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10.5.2012

As Malaysian universities and other institutions of learning aspire to maximize and globalize their online education, there are series of questions that are begging for answers. This article looks critically at some serious challenges Online Education in Malaysia faces.

To start with, Malaysia Education Online (MEdO) is a Malaysian Government initiative that is aimed at transforming the process of international distance education in the country. It is a pet project that had been designated to make Malaysian institutions competitive in the area of international education delivery.

Apart from its possibility of bringing in some extra revenue, MEdO is expected to modify the processes of learning for both on-campus and long-distance students by integrating the traditional and modern course content into Malaysian education. This is projected to improve the quality of education delivered to students on both physical and virtual campuses.

The four main procedures for achieving the objectives of MEdO involve:

1. Content development;
2. Content delivery;
3. Program aggregation; and
4. Program management

Of utmost importance are the content development and delivery aspects of this process. It is a fact that online education demands a sizeable quantity of storage capacity to be functional. Malaysian institutions need to quickly provide easy and quick access to interactive videos, virtual academic chatrooms, teleconferences and digitized library and educational feedback procedures. As a matter of fact, online students will require unrestricted access to on-demand educational technologies like videos, webinars, recorded lessons on CDs etc which will enhance the quality of their learning processes. However, this will be a capital-intensive project in the sense that new servers, networks and storage facilities are required to handle the increase in the number of online students.

Cloud computing is one of the efficient ways of solving this problem of unexpected surge in IT expenditure in order to meet the surprising increase in storage requirements. Malaysia universities have a lot to gain by adopting cloud technology. Aside from cutting back on their overheard IT expenses, they can also enjoy some distinguishing features of flexibility, scalability, better speed and efficiency guaranteed by cloud technology.

For example, Malaysian institutions can reduce their IT budgets and concentrate on improving the quality of the education they offer, whether locally or globally through the adoption of some great educational technology and software/hardware that will surely maintain a good culture of proactive online education.

Some of the features available to Malaysian online students as provided by the cloud technology include but are not limited to:

• Software as a Service (SaaS)—whereby online students can use some software/applications to achieve their educational goals but having no power to control the hardware, operating and networking systems;
• Platform as a Service (PaaS)—for this software, users can use a hosting environment for their applications, but they are not allowed to control the hardware, operating system etc;
• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)—with this application, Malaysian online students can control the hardware, operating system and the networking system in the course of using the storage facility, networking system and other principal computing services offered by the cloud computing firm managing their institutions’ IT infrastructure.

Considering the benefits of cloud computing described above, online Malaysian institutions should consider adopting cloud computing as one of their administrative strategies to make their institutions performance well. Another good thing about cloud technology is that it permits interoperability with other kinds of software/hardware. In other words, online learning institutions in Malaysia need not to bother themselves about the workability of their current hardware, networking system, servers and applications with the cloud technology. And the security concerns of cloud computing is improving on a regular basis, meaning that users of cloud technology will soon have nothing to worry about as far as their data protection and security are concerned.

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About the Guest Author:

Jerry Olasakinju, a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) degree holder, is a passionate researcher and writer whose interest in everything computing is unparalleled. He blogs about his literary works at http://jerryolasakinju.blogspot.jp/

10.4.2012

Currently, millions of people are so glued to their mobile phones that they really do not remember how life was before smartphones became a reality. According to World Mobile Applications Market, there are about seven billion applications that were globally made in the year 2009. These mainly came from natural and third-party application stores that generated big revenue in the same year. It is expected that in the year 2015 this mobile application market would be worth $24.4 billion. This is at least a 64% increased rate from the year 2009. The mobile application market is growing due to advancement in network technologies, growing adaptation on smartphones, and lower mobile data usage cost. From this article, you will know how the mobile phone serves as a lodging place for cloud application development. While not all mobile devices can do the job, this would be in reference to most new-generation mobile phone devices.

The Rise of Mobile Cloud Computing

With the progression of mobile cloud computing, greater efforts have been exerted just to develop platforms for cloud-based mobile applications. Mobile computing and cloud computing are the same technologies that move applications from the user to the server. Building applications for mobile cloud is relatively diverse from developing applications for a traditional smartphone such as iPhone or Android. However, in the long run, mobile cloud computing models will generate more revenue for application developers, and will open its doors to more developers.

From Cellular Devices to App Development

Mobile phone companies can create their own parallel cloud for them to develop mobile applications. This simply means that mobile phone users need not go online to find stores for installation of applications. In other words, the procurement of mobile applications will become obsolete since the user should only rent a space to utilize network cache.

It is true that not all cellular devices can easily access an integral cellular cloud unless all developers will make a trademark that will support the application. This is not a difficult process since they can even run from their current mobile operating system, which by the way, is doing pretty well. Thus with this concept cloud computing would achieve a new dimension from the ones we are used to seeing now.

If what analysts say are to be believed, then in future there would be no need to install applications as they would run on a cloud environment and you only need to have an interface to operate it. Some technologies that facilitate these kinds of improvements are now available. In line with this, applications that are being installed and run can be more accessible and easy to use.

Setting up Mobile Applications

Other than smartphone developers and manufacturers, there are now experts who have cellular computing software. This paves the way for new mobile services and applications. They have their own packages that include excellent operating systems, which borrow from a computer-based cloud. It means that their main role is to prepare the cellular cloud to run similar to the latest technology needed for certain software. For this, more companies should also be in line with this kind of technological change.

The Bad

Though mobile sectors are known to be the fastest growing platforms for applications, it has also some issues and one of these is the interruption in network connection. Sometimes, you may experience that the download frequency is less and your broadband device is blinking. Some people may also experience inactivity of voice calls during the web-based procedure. Other mobile application marketplaces are not structured in terms of ad- revenue generation. Ads in free applications might be annoying to users, consumes more battery resources and turn off users.

The Good

Despite these issues, the development and setup of mobile applications are still rich in application achievements because it has opened a new source of revenue for mobile phone manufacturers. You will see that in the near future, iOS and android will no longer lodge on up-to-date devices. Not only will mobile application development remain an inspirational element for all users, it can also serve as people’s helping hand to create and improve mobile applications to produce great success.

Be Part of Our Cloud Conversation

Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.

About the Guest Author:

Mandira Srivastava is a fulltime freelance writer who specializes in technology, health and fitness, politics, and financial writing. Equipped with degree of mass communication and having worked for both private and corporate clients, I have experience meeting a wide range of writing requirements and styles.