A discussion on E-Learning offered in Malaysian universities: Pros and Cons from the students perspective

E-learning means technology-enhanced learning, such as through internet. Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (UNITAR) is the first university to offer e-learning degree programs in Malaysia as well as in ASEAN in 1997. Then was followed by Multimedia University (MMU), University Technology MARA (UITM), University Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Open University Malaysia (UNITEM).

Advantages of E-learning from student’s perspective:

1) Easy accessibility – Can obtain teaching materials through e-libraries, communicate with tutors for clarifying uncertainties in study irrespective of location.

2) Time flexibility – Able to get online resources, communicate with tutor or classmate and send in assignments at any time being able to get access to the internet, especially for those who are working while taking course.

3) Able to learn at own pace – Able to learn at any time without concern will be left out of a lecture as in traditional method of education.

4) Affordable – Can save expenses on travelling, accommodation, food and high fees for tutors.

5) Save time – Do not have to spend time travelling to campus particularly those who stay far away from campus.

6) No discrimination – Everyone’s performance will depend on merit alone, thus there will be no issue on inequality based upon race and sex.

Disadvantages of E-learning from student’s perspective:
1) Lack of face-to-face communication – tutor cannot easily feel student’s demands, interests and motivations through deficient of gesture and vivid dialogue.

2) Expenses on technology equipments needed – Have to spend money on buying computer and internet network which support the requirement of E-Learning software provided by the university.

3) Require new or enhanced computer and troubleshooting skills - It seems like the benefits are far more than the limitations, thus E-Learning could be a better choice depending on each individual’s needs.

For further reading:
Electronic Learning
University-level e-learning in ASEAN
Pros and cons of E-Learning
Positive and negative aspect of online learning

Mobile payment systems in Malaysia : Its potentials and consumers' adoption strategies

Nowadays many of us live with mobile phones at anytime and anywhere. Traditionally it started function as making phone calls and text messaging, and now eventually it had becoming more advanced by providing payment by using mobile phones—mobile payment. Consumers are able to pay for a wide range of goods and services as if they are using credit card for payments.

For more information regarding mobile payments:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Payment
http://www.neowave.com.my/mobilemoney_howitworks.asp

Potentials of mobile payment systems in Malaysia
With reference to Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s statement in "Mobile Digital Signature Symposium 2008" on 3rd June 2008, there are 88% of Malaysian population subscribed to mobile phone services, and this high penetration rate shows that mobile phone networks is increasingly becoming a population channel for Malaysians. Moreover, there are 55 million deposit accounts in Malaysia’s banking system from our population of 27 million indicates a high percentage of population have deposit accounts with the banking system. Eventually mobile payment systems will have a very high potential in Malaysia since high percentage of mobile phone subscriber and high rate of participation of population in banking system forms an ideal platform for mobile payment.

Consumers’ adoption strategies
In order to widen the reach of mobile payment to the population, new and innovative mobile payment products and services are important for offering simplicity, convenience and speed at minimal cost, as well as providing efficient and cost-effective method of delivering mobile payment services even in the remote areas.

Common payment infrastructure and standardizing the payment messaging format for wider acceptance of mobile payment are essentials for the growth of mobile payment. Thus consumer can easily make payment using mobile phones without having the difficulty of lack of payment infrastructure while paying or different payment format which might confuse them.

Moreover, the industries should expand the range of products and services providing mobile payments to ensure the consumers are able to conveniently use mobile phones for making their payment. The industries should also formulate a transparent and cost-effective pricing framework to provide incentives through using mobile payment, for instance give a rebate of 5% if pay by using mobile payment to increase consumers’ participations.

The Government also has to ensure the security and integrity of mobile payment by providing supporting regulatory and legal framework. This is to strengthen the consumers’ confidence in the safety, security and reliability of mobile payment as their payment method. Thus, education and outreach programmes can be use as a mean to increase the consumer awareness and confidence in mobile payments.

