How COVID-19 Affects the

Malaysian Economy
Since the beginning of time, the world has been rocked by a large
number and variety of extremely infectious diseases that have managed
to achieve the level of a pandemic. These include well-known ones such
as the Spanish Flu, which killed 40 to 50 million people, and the Bubonic
Plague, which killed around 200 million people. Thankfully, these
outbreaks tend to occur less frequently in modern society. 

However, every now and then a catastrophic outbreak does happen, and
not many have reached the level of seriousness as the Novel
Coronavirus — COVID-19. What started as a viral flu outbreak, has now
become a global pandemic. Over 2 million people have been infected
globally and over 140,000 lives have been lost. Not only are people
suffering from this tragedy, the economy is also at its mercy, with
countries imposing lockdowns or movement control orders (MCO),
causing a severe economic impact on the global supply chain,
bankruptcies, plummeting stock markets, and unemployment. Overall, it
is destroying the world’s economies  — one of them being Malaysia’s
economy. After undertaking, extensive research, here is my opinion of
how Malaysia's economy is being terribly affected in terms of its multiple
key sectors, exchange rate, stock market, and the actions undertaken by
the government to minimise economic losses.

First off, a variety of Malaysia’s key sectors are now in distress due to
COVID-19. Some of these sectors include Malaysia’s manufacturing
sector which, aside from getting hit with material disruptions due to the
MCO, is facing a crisis in the manufacturing of commodities such as oil
and gas by the global crude oil crisis which has caused oil prices to
plummet this year. 

Another sector is tourism which is expected to be hit the hardest.

Travellers will be forced to postpone their trips and cancel hotel bookings
as well as flight plans, which is a huge loss for Malaysia since it was
ranked the 3rd most popular Asian travel destination in 2018. Therefore,
this will lower the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as fewer goods and
services can be produced in the country. Additionally, the increase in
unemployment due to the retrenchment of employees by some
companies will reduce the net income and thus, GDP as well.

COVID-19 will also have a huge impact on the value of ringgit in

Malaysia as a result of investors who are panic selling to avoid trading in
the current volatile market. The fall of tourism in Malaysia and the
decline in global crude oil prices will reduce the demand for ringgit,
causing its value to drop. As for Malaysia’s stock exchange, Bursa
Malaysia had sunk to its lowest in the last 10 years, falling by a
staggering 20.52% since the start of 2020, as of March 27, 2020. This is
mostly due to panic sellers selling their shares in fear of the rising
volatility stock markets will face due to the pandemic. Airline stocks in
particular, which are part of the tourism sector, have been hit hard
with AirAsia falling by around 63% and Malaysia airlines by around
39% as of March 27, 2020. On the other hand, with the common
knowledge of avoiding any contact with your bare hands due to COVID-
19, glove manufacturing stocks have prospered, with stocks such as Top
Glove, the largest glove manufacturer in the world, rising by around
30% as of March 27, 2020.

Of course, Malaysia has developed countermeasures to prevent an

economic collapse. These include three stimulus packages worth RM10
billion, RM20 billion, and RM230 billion each. Each of these serves
specific purposes to help reduce the effects of COVID-19 on the
economy by providing wage subsidies, discounts on commercial and
domestic electricity consumption, tax exemptions and reliefs for
domestic tourists, and much more.

As a matter of fact, some of these funds will be allocated to tertiary

education students, who will have the benefit of receiving a one-off
payment of RM200 as a form of compensation for the damage and
inconvenience the outbreak has caused. Nevertheless, I personally
believe this money could have been better allocated to other sectors
instead, such as the medical sector. This is not a relatively small sum
and I believe other sectors need it more than we do in this time of crisis.
However, Malaysia’s GDP growth is still expected to sink by around
3.7% amid COVID-19 in 2020 as compared to the 4.3% growth rate in
2019.
Overall, the effects of COVID-19 have had a devastating effect on the
economy of Malaysia with an unimaginable amount of damage to the
country and globally. But, the economy will eventually recover
with Malaysia’s economic growth, thankfully, being expected to bounce
back in 2021 by 4.5%. After all, like what Ghana’s president, Nana Addo
Dankwa Akufo-Addo said, “We know what to do to bring our economy
back to life. What we do not know how to do is to bring people back to
life.”
The Advantages and Importance of Online Learning
Published on: 04.05.2017

Some say that wisdom comes with age while others insist that it comes from learning.
Nowadays, thanks to the internet, learning is open to all. Hence, people in the countries where
traditional learning is facing various obstacles can take advantage of online courses. So far, e-
learning has been effective to the people that understood its value. It offers the chance to have
great results for lower costs and sometimes for no costs at all. Despite these, online learning has
many other advantages. Education may have several purposes, and online courses help to fulfill
it. Some even say that e-learning can revolutionize education as it provides new opportunities for
traditional learning. Taking online classes has a lot of advantages and below are some of the
most important.
Everyone can access education no matter the
location
When people choose to pursue a study program in numerous cases they need to move to
another city, away from their home, family, and friends. Meanwhile, there are countries where
gender issues prevent young women from accessing education. In such cases, online learning
helps to eliminate borders and barriers, both social and physical. Online courses are a great
solution to the challenges that these people face as they are provided with high-quality education
and on their own place and time.

