1. ANALYSIS OF THE DIGITAL ECONOMY AND E-LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS IN MALAYSIA Carol Shen Jung Pai Supervisors: Professor Vassil Alexandrov and Mrs. Nia Alexandrov MSc Network and e-Business Centred Computing University Of Reading 1

2. Agenda Introduction State-of-the-art Research Methods Evaluation Parameters Analysis of ACCESS survey Comparison Conclusion 2

3. Introduction Digital Economy “The novel design or use of information and communication technologies to help transform the lives of individuals, society or business” [1]. E-government, e- learning, e-commerce efficiency, less resources waste, instant data transformation, and sharing of knowledge E-Learning Use of technologies and communication tools to enable people to learn anytime and anywhere [2]. Self-learning materials, enhanced learning tools, communication tools Without time and location constrains Share of knowledge 3

4. Goal Find solutions that could possibly improve the state-of-the-art of the digital economy and e-learning environments in Malaysia, while at the same time to minimize the gap between users’ and students’ preferences and the state-of-the art. http://www.foggodyssey.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/malaysia-map-overall.jpg. 4

5. E-Learning Modes of Study in e-learning: ◦ Virtual mobility – interact through ICT (Information Communication Technologies) ◦ Distance education – communication media Asynchronous ◦ Self-learning materials and message board Synchronous ◦ Communicate and collaborate at same time ◦ Virtual classroom, shared whiteboard, application sharing, and video conference 5

6. Applications in e-Learning Open University Malaysia ◦ Mobile learning  used in blended mode, digital contents and communication tools ◦ Digital Library  72,500 e-books and e-journals  Write notes and search similar topic online ◦ E-Content Resource Centre  Resources, data, past exams, notes, problems  Interactive tutorial 6

7. Applications in e-Learning International Islamic University Malaysia ◦ LearningNet  Learning management system  Online teaching and training ◦ AIM  communication and collaboration tool  Information sharing, document management, content management among members ◦ LMS (Learning management system)  Send announcements automatically  Allows students to download forum postings 7

8. Research Methods Statistics ◦ Number of users, growth ◦ Reported network incidents Experiments ◦ Webpage load testing Surveys ◦ ACCESS survey  Academic Cooperation Europe-South-East Asia Support  strengthen cooperation between higher education institutions in Europe and SEA  Survey: expectations and opinions about European higher education, including mobility schemes 8

9. Evaluation Parameters Accessibility ◦ Number of users with access to the Internet Quality ◦ Quality of service: content, load testing Sustainability ◦ possibility for technology upgrade Security ◦ Network attacks and reported incidents 9

10. 1. Accessibility From 2003 to 2009, the number of Internet users increased by 10 million, and the growth rate is 178.39% Average growth: 29.73% per year Internet users: 15.87 million, population: 28.6 million, Internet coverage: 59% data collected from the Internet Users 10

11. 1. Accessibility Malaysia ◦ Population: 28.6 million ◦ Internet Users: 16.9 million ◦ Coverage: 59% U.S. ◦ Population: 307.2 million ◦ Internet Users: 227.7 million ◦ Coverage: 74.1% World ◦ Population: 6.8 billion ◦ Internet Users: 1.73 billion ◦ Coverage: 25.6% data collected from Internet World Stat 11

12. 1. Accessibility ACCESS Survey – Students with access to Internet  In Malaysia, 96.69% (351 out of 363) of the university students have access to the Internet  In other Southeast Asian countries, 98.27% (967 out of 984) of the university students have access to the Internet 12

13. 2. Quality – Education 38.29% ACCESS SURVEY Reasons to study in a foreign university 13

14. ACCESS Comparison- Reasons to study in a foreign university ACCESS Comparison- Reasons to study in a foreign university 14 Priorities of the reasons Students from MalaysiaStudents from Other countries 1attain greater knowledge 2other reasons*better opportunities for work 3degree with international recognition 4better opportunities for workother reasons* 5foreign university is more prestigious 6program is not offered in their country

15. 2. Quality – Load Testing Government websites Website in Malaysia Title: Malaysia Government Portal – myGovernment Total Size: 2,011,166 bytes 56K download time: 412.22 seconds ISDN 128K download time:134.15 seconds Average Rate (56K): 4,878.87 bytes / seconds Average Rate (128K): 14,991.92 bytes / seconds Website in the U.S. Title: The U.S. Government's Official Web Portal Total Size: 127,318 bytes 56K download time: 40.57 seconds ISDN 128K download time: 22.97 seconds Average Rate (56K): 3138.23 bytes / seconds Average Rate (128K): 5542.79 bytes / seconds 15

