used in the future. The information of protecting customers privacy is available in this website. Moreover, customers can access to their human contact by telephone and street address.

Navigation Bar

The navigation bar is on the top of the page and it has attached with some pictures with the bar to make it more interesting.

As a consequences, i have a nice journey to exploit this website and it had gained me more knowledge of transactional e-commerce site by study on it.

Prepared by Wong Chuan Chi

Various countries including Malaysia are implementing electronic government which also known as 'e-government'. The initiation of e-government was initiated by the introduction of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in 1996. Using e-government, it will improve the accessibility and quality of interactions with citizens and businesses. Simultaneously, information flow and processed improved the quality of policy development and as well the coordination and enforcement.

7 main projects which is the core of E-government applications:
1. Generic Office Environment (GOE)
2. Electronic Procurement (eP)
3.Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
4. Project Monitoring System (PMS)
5. Electronic Services Delivery (eServices)
6. Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX)
7. Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX)

Under these seven pilot projects, it is divided into three categories:

i) Government to Citizens
ii) Government to Businesses
iii) Government to Government

Government to Citizens (G2C)

1) Electronic Services Delivery (eServices)

Now everyone can conduct transactions without going through queuing, traffic jams or any bureaucratic hassles as they can conduct transactions at their own wish and convenience through various convenient channels such as eServices kiosk and Internet. Examples of e-services includes Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and Telekom Nasional Berhad (TM).

2) Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX)

ELX is a one stop-centre for labor market information that supervised by Ministry of Human Resource (MORH) that enables employer and job seekers to communicate at the same platform with the objectives of:

  • Enabled an effective and integrated job matching process
  • Provide an effective center of labor market information and references
  • To improve mobilization of the nation's human resources and to ensure the manpower utilization is optimized.
3) E-Syariah

This is the seventh project under e-government. A case management system that integrates the processes related to management of cases for the Syariah Courts. And, the objectives are:

  • To improve the quality of services of Syariah Courts
  • To improve the effectiveness of JKSM (Jabatan Kehakiman Syariah Malaysia) in coordinating jurisdiction and supervising related agencies under its
  • To upload the splendors of Islam through the use of ICT (Information Communication Technology)


Government to Businesses (G2B)

1) E-procurement


E-procurement system enables suppliers to sell goods and services to the Government through Internet. Suppliers advertise their pricing, process orders and deliveries. The objectives includes:

  • Enables accountability and transparency
  • Creates more skilled and knowledgeable workforce
  • Equips the workforce with the latest technology at minimum cost


2) Generic Office Environment (GOE)

A fully customized web-based with powerful document and office management solution that enables users to effectively and efficiently manage their office environment with the objectives of:

  • Efficient preparation and storage documents
  • Fast search and retrieval of documents
  • Effective and productive collaboration and sharing of information
  • Secure and traceable access to documents


Government to Government (G2G)

1) Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)

HRMIS is integrated for the Malaysian Public Service , incorporating Global Best Practices in HR that allows Public service successfully deal with with the challenges of the K-Economy. The objectives are:

  • Effective Staffing and right-sizing of civil service
  • Improve paperless HRM capabilities
  • Open and flexible system
  • Automated human resource managerial and operational processes

2) Project Monitoring System (PMS)

Online system that monitors the entire lifecycle of national programs. The objectives includes:

  • To support and monitor entire lifecycle of Malaysia's 5-year development program
  • To have quality projects
  • To provide a platform for exchanging ideas and demonstrating best practices models in project implementation


Citizen's adoption strategies

Government should increase the awareness and gain as much attention as possible from the citizens for the services provided in e-government. A higher level of customer satisfaction will increase the rate of e-government adoption which moving the same way with the government. Satisfaction can obtained by providing a better protected privacy and confidentiality of the user's information.
Other than that, to retain a long-term users to use e-government frequently, service quality should be competitive with the other developed country in terms of speed, problem serving approach and ease of use of the website.

Lastly, e-government must be advertised through suitable medium such as radio or television. workshop can be held to create awareness on the existence of e-government as this services provides problem solving as they are all full-focus in providing the best services to its citizens.


More information:
1) http://www.intanbk.intan.my/psimr/articles/Article1%20-%20Full.pdf

2) http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTINFORMATIONANDCOMMUNICATIONANDTECHNOLOGIES/EXTEGOVERNMENT/0,,menuPK:702592~pagePK:149018~piPK:149093~theSitePK:702586,00.html


3) http://www.w3.org/2007/06/eGov-dc/papers/SecureEGovernmentPortals


Prepared by Wong Kai Lei.


Corporate blog is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals. The advantage of blogs is that posts and comments are easy to reach and follow due to centralized hosting and generally structured conversation threads.

Currently, corporate blogging is being used as a new marketing communication tool for companies. A corporate weblog is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals. Corporate blogs also giving established companies the ability to connect with their audience on a more personal level, build trust and collect valuable feedback that will help the company for the future use.

There are two types of blog which are internal blog and external blog.