You can learn about anything and whatever you

like
There was this article ‘Use these two words on your college essay to get into Harvard’. If this
would work Harvard or Stanford wouldn’t be what they are. On the other hand, it may happen to
anyone to not get accepted into his or her favorite university. Therefore, they give up the dream
to pursue a given field of studies and research. Meanwhile, online courses allow you to study
whatever you want or anything that triggers your curiosity. Prestigious universities provide free
courses because education must be free to everyone.

Comfort and flexibility

It happens to young students to find themselves into a highly competitive learning environment.
Some people like this as it motivates them to work hard but there are others that feel
overwhelmed. No matter the fact that failure is essential to success, there are persons that can’t
bear failure among others. Meanwhile, it is easier to accept it at home. This makes people feel
comfortable. Speaking of comfort, online courses help to avoid long classes and uncomfortable
classrooms. The bed or the couch are more comfortable.
Further on, you can save time and cut the cost of commuting from home to the campus. Another
thing that a lot of people agree is the fact that there will be no need to wake up early in the
morning. Yet, keep in mind that in order to be successful it is important to leave your comfort
zone.

Sharing knowledge with others

It is common that when we learn something new we feel the need to share it with others. This is
another purpose of education, sharing knowledge. In the case when the course you are taking is
part of a bigger community or network of people like the campus of the Youth Citizen
Entrepreneurs Competition, you can encourage others by sharing what you have learned from
the free online courses.

You can join hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the world that have benefited
from our online training and learn the secrets for successful entrepreneurship. All these can help
to generate an idea or project and develop it in a way that can bring a change to your community
and beyond.

 
WHY IS ONLINE LEARNING SO IMPORTANT
DURING CORONAVIRUS?

Online learning has become more and more common, whether for comfort, adapting
to work hours or just having the freedom to study from anywhere.  And now with the
coronavirus pandemic, as people are having to stay at home, it has become more
important than ever.

The measures put in place by governments and entities to allow workers and
students to do their daily tasks from home confirms that it is possible to carry out
these activities from anywhere, with just a computer or smartphone.

What makes online learning so interesting?

Online learning has been growing – in the last decade, the number of online courses,
degrees, and masters have greatly increased.

Here are some of the positive aspects of online learning:

1. Technology has changed everything. Learning through videos, voice

recognition, automatic corrections, and live exams, are a few examples of the
effectiveness of online learning
2. Ease of monitoring: This is very simple, in a physical class we would have to
take notes on everything the teacher tells us, but in online classes, everything
is recorded either on video or in writing.
3. The human factor. When we talk about online learning we are not talking
about self-study, although it is very useful. We must always bear in mind that
the help of a teacher is the best way to learn
4. The ability to connect with people around the world.
5. The democratization of education. One of the advantages of online learning
is that it is relatively low cost and gives people who can’t afford to go to
physical school access to quality education.
How has learning English adapted to online
education?
One of the most important factors when learning a language is human presence –
nobody can teach you a language better than someone who knows it. It is important
to have a good balance between self-study exercises and live classes. Each student
has specific needs when learning English – and although CEFR standardizes
English levels between A1 and C2, each person lives and learns English in a
different way.

At EF English Live we have always focused on technology and innovation in

education, and we have been offering online courses to learn English from home for
almost 20 years. Our online school includes hundreds of interactive exercises and
multimedia lessons for you to improve your grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing
and speaking skills.

Our key strength is our teachers, who guarantee the best learning experience. Both
in one-to-one private classes and in group classes with students from all over the
world, our teachers are dedicated to guiding and supporting our students.
Furthermore, all our teachers are experts in learning English online, with TEFL or
TKT certification.

Why learn English online during coronavirus?

The current fight against the coronavirus is something that concerns us all, and
therefore it is very important to follow the guidance from WHO to stay at home. But
this should not mean that we must stop learning!

