Muhammad Anshari

Smartphones usage in the classrooms: Learning aid or interference?

Many educational institutions, especially higher education institutions, are considering to embrace smartphones as part of learning aids in classes as most students (in many cases all students) not only own them but also are also attached to them. The main question is whether embracing smartphones in classroom teaching enhances the learning or perhaps an interference. This paper presents the finding of our study on embracing smartphone in classroom teaching. The study was carried out through a survey and interview/discussion with a focus group of students. We found that they use their smartphones to access teaching materials or supporting information, which are normally accessible through the Internet. Students use smartphones as learning aids due many reasons such as they provide convenience, portability, comprehensive learning experiences, multi sources and multitasks, and environmentally friendly. They also use smartphones to interact with teachers outside classes and using smartphones to manage their group assignments. However, integrating smartphones in a classroom-teaching environment is a challenging task. Lecturers may need to incorporate smartphones in teaching and learning to create attractive teaching and optimum interaction with students in classes while mitigating or at least minimising distractions that can be created. Some of the challenges are distraction, dependency, lacking hands on skills, and the reduce quality of face-to-face interaction. To avoid any disturbances in using smartphones within a classroom environment, proper rules of using smartphones in class should be established before teaching, and students need to abide to these rules.

Developing online learning resources: Big data, social networks, and cloud computing to support pervasive knowledge

Utilizing online learning resources (OLR) from multi channels in learning activities promise extended benefits from traditional based learning-centred to a collaborative based learning-centred that emphasises pervasive learning anywhere and anytime. While compiling big data, cloud computing, and semantic web into OLR offer a broader spectrum of pervasive knowledge acquisition to enrich users’ experience in learning. In conventional learning practices, a student is perceived as a recipient of information and knowledge. However, nowadays students are empowered to involve in learning processes that play an active role in creating, extracting, and improving OLR collaborative learning platform and knowledge sharing as well as distributing. Researchers have employed contents analysis for reviewing literatures in peer-reviewed journals and interviews with the teachers who utilize OLR. In fact, researchers propose pervasive knowledge can address the need of integrating technologies like cloud computing, big data, Web 2.0, and Semantic Web. Pervasive knowledge redefines value added, variety, volume, and velocity of OLR, which is flexible in terms of resources adoption, knowledge acquisition, and technological implementation.

Framework of Social Customer Relationship Management in E-Health Services

Healthcare organization is implementing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) as a strategy for managing interactions with patients involving technology to organize, automate, and coordinate business processes. Web-based CRM provides healthcare organization with the ability to broaden service beyond its usual practices in achieving a complex patient care goal, and this paper discusses and demonstrates how a new approach in CRM based on Web 2.0 or Social CRM helps healthcare organizations to improve their customer support, and at the same time avoiding possible conflicts, and promoting better healthcare to patients. A conceptual framework of the new approach will be proposed and highlighted. The framework includes some important features of Social CRM such as customer’s empowerment, social interactivity between healthcare organization–patients, and patients-patients. The framework offers new perspective in building relationships between healthcare organizations and customers and among customers in e-health scenario. It is developed based on the latest development of CRM literatures and case studies analysis. In addition, customer service paradigm in social network’s era, the important of online health education, and empowerment in healthcare organization will be taken into consideration.

Crafting strategies for sustainability: how travel agents should react in facing a disintermediation

The growing adoption of electronic transactions through the Web both by travel industry and their customers pose a great challenge to traditional intermediaries in this industry (travel agents) as it allows direct interactions between suppliers with their customers. Moreover, the advancement of Web technology like Web 2.0 drives many organizations to adjust their marketing strategy since it affects the way customers control the flow of information. With Web 2.0 customers are gaining more control over the flow of information where they have more information sources which come from various conversations taking place in their social networks. The study emphasizes on travel customers’ responses to web-based electronic transactions and strategies of travel agents (TAs) to sustain their business in a very competitive market. This paper discusses how electronic transactions through the Web affect to the survivability of TAs in Brunei. A Resource Dependence Theory (RDT) and CRM 2.0 are used to understand the phenomenon due to the changing of business environment, which is mainly caused by the Web technology. To assess the impact of web-based transactions, we conducted interviews with TAs, stressing on the effect of technology adoption and their business strategies, as well as a survey to travel customers emphasizing on their preference towards web-based transactions. It was found that the survivability of TAs in Brunei is at risk unless they have distinctive market segments or the capability to adapt to the changes. In addition, customers prefer online as well as personal interactions. This leads us to construct a reference model for TAs to survive in fast changing environment, initiate strategies, and embrace the latest technology advancement to fulfill customers’ expectations and preferences for their business sustainability.