Internal blog is normally accessed through company intranet and viewed by the employees within the organization. Using this way, it can help the employees to communicate with each others and share their experiences. Other than that, it also helps communication between different layers of management because every employees have their own freedom to discuss whatever topic together which they called it as a forum.

External Blog is a blog that can be viewed by public where people can live their comments or give their direct feedback through the blog. By using this external blog, companies can communicate with the clients, employees, the media, prospective employees and customers. Apart from that, corporate organization can conduct communication to public relations by posting press releases and updates about a new company products and services on the blog. By other means, corporate blogging has become a platform of direct communication between corporate organizations with outsiders which can build a better relationship with customer.

Although there are benefits, but there are still limitations of corporate blogging:

1) Negative comments
Companies are often sensitive to criticism. Negative comments from the outsiders can be offset or deleted by the company somewhat with a consistent and clear communication and moderation policy.

2) Neglect
When a blog had set up, companies should spend some time and incur cost to maintain and update their blogs regularly.

3) Misunderstanding the audience
The blog audience is not the same as the company's typical customer base, as blog readers are universally more tech-savvy, up-to-date on industry news, and more passionate about the company's products and the organization, and also likely to be highly critical of dishonesty and insincerity.

Therefore, companies that participate in blogging should manage their blogs well and effectively to bring benefits to the companies.

Additional information:
1) Corporate blogging guidelines
2) Corporate blogging policy

Prepared by Wong Kai Lei.

Electronic currency refers to money or script that is exchanged electronically in which it also can be known as e-money, electronic cash, digital cash or digital currency. Normally, it involves the use of computer networks , Internet and digital stored value systems.

Electronic or digital money is a system of debits and credits that used to exchange their values within another system either online or offline. Electronic money can use to refer to the provider itself. For example, private currency may use gold to provide extra security such as Gold currency and private organization such as US military use private currencies such as Eagle Cash.

Electronic currency, Perfect Money in particular is wide all over the world. This currency is easy in use in which it does not need any bills, checks or any other bank documents. How convenience is this electronic currency?

Internet users often choose to pay municipal services or buy something from Internet shops and pay through electronic currency. Adding, research shows many companies whose employees do not work in offices prefer electronic payment system. Thus, an employee does not need to go office every month to pay any bills.

Ways in using this system includes send money online through account to insert funds into e-currency and make purchases online, or pay any community services. These functions make one's life easier and more comfortable.

Another benefits of e-currency is the ability to store electronic money in the account at the same time percents which will cover all the inflation cost. In other meaning, if one keeps money in several currencies, the cost of inflation will disappear and without any actions, one can earn a good profit.

In conclusion, e-currency is a flexible tools. Money will be easier to lend to friends at the distance, to pay purchases on Internet or make any own businesses. In addition to that, the processing fee is much cheaper then the cost of processing traditional money, credit cards and checks!!

Additional information:
1) Benefits of e-currency trading
2) Latest business updates

Prepared by Wong Kai Lei.

Restaurant Reservation Go Online

Review post: OpenTable.com-Online Restaurant Reservation














Just have a review on this post and just wonder that there is a such wonderful way in making us more convenient for reservation before out of the dinner. OpenTable is developed at 1999 and currently there are 7000 high-end restaurant around the world using this system and more than 10,000 customers throughout the United Stated, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and Japan.


We may have a discussion about the online reservation in Malaysia. Is there any familair online reservation that you know? Hotel online reservation for booking rooms and Airline ticket booking are most familiar online reservation. Airline ticket would be the shopping rush while there is a low fare promotion, those people will online booking one year before the flight date. Cinema online booking also be fond of many young people for booking their seat.

Now let us have an overview of OpenTable.com and get more understanding about what it is. OpenTable is the leading supplier of reservation, table management and guest management software for restaurants. There is a popular website for making restaurant reservations online, http://www.opentable.com/. Once this website developed, it really provides a fast and efficient way to find available tables that meet desired criteria for cuisine, price and location at a specific time. While it is free for any reservation and it save time in stead of making reservation by calling or step in shop. Moreover, the website is directly connected to the thousands of computerized resevation systems at OpenTable restaurants. This service has real benefit as it allow people to make reservation at anywhere anytime. If making by phone call, normally it required calling during business hour. It is also convenient for cancel the booking while just a one click-cancellation features.


With this kind of e-commerce business model, can it be implemented in Malaysia espeacially for high-end restaurants in Kuala Lumpur? From my perpsective, if this business model implement in Malaysia restaurant industry, it would be very successful as some other industries have already implemented e-tailing system and getting a good feedback. The dominant services is one of the way to improve customer services. Nomatter how, invest in this business model require a huge amount of investment as the installation of the software and maintenance fees have spend a huge amount of money in the system. There must the investors who are willing to invest in. If this model is successful to implement in Malaysia, i think it would get a great response among the public.


Sources from:

http://www.opentable.com/info/aboutus.aspx
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/18/business/18opentable.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5087%0A&em&en=da558114de0633ec&ex=1182312000
http://ecommerze.blogspot.com/search/label/e-Tailing



Prepared by Wong Chuan Chi