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Gadgets For

Students
Gadgets play a vital role in the educational field in order to improve their skills and knowledge. It
is very important for them since they need to improve their knowledge power to gain success in
the future. Teachers can enhance their teaching skills and strategies also. In short, this
technology is very important for both students and teachers but on the other hand, this
technology has disadvantages too. Gadgets make the world a great and easy place to live. The
growth of gadgets of ever-increasing difficulty opens new panorama for human ability. Gadgets
provide a secure, at ease and well-nourished life for billions of human beings. People need
advanced technology to stay active and strong.

Moreover, here a certain advantages and disadvantages of gadgets in education.

ADVANTAGES
Some advantages are as follows:

 Promotes Independent Learning

Nowadays students can learn without the assistance of their parents and teachers. The
internet has turned out to be a treasure trove of information. Students utilise these
gadgets and discover the best assignment writing service in the UK to get their work
done on urgent basis. They use the internet for their lessons and use online libraries to
prepare their assignments too. It is very helpful for them to improve their skills and
knowledge through this well-equipped technology.

 Enhance Communication
In the earlier times, people use to communicate by writing letters which used to take days
or even months to deliver; nevertheless, now E-mail has made things extremely easy.

 Speed Up Work
There are many gadgets that make life easier.This technology helps the student to work
efficiently. A student can complete their lengthy dissertation writing and any type
of academic writing tasks in less time period.

 Teachers Educate Students In Exciting Way

Now teachers can provide exciting education atmosphere to the students through this
gadgets. Videos, images and other graphic lessons can deliver to the students through
these latest technologies. This generates exciting learning atmosphere and endorses
interest in the education field.

DISADVANTAGES
If there are certain advantages of these gadgets, on the other hand there are disadvantages too
which are usually confronted by us. Have a look here:

 Addiction
Most commonly seen, students gets addicted to gaming, texting or talking on phone or
online.It causes their learning and at home, they detract from their studies.

 Creativity
Last a few times back students read books, socialising or engaging in some active things
in their free time, but now these gadgets reduce participation day by day, especially
creativity aspects. Now they become less creative and less capable of amusing them.
  Lack of Interest In Studies
Now everything is dependent on the students themselves, whether they develop poor
education habits and lazy attitude or learn useful stuff available. Moreover, it also makes
student forgetting their basic learning, they totally based on the internet instead of books
and take assist from their teachers. Most of them misspell words because they use spell
checkers.

Online Learning Challenges (& Ways to Solve

Them)
The spread of COVID-19 has forced millions of students and teachers to
move their communication online. The schools are closed until further
notice and we have to adapt to a new lifestyle. Teachers and administrators
are working hard during lockdown trying to keep students on track, shifting
to online learning within the shortest time.

Although technology evolution now allows many things we haven’t believed

possible, the shift to e-learning doesn’t go as smoothly as we want it to be.
Facing the pitfalls of digital learning may be discouraging and frustrating
both for teachers and students. 

That’s why the Jellyfish.tech team is about to research and discuss the

most common virtual learning challenges and the possible ways of
addressing them.

Contents:

 Organization of work processes & time management

 Gadgets shortage
 Connectivity
 Computer literacy
 Adjusting of online courses to deaf or hard of hearing students
 Data privacy
 Security
 Isolation
 Lack of interaction
 LMS imperfections
 Bottom Line
Organization of work
processes & time
management
The teachers are supposed to move their classes online right away having
no additional training and extra budget.

As the comprehensive learning management systems usually cost an arm

and a leg, teachers have to use numerous digital tools to deliver e-learning.

They start their day by opening multiple tabs for multiple purposes,
switching between them.

They attend virtual school, parents, and student meetings, trying to handle
the amount of information we’re facing right now and decide on the
teaching strategy.

They should grade the assignments coming from different places.

They stay online 10 hours per day to clean up this mess, set up, streamline
the processes making online learning more efficient. And this isn’t the full
list of challenges in online teaching.

Solution. Unfortunately, many schools weren’t prepared for moving

classes online. In this situation, the burden is put on teachers to adapt
themselves and their students to a new way of learning. Honestly, all we
can do is to encourage you to stay brave and advise some free tools to
organize your workplace. 

In case there is no option to use an LMS, we recommend trying Notion to

bring all your digital working tools together on one platform. The plans start
from free (enough to cover the basic needs) to $4 and $8 (for teams). 

With 50+ templates for different spheres, you will be able to organize &
streamline the processes quickly and get down to work.
Gadgets shortage
Not every student & teacher has a personal gadget to use for online
learning. Many of them are supposed to share the laptops and computers
with their parents, sisters/ brothers to stay on track. 

Solution. Teachers and students have been mostly given a laptop to use

during the quarantine, and