Review on online beauty product fraud

Online transaction is a place where most of the fraud could take place as there is not much legal protection for the buyers. From the blog posted, we could see that victims that are caught in this scam do not know much on the procedure and safe guard to be taken.

Moreover, most of this online transaction fraud lured t

heir “prey” by offering cheaper price of the same product that sells in the market. Where buyer would do survey on caught by the low price that they could not found in elsewhere. However, sometimes victim falls as prey to this online

transaction fraud because of their ignorance and feel of greed. Victims come from all sought of profession has be falls as prey for being greedy as they are attracted to the “super low price” of the product and did not do any survey towards the authenticity of the websites.

In addition, some of this website lure their victim

using time constraint where they need to conclude the "great deal" in certain time. If the failed to do so than the deal will be off. Thus the victim would not have enough time to check for the authenticity of the website.

Besides that, consumers are not well aware of this type of online transaction scam. Thus, they would become easy prey for this con-man. On the other hand, some of the victims does not know which authority that they could refer to and make complaint of such scam. Thus, member of the society does not know much of this scam.

Thus, we should not turn our deaf ear towards this fraud that will cause member of the society to feel insecure towards the convenient of the online transaction that could affect most of the business for the genuine online sellers. Next time anyone who wanted purchase online, they should check on the authenticity of the websites, or online purchase from trusted sites to avoid falls as victim.

other related websites:

• How to Fight Online Transaction Fraud
• Beware of e-frauds
• Online Fraud Protection

Work In Progress

Review a local, transactional e-commerce site

E-commerce has available in Malaysia for a long period. There are many local e-commerce website in Malaysia, and I had chosen one website which is http://lelong.com.my/. Although it had exist for a long time, there still not all of the Malaysian using this e-commerce service. And now let me introduce you to this locally known e-commerce service.

This e-commerce service incepted at the end of 1998, as it has quickly established a firm footing in the e-commerce arena. "Serving the community and bringing a high standard of quality into homes and businesses by providing an avenue for on-line trading at a low cost", is the mission statement of lelong.com. The site’s main income included membership fee, posting auction/sales fee, and D.I.Y. Banner Advertisement fee. The other services included real-time account inquiry, funds transfers and payments, and also online share trading.

As for the selling system, it has Maximum Bid / AutoBid / ProxyBid. Every time another party beats your initial bid, AutoBid raises your bid by one single increment more than the challenging bid. If another bidder exceeds your Maximum Bid, the bids end. User could pay through several payment channels such as Online Credit Card, Interbank Transfer / Giro / Bank Counter, E-banking Payment, and also check payment.

Although it’s a new market for Malaysia in e-commerce, there are still many improvements to be made. The total demand for online buyer had grown rapidly; company should go for online market since there are still many opportunity in the internet.

Corporate Blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies.

A corporate blog is a blog published by or with the support of an organization to reach that organization’s goals. In external communications, the potential benefits include strengthened relationships with important target groups and the positioning of the publishing organization (or individuals within it) as industry experts. Internally blogs are generally referred to as tools forcollaboration and knowledge management.

Before we understand corporate blogging as an marketing communication tool, we need to know what is the nature of blogs. Blogs are not objective, they might give biased information. People who are writing blog with their perception, value or interest. From the equation, you just cant remove their personality. Blog is not a corporate communication department, you may realise there are pointless in thier blogs. Different bloggers have different voices. You might find out everyday voice; natural, direct and informal, maybe even funny or irritating. Blogging shouldn’t becompared to journalism, but you’ll find a similarity between Personality/Voice. Furthermore, you are not alone out there. There is always some blogs sharing your interests. You might be a part of conversation by linking to those blogs from posts of your own, starting their opinions. publishing useful information or thoughts. Haha, it is not neccessary try to converse, but the most blogger would argue that this is an important part of blogging.

