Students learning the new way - E-learning

5 years ago, my secondary school did a switch from the old and dusty blackboards and chalks to the dustless whiteboards and its counterpart-markers. It was an amazing change, till the power of e-learning came about.

4 years ago, I would never expect myself to ask my parents for a laptop for school-related purposes of learning.

3 years ago, I would never expect myself to tote a laptop around school for project purposes.

2 years ago, I would never expect the teachers in school to require us to utilize our laptops for assignment purposes.

1 years ago, I would never imagine my lecturer asking us, students,to bring our laptops to school for exam purposes.

There are many benefits of e-learning and I will be talking more about its effects being felt by students like myself.

Learning is made convenient, where we start to witness the disappearance of huge and heavy textbooks. We now worry less about the accessibily and availability of learning materials as materials are made available online. With this comes cost advantages. We now purchase lesser textbooks, if even, as more teachers adopt the e-learning approach, where information is made available over the Internet. This greatly boosts incidences of learning.

Also, e-learning enables communication with our lecturers outside school hours and even transcends geographical locations. The use of e-learning facilitates quick feedback from our lecturers too and makes learning a breeze. If I had a question in mind, I can always e-mail my lecturer who will provide me with an answer as soon as he or she can, a day at most, enabling me to clear my doubts when I am unable to be physically in school to consult them.

Take for example our very own UBLearns. It is the University at Buffalo's online learning platform for its students, where lecturers and students are able to interact over the net. There, lecturers can be seen uploading study materials, discussion questions and so on. There was even a module where the questions for the midterm paper was uploaded onto UBLearns and all we had to do was to copy and paste the questions and e-mail our answers in a word document. This not only helps to save the trees but also saves time for both lecturer and student as handwritten work did not have to be done.
UBLearns also enabled online modules to be available to us. An example is the online module NTR109, where we were responsible for downloads the learning materials and studying them ourselves. Then, we wre required to sit for the exam in the Singapore campus here. UBLearns also faciliated communication between the NTR109 lecturer over at the United States campus and myself and made learning feasible.

One device that I use also makes e-learning possible and even more "on the go" for me - my Blackberry phone. I am able to use the Internet for learning purposes wherever I am and I find that it helps me in my studying process a great deal. For example, I can easily look up information I am unsure about anytime, anywhere here and I can also read up on relevant materials on the way to school before the lesson starts.

E-learning is one of the newer forms of learning in this day and age and will only be effective if one's attitude toward learning is in place. No amount of sophisticated learning method will be beneficial if one does not set his or her mind to learning. All in all, we should always keep up the spirit of learning and seek to embrace different ways of learning.

E-commerce success- what does it take?

What does it take for a company to succeed in e-commerce? Andrew Field, CEO of PFL, a company that provides high quality commercial printing, tells us more about how his company stole the spot of the leading online commercial printer company in the States.

How to Create A Successful E-Commerce Web Site

One of the ways PFL did it, as stated by Andrew Field, is by making the website easy to use for its customers. This is done by PFL by not having flashy animations and whatnots that slow the page down. Keeping in mind that not everyone has a high speed connection, websites should be as fuss free as possible for a smoother online experience.

PFL also tried to provide clear information and instructions on its website. Although this sounds very basic, not all companies actually manage to achieve this.

Thirdly, they also tried to provide all the information consumers need, in this case, in order for their customers to make informed choices.

Another advise on web design given by Andrew Field include making sure all links are blue and underlined and that they should be clearly labelled too. He also adds that this is to ensure that people know what to expect and where the page is likely to lead them to.

Andrew Field also talked about testing one's site before putting it out to the market. This includes tesing it by oneself and also by others who has not seen the website. From there, they can then make changes to improve on their website from the feedback they receive.

On top of a good website design, there are also other things to consider in order to make e-commerce a successful venture. One of the first things to put in place is a clear vision and goal for the company. This enables e-commerce companies to know exactly what they want to achieve and it also provides a commitment and guidance for the company through out the process.

Also, e-commerce companies should always have a "consumer is king" mentality, where whatever enhancements and changes made should be for the benefit of the consumers. This also includes being fair and honest to consumers, which builds reputation and respect amongst consumers.

Then, embracing technology and change is also important for e-commerce companies. With the Internet continually evolving, it is also important to keep abreast of developments in order to stay competitive. Being in the know of online culture can also help e-commerce companies to strategize towards a desired direction.

These are just some of the ways e-commerce companies can emply to increase their chances of success, using PFL as a case study, but I am sure this is not an exhaustive list. What I am sure is that striving towards e-commerce success is no mean feat!

Social media and the workplace

My brother recently signed up for a Facebook account for marketing purposes for his company and asked me for advice on how to use it for marketing purposes, for in his eyes, I am the Facebook expert. This week's lecture also happened to talk about social media and business usage and so, I will be delving more into social media and its usage in the workplace.

Is it fit for all?
With social media and its popularity on the rise, it is no wonder that more companies are adopting the use of social media for commercial goals. This, of course, depends on the type of industry they are in and relevancy of the use of such a medium. For example, it would be more appropriate for an advertising company to use social media for business purposes as opposed to a law firm.

What are some of the benefits?
I have been a rather consistent buyer of local clothing online and noticed that many of them are increasingly using social media to increase its reach and revenue. For example, MDS Collections, a shop I used to work at, now has its own Twitter account and Facebook page in response to the trend of the rise in Twitter and Facebook usage. When I was working with them back in 2009, they did not employ the usage of these 2 forms of social media. With their Twitter and Facebook accounts now, I am pretty sure they have increased their audience reach and company revenue a great deal. I even have had friends who told me the shop was having a sale from the company's twitter and facebook updates!

How do we use it effectively?
Companies should always use social media with an objective in mind I feel. It should never be used "for the sake of it". With a goal in mind, the company can then adopt appropriate strategies for reaching its goal. Following that, they should adopt a plan of action and track its progress. If things are not working out, they should probably consider another course of action or even rethink their use of social media. Then, companies could also follow other industry players closely and work to build relationships with them. This way, they can not only be in the know of what is happening with the other industry players but also build a rapport with them for possible future partnerships.

Any basic rules?
Whichever social networking site one decides to use for work purposes, there are some basic rules that one should know regarding the usage of social media. For one, one should never disclose proprietary or confidential information belonging to the company or its clients. Also, one should always consult the human resources department if one is unsure of posting certain information online. It is also important to remember that we should use social media the same way we would use any other communication channels. For example, if one is not allowed to reveal in a conference the lastest technology the company has adopted to increase the efficiency of its manufacturing plants, one should never tweet about it.

If used appropriately and wisely, I am confident social media would benefit a company greatly. I would like to end this entry with an advice to companies as quoted from Stephen Baker and Heather Green from BusinessWeek, "Catch up... or catch you later."