Education

Education

Online Education is a useful asset that many consumers use who have access to the internet. Learning online comes in a verity of forms; audio, video and literate are examples of the three main ways in which website and individuals try to teach the consumer about their desired topic.

There are numerous advantages to learning online, as many teachers choose to make their material free for anyone to see and use, only asking for donations if the customer feels obliged, however there are also websites that require a subscription, for a client to access the material on offer.

Throughout the online education system there are flaws as well, sometimes information can be false or the teaching itself extremely poor and almost too hard to follow, with this in mind it is important to make sure that the site you are using to learn from is both reliable and correct, as some people find themselves more confused at the end then when they started.

Some of most popular online education sites make vast sums of money; a good example of this is a well known site to many pupils across Britain. My Maths, this website is known for both its brilliant teaching, homework activities and revision pages. Many students and adults alike set up accounts with My Maths as it is fundamentally one of the best maths online sites.

The My Math website itself is literate based; however it incorporates numerous animations and pictures to liven up the entire experience. The site itself covers all GCSE topics and the start of many As level topics as well. It is no teaching substitute, however as a teaching aid it excels immensely, the site allows for teachers to set online homework’s, which are marked for them allowing both the staff and the student to know immediately after the grade achieved and overall percentage success. Similar topics can be set to be taught throughout the site, for students further ahead allowing increased individual progress to be made without the teacher’s aid. For all these reasons many schools purchase a license to use the site for all students present. Students receive then both a school and student login, meaning they may access all of the topics and their own personal page tracking their unique progress throughout the site. My Maths for this reason is one of the most successful online education sites and is used daily by thousands who study maths both in and out of school.

An example of an undedicated website to online learning is YouTube. Although it is a site allowing anyone to upload a personal video of themselves, today numerous educational aids can be found within the site to help students off any calibre to achieve in near enough any subject or skill. Videos range from showing As Maths to how to play guitar and more. However the educational videos are submitted by users and at their own will so the information may not always be correct as with dedicated sites such as My Maths, were complete correctness is assured. The advantage with YouTube is that the education comes a Video and Audio form most commonly, this therefore allows for study to take place more like it would in a lesson as you have a teacher talking to you and therefore a learning environment is created in which many feel more focused and therefore inclined to learn. YouTube itself also has the added addition of commenting meaning that successful videos stand out for both their clarity and teaching quality. As YouTube it free therefore the videos are too, however if consumer feel obliged donation can be made to most pages that are notoriously successful in their teaching ability.

It is not only academic education that may be found online, videos can be found throughout YouTube for with topics such as Cooking, Guitar and mechanics. Not only on YouTube but dedicated websites have been set up to cater for all types of educational needs an whatever you want to learn you can be sure to find a page that aids in this experience.

Cooking recipes are one of the most commonly posted educational subjects posted online, they are found mainly in a literate state but videos are also common in the helping the consumer to cook and present the dish. You can tend to find that for whatever recipe you see on television there will be a dedicated website to which this may be found online, showing pictures of the dish, a literate recipe plan and videos of how the dish was made. Great examples of this would be the BBC Food and Recipe website, here dishes from any cooking programme broadcast by the BBC can be found, the recipes themselves are mainly literate, but alone are great sources of education for creating a dish.

The flaws of Online Education are mainly the validity of the information you are learning. With subscription websites you can be assured that the information you are learning is correct, such as My Maths. However with videos on YouTube, the extent of the overall correctness with a video lesson is unclear. It depends mainly on the calibre of the teacher and their skill as one.

Throughout the internet there is a mass of free education from which anyone at any time can access to learn, they range from the BBC Bite size website to the marvel that is YouTube, however they all share the desire for the spread of information and the benefits to the consumer it may bring.

Due to this we can conclude that with introduction of Online Educational websites it is no wonder that there is a large market and enormous profits to be made, as everyone’s desire to learn will at some stage lead them to the internet and from here perhaps we may see the start of all education being done via the internet.

Online Banking

Online Banking

I intend to review two online banking website these, include both Barlceys.com and Abbey.com.

The purposes of both these websites are very similar; both are used for a verity of the following:

o Transfer money from account to account

o Checking the consumers balance online

o Checking recent and dated transaction of money from a particular card or account

o Managing both personal details, informing of email or house address change

o Setting up regular debit transaction from particular cards to either other accounts, business or personal.

o Setting up of services including both loans, mortgages, insurance and new credit cards

All of these above are valid reason for using an online banking website, there options are varied and each consumer uses there online account for different reasons. However the audience aimed at those for online banking is very wide spread, it ranges throughout everyone who has a card set up and the online banking scheme similarly.

Online banking therefore can be used by anyone, this allows for the details of both the bank balance and that of a personal nature to be displayed at any time in the day. This has a major advantage over that of real banks as in recent years there have been hard to contact in person if you work a five day week, due to their opening hours.

However as online banking has become increasingly more popular the threat of security revolving around ones money too has become an issue. Fishing scams are the most used way of criminals stealing a consumers bank details, and has commonly become known as identity theft.

Here fake WebPages are displayed to try and trick the consumer into entering their bank and personal details. With this the criminal can use them to purchase almost anything they want online and even transfer large sums of money through accounts with the correct details.

To counteract this banks and websites alike have in posed increased security measures to protect consumers funds from being stolen, multiple passwords, security questions and code generators are all used in today’s society to try and prevent the problems caused by identity theft.