From a business perspective there are several potential reasons to blog. But, as always, it depends on what you want. There are some reasons of corporate blogging. Become the Expert. Position yourself and your company as the thought leader of your business. Customer Relationships. In your forum, your main objective is not to sell something but you will have more personal relationships between you and your customer. You may join the customer discussions, provide tips and insight or receive feedback. Media Relations. It is every PR consultant's dream to create a channel where media regularly check what you have to say, instead of media just being passive. Knowledge Management. Blogs works in two ways. First of all, there are an easy way for the readers to find information and resources they want or need. That is obvious and could be used internally in many organizations. Second, blogs are a kind of "university light" forthe blogger. Blogging is on-the-job learning.

You may want to see what others are doing?

European Corporate Blogs http://www.corporateblogging.info/europe/

Business Blog Consulting http://www.businessblogconsulting.com/

CEOBlogsList http://www.thenewpr.com/wiki/pmwiki.php/Resources/CEOBlogsList

If you are free, you may read those blogs below:

Dana's bloghttp://www.danavan.net/weblog/

Micro Persuasionhttp://www.micropersuasion.com/

Corporate Engagementhttp://trevorcook.typepad.com/weblog/

Scobleizerhttp://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/

Contentioushttp://blog.contentious.com/

The Application of Prepaid Cash Card for Consumers

Prepaid cash card also called as prepaid debit card. It is a plastic card which provides an alternative payment method to cash when making purchases. The funds are withdrawn directly from either the bank account, or from the remaining balance on the card. Usually, cash cards are used for telephone and Internet purchases. Cash cards can also allow for instant withdrawal of cash, acting as the ATM card for withdrawing cash and as a cheque guarantee card. Merchants can also offer "cashback"/"cashout" facilities to customers, where a customer can withdraw cash along with their purchase. Unlike a charge or credit card, a debit card purchase incurs no interest.

For those who cannot get a bank account, or do not wish to use an ATM card that is attached to one, prepaid cards are a way to get the same convenience. One easy way to get a cash card is through an online financial payment service such as PayPal. PayPal cards use a person's PayPal account balance as the principle. However, an account holder must have a PayPal account in good standing for 60 days to obtain one. Another method is to go to a check-cashing store and purchase a card. These cards usually cost about RM10 plus the amount of cash principle. Once purchased, the cards may be refilled at any location offering the particular service. The biggest drawback to this variety of card is the fee structure. It's common for ATM transactions to cost several ringgits in fees and for debit purchases to cost anywhere from 50 cents to RM1. There may also be a percentage charged monthly on any balance carried. The third option is to have a percentage of your paycheck go into a cash card. The payment service will mail you a card and will usually charge a nominal up-front fee. These cards also come with plenty of usage fees.

Credit Card debts: Causes and Prevention

It seems now days that credit cards are almost a necessity, instead of a luxury, which has caused so many people to have a big problem with credit card debt. Many people now have more than one credit card with a balance and you might even be one of those people. If you are one of the millions of people wanting to get out of credit card debt, then first you need to understand what caused the credit card debt problem to begin with.

1) Less Income, More Expenses

It so happens that the main breadwinner of the household loses his job but monthly expenses are not cut down in line with the reduction in income. This obviously leads to a rise in debt. The family is forced to use their credit cards for groceries, utilities, etc.

2) Poor Money Management

Poor money management is one of the best reasons why so many families accumulate lots of debt. Not having a monthly spending plan and not keeping track of your monthly bills makes you unaware of where your money is going. You might be spending hundreds of dollars every month towards items that are useless and have no value in your life, yet you do not realize it. While your money is going towards purchasing useless items, you might also be charging your necessary purchases on your credit card, forcing you to pay interest on these purchases every month.

3) Hoping to win the lottery

Most people hope to win the lottery but the chances of that happening are 0%. Do not spend tomorrow's saved money today just because you expect a promotion in your job or are expecting an inheritance from a deceased grandfather. We all know life is unfair and things can go wrong more easily than going right.