16. 3. Sustainability MIMOS (Malaysian Institute of Microelectronic Systems) Web 3.0 ◦ semantic technology platform ◦ Goal: 1 st Web 3.0 society WiWi – hybrid of Wi-Fi and WiMax Intelligence Surveillance Platform ◦ Military, public safety ◦ Optimize computer intelligence ◦ Image processing and behavior analysis 16

17. 4. Security data collected from MyCERT (Malaysia Computer Emergency Response Team) Goal: to reduce the probability of successful attack and lower the risk of consequential damage 17

18. 4. Security data collected from MyCERT 18

19. ACCESS Survey – Mode of Study Most desired mode of study: 1.Physical mobility 2.Virtual mobility 3.Foreign University branches 4.Joint degrees and curricula 5.Distance education 19

20. ACCESS Survey – Preferable Location for Postgraduate Students in Malaysia: 1. Europe 2. USA 3. Australia 4. New Zealand 5. Asia 6. Southeast Asia Students in Other Southeast Asian countries: 1. Europe 2. USA 3. Australia 4. New Zealand 5. Asia 6. Southeast Asia 20

21. ACCESS - Do students in Malaysia intend to continue their studies at next level depend of their current degree course? 21 82.16% (198 out of 241) of the undergraduate students intend to continue their studies at the next level At the postgraduate level, 89.34% (109 out of 122) of the students intend to continue their studies at the next level postgraduate students are more likely to continue their studies at the next level than the undergraduate students in Malaysia.

22. ACCESS - The students in Malaysia consider undertaking studies in a foreign university as necessary for their future career depend on their ability to speak English. 75.76% (275 out of 363) of the university students from Malaysia consider study abroad is necessary for their future career Among people who consider study abroad is necessary, only 16% (44 out of 275) of the students do not speak English. Where as in the group that does not consider studying abroad is necessary, the number of people who do not speak English reaches 22.7% (20 out of 68) of the students. ability to speak English is correlated to the motivations to studying abroad 22

23. ACCESS - Students in Malaysia consider to study at next level depend on the Internet accessibility 96.69% students consider to study at the next level, and only 12 (3.31%) students do not consider to study at the next level. Among the students who consider studying at the next level, 85.19% have internet access From the group which does not consider studying at the next level, only 66.67% (8 out of 12) of the students have internet access Students, who consider to study at the next level, have higher percentage of internet accessibility that than students who do not consider to study at the next level. 23

24. Summary of ACCESS Survey - Malaysia 94% of the students are from public universities. 90% of the students in Malaysia speak other foreign languages 76% of the students in Malaysia consider undertaking studies in a foreign university as necessary for their future career, and 85% of the students intend to continue their study at next level. Students, who consider to study at the next level, have higher percentage of internet accessibility that than students who do not consider to study at the next level. 88% of the students require funding to study abroad. 24

25. Drawbacks of the ACCESS Survey Language: English Order of the mode of study mode of study definitions Not enough samples: only 363 students who answered the survey in Malaysia Sampling errors – sample is not representative ◦ University, majors ◦ Most surveys are answered online 25

26. Comparison of the Survey and Statistics in the ACCESS survey, most people prefer the traditional mode instead of distance education Private universities – more advanced in e- learning development Public universities – most popular and represented group, who does not prefer distance education More students with Internet access than the statistics: 97% vs. 59% 26

27. Improvements of The Digital Economy More funding to increase the accessibility Invest in IT and R&D to improve the quality and efficiency Carefully monitor possible security threats and educate more users about how to prevent network threats and where to report internet incidents Improve security infrastructures, network intrusion detection and preventions system 27

28. Improvements of The E-Learning Environment Centralized e-learning database: good quality contents, share of knowledge Balanced mode between e-learning and traditional mode Implemented or translate in other languages Public universities, private, and foreign universities collaborate to keep e-learning technologies up- to-date Develop e-learning modes based on users’ preferences, to improve distance learning technologies Government encourages digital economy and e- learning by invest in R&D 28

29. Conclusion Digital economy could enhance economic growth and development, Malaysia government agency (MIMOS) continuously researches and studying on new technologies to advance the state-of-the-art. Malaysia is well-prepared to adapt to the latest technologies, and is looking forward to shift to a web 3.0 society in a near future Improve the e-learning tools and technologies to enhance the learning experience 29

30. Reference [1] Digital Economy. Research Council UK. [Online] 2010. [Cited: January 18, 2010.] http://www.rcukdigitaleconomy.org.uk/. [2] Digital, Being. Being Digital. New York : Knopf, 1995. [3] ACCESS Survey [4] myCERT [5] web optimizer [6] MIMOS 30

31. Thank You 31