Similar using services such as PayPal and Google Checkout make the transfer of funds more secure and safer for a customer. With PayPal funds can be transferred whilst being protected as the seller does not receive the funds until the buyer receives the items. There are of course rules for process and claims can be settled throughout the business, meaning money is protected especially where it is most often lost, in auction sites such as eBay.

The problems surrounding Online Banking do derive from mainline fears from that of the consumer; the idea of having their money stolen or lost is an increasing concern. However the internet pricing and wide array of products can seem to be somewhat irresistible, therefore many nowadays do give into temptation and part with their virtual cash. Stores such as Play.Com and Amazon rely on the company’s name to ensure that customer remain to have their faith in the business and continue to buy. As both are well established they both have security measures in place and make sure that customer satisfaction is a top priority. Due to this both sites have introduced the idea of reviewing, here customers can post comments on products that they have already purchased, this provides not only important useful information and what to and what not to buy, but increase trust within the store and is a clever marketing tool of reassuring the customer that there product will be received both in the conditions described and to satisfaction.

The two banks I wish to review both implement important security procedures that make hacking into them near impossible. Barclays’ bank has implanted the use of personal logins, meaning firstly a Personal ID, Pass code and Registration Number must be entered, secondly there is a security check in which three letters from a key word must be entered and finally for those wanting to check personal finance and transfer funds a key generated login must be use to certify that the person trying to access the accounts, is in fact the card holder. All this information throughout is used to access the account of a card holder and although both Barclay’s and Abbey differ slightly in how logging in operates, they both share the fundamental values of high security and impose strict checks to make sure the customer is who they are said to be. The issues with security today within Online banking are major issues and as customers the concern over security is great, due to this the customer generally has to apply for the set up of online banking with a branch when it comes to viewing funds within a banks website.

Overall the idea of online banking within banks is seen as a revolution however to some, the idea of transferring over “virtual money” is seen to be a little unnerving, many today still see it as being unsafe no matter what both the banks and online shops say and due to this there will always be those who are sceptical of entering personal details online. Both my banks claim to have the upmost security possible within the accounts of the card holder however; the roots of identity theft are generally down to human error, and naivety within a consumer. Fishing scams become increasing more apparent as websites less inclined to dealing with electronic transfer move into a digital stage they start off lacking in security measures it is here that human error causes identity theft, however it is also here that the services of PayPal and other secure transfer site flourish. In today’s economic climate money is tight and loosing it to some may be disastrous, banks regularly impose security checks within their website to protect consumers from handing over details on a website however, to some consumers even these can be seen as fishing scams.

The idea of virtual money transfer will be brought to a new height as both Nokia and Barclays declare their aspirations for money transfer wirelessly across phones Bluetooth, mobile banking here is seen to be unnerving again for some however fundamental it shares interesting prospects. Although it will sure to be slow to set off once up and running it is sure that mobile banking will prove to be a success and funds will be able to be transferred anywhere anytime wirelessly.

E-commerce

E-commerce sites

o Online shopping examples:

o Tesco online

o Amazon

o eBay

Main features of E-Commerce:

o Payment Online

o Clear homepage with links and good navigation

o Help page

o Store finder

o Search facility

o Set of Menu – Tabs

o Contact

o Photographs

o Review the product

o Alternatives to the product – Similar items in same category

o Price comparison

o Checkout

o Shopping basket/trolley

o Secure – password, verify identification

o Delivery options

Tesco direct:

I intend to explore the fundamental values that make Tesco direct a successful e-commerce website. On approach to the site the vast homepage shows us the main properties which are the key basis for an extensive consumer friendly site.

The homepage features a large logo which shows the consumer what brand of company they are buying from , as it is Tesco’s it a household name and is shown clearly in the top right hand corner to add a reassuring effect. However this logo also acts as a hyper link so at any stage of the customers shopping experience, it can be clciked upin and the page will be redirected back to the home screen.

Along with this features at the top of the screen are a Checkout, Account and Help link. These important features will remain at the top for the screen throughout the buying experience for quick navigation throughout the site.

The homepage also features numerous tab options for constant quick navigation, which are categorized throughout due to their relating departments. From this drop down boxes all for sub categorized fields to be selected and therefore the type of product selected. This adds to the overall ease of use of the website as it allows the user to select a corresponding field which then in turn reveals a mass of products that fit within the given heading.

The most striking part of the homepage is the large assortment of nine panels, of which one wide panels rest upon. The large wide panel displays four of what the company believe to be of interest to the customer, in this case it is the turn of the new catalogue, range of iPod touches and a cheaply priced television. The options can be changed from the text in the side panel which again at-tops a list of the departments that Tesco direct has to offer.

The nine panels below however again show deals which will appeal to a wider audience as they vary in both price and age. These panels as the large one above it act as a link to another page where the corresponding product is displayed, overall this adds to the intuitive and ergonomic design of the website thus creating an easier to navigate scheme.

Finally at the bottom of the page there is a wide verity of lists all relating to both information about the site and that of an order they have purchased. This is located at the bottom of the site as it is not a promotional tool, however it needs to be shown as it is important information about the website including ordering methods and help policies. This section of the page matches that of the colour scheme at the top and therefore focuses the consumer on what the seller has out on offer in the middle panels. Finally the slogan is placed in the bottom right hand corner of the page to remind the customer both of the intentions of the store and what they stand for.