Now that the credit card debt problem has been explained in a very basic manner, we need the solution to get the problem under control.

Depending on your level of debt you can take one or more of the following actions to reduce or eliminate your debts

1) Making a budget

Making a budget is what you should do first if you don't want to fall into a deeper debt load. Assess how much do you get from your income or other means and your expenditures. Your goal is to ensure that you can meet all the basic necessities: food, housing, clothes, health-related costs, among others.

2) Contacting your creditors

You may not include this step in your plan but running away from your creditors is not the right answer. If you are having trouble paying off your debts, address this immediately with your creditors. State to them the reason why it has become hard for you to pay these debts, and negotiate your debt to reduce your monthly payments.

3) Dealing with debt collection agencies

If you cannot stop your creditors to turn over your debts to debt collectors be prepared to protect your rights. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act clearly states that those collecting debts may not bug you, give false assertions, or do practices that are not fair when they are collecting money from you.

The threat of online security: How Safe Is Our Data?

The Internet is a public system in which every transaction can be tracked, logged, monitored and stored in many locations, it is important for businesses to understand possible security threats to their business. Security has three main concepts: confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Confidentiality allows only authorized parties to read protected information. Integrity ensures data remains as is from the sender to the receiver. Availability ensures you have access and are authorized to resources.

When a website is compromised, it puts thousands at risk for one of many possible types of identity theft. It is rare that a site is hacked to this extent: usually, the data is collected through look alike sites, through spyware, or through other means of collection; most of which happen on a single-user basis.

There are many threats to e-commerce that may come from sources within an organization or individual. The followings are some of the potential security threats that can be found.

(1) WormIt's a malicious software which is a stand alone application. It's often designed to propagate through a network, rather than just a single computer. When your computer is infect of worm, computer will slow starting or slow running. It'll also face unexpected or frequent system failures.
(2) Trojan HorsesTrojan horses are a program that appears to be useful but actually is the mask destructive program. The example of Trojan horse is Trojan Xombe which is the mask as email from Microsoft. The hackers will access to the computer and steal the passwords.
(3) Computer VirusesComputer viruses is a piece of software code that inserts itself into a host which including the operating systems to spread over and harm the users computer. In the internet world, there have around 80,000 viruses and everyday will have 25 new viruses be created. The examples of computer viruses are I Love You virus, Auto Run and etc.

There are some ways to prevent internet threats:
Nowadays, the computer systems in an organization are very important because when it s attacked by the computer viruses, it will cause the important files to be lost. Therefore the user or organization should take an action to prevent its computer attacked by viruses. The action that can be taking is to install the updated anti-virus software such as Kaspersky Antivirus, AVG Antivirus software and so on. This is because the antivirus software will directly to delete the malicious program when the software found it. However, user are suggested that should not use the trial version or free version antivirus software because the software is not complete in function.

Review on "Using Touch n Go card to buy fast food in Malaysia will be a reality"

Touch’ n Go card that uses Mifare contactless technology which allow user to make payment and the electronic card reader will automatically help to deduct the exact cost from the value stored inside the card. This card is convenience and user friendly, more importantly it can top-up or reload easily at any convenient stall, hypermarket, petrol station and etc.


Below is some of the function of Touch’ n Go card:

• To pay toll - the use of the Touch’ n Go could help user to avoid long queue for paying toll
• Pay for the public transport like bus, LRT - avoid the hassle of preparing exact change for public transport
• Used to transfer electronic payments - fast and convenience
• Using the card like Visa Debit Card - carrying a lot of cash to do shopping will impose danger of snatch thief so user can use their touch’ and go to do shopping at some selected hypermarket
• Paying for the food – in 2008, Touch’ n Go implemented the use of the card to pay for the food in fast food chains
• Paying for movie ticket

However, there is 50 sen charge for the top-up of the card.