A cultural transferability on IT business application: iReservation system

Purpose – The emergence of innovative internet-based reservation systems (iReservation systems) is threatening the sustainability of retail travel agencies (TAs) in Brunei Darussalam. With the friendliness and convenience offered by iReservation systems, many customers nowadays prefer to book their tickets and accommodations online. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of iReservation systems on TAs in Brunei Darussalam. In other words, the authors are interested to find out how TAs and customers react to iReservation systems. Design/methodology/approach – To fulfil this objective, surveys were conducted on both the responses from TAs and their customers regarding iReservation systems in Brunei Darussalam. Findings – Most individual customers prefer to book their tickets and accommodations through iReservation systems. However, government and corporate customers still prefer to book tickets and accommodation by TAs. Most TAs are affected by iReservation systems either negatively or positively...

Incorporating social customer relationship management in negotiation

This paper is to examine the negotiating issues and aspects of emerging Web 2.0 technology in customer relationship management (CRM) namely social CRM or CRM 2.0 helps individual or organisational to exercise multi-channel interactions beyond its traditional mechanism. The social CRM provides entities the ability to broaden services beyond its usual practices, and thus provides a particular advantageous environment to achieve complex goals. It discusses recent trends of social networking sites like Facebook, Tweeter, LinkedIn, etc. as means of e-negotiation. It allows people to have greater control of information flow of interaction. Some cases were analysed to depict recent notion of social networks activities in Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines. The implication of this general review is to highlight the status of social networks for negotiation to influence others.

Smartphone habit and behavior in Brunei: Personalization, gender, and generation gap

A smartphone is a device which offers advanced technologies, functions similarly to a computer, supports multitasking and makes it easy to remain connected with others. The following survey design research examined the usage patterns of smartphone users across different demographics. The results of this study provide insights into the prevalence of respondents usage of smartphones and their habits and behavior related to smartphone use itself especially among the younger generation of social disorders such as nomophobia and phubbing. In addition to documenting the experience of smartphone users, the research also examines personality patterns related to smartphone usage, the trends of different age groups, and the effects of gender preferences. We investigate behavioral patterns and impacts of smartphone usage.We discuss personal challenges of mental disorder due to smartphones addiction.Smartphones addiction habit is leaning more towards the younger generation.Gender is considered to be statistically significant in term of smartphones habit.A positive relationship between accessing the internet and messaging activity.

Revealing Customer Behavior on Smartphones

Recent development of mobile phones is very interesting as the new generation, known as “smart phones†, offer highly attractive features. The main advantage of smart phones is the ability to connect to the Internet from anywhere, consequently enabling them to remain continuously in touch with their social networks. This paper discusses how consumers in Brunei Darussalam (Brunei) responded to the survey of smart phones. A Theory of Reasoned Action Model is used to understand customers preference in choosing a specific product over the other. To assess the use of smart phones, the authors conducted surveys with consumers, stressing on product preferences, consumption behavior of smart phones, as well as opinions on the functionality of smart phones. The smart phone market in Brunei is dominated by the younger generation who is less sensitive towards price. In terms of usability, consumers prefer smart phones more than tablets or other mobile devices, the reason for their preference being the superior functional features which exist in smart phones.

E-Government with Big Data Enabled through Smartphone for Public Services: Possibilities and Challenges

ABSTRACT Big data shows great promise in public services to personalized e-government service delivery. Big data is a new generation of extracting value from a large volume of data sources with enabling high-velocity capture, analysis, and discovery for forecasting and better decision making. This article discusses the potential of big data application in e-government based on survey findings from smartphone habit as part of big data source. Data produced from smartphones usage is one of the main sources of big data. Online services can easily be accessed using smartphones, which support continuous engagement with citizens using e-government services. This study deployed quantitative survey findings from the smartphone habit of users in Brunei Darussalam. It presents an interpretative model that examines the important factors to consider big data in public services and discusses general challenges for integrating e-government services facing a big data era.

Online Learning: trends, issues and challenges in the Big Data Era

Nowadays, many students access online resources using their mobile devices, substituting this for traditional learning interactions. However, the new concept of ‘big data’ in recent ICT discussions extends the promising research direction on online learning and big data integration. Big data promises content that can be tailored for each student based on the context and Internet behaviour of users in online learning. This study examines recent Internet activities and literacy in Brunei Darussalam (Brunei) relating to the Internet behaviour and online learning of residents. The study highlights milestones in terms of recent issues, challenges, and trends in Internet activities, focusing on online learning and its potential in the big data era. An extensive nationwide survey was conducted to ensure the reliability of the data. The survey revealed that people in Brunei expect and demand better learning services and experiences through an online learning system to improve literacy as well as the quality and ef ciency of learning. Regardless of the limitations of the survey, the general public has shown great support for online learning systems. The results of the survey provide a solid argument for further research on big data in online learning by developing a framework incorporating the expectations of the people. Finally, the study provides a baseline for future studies of Internet adoption in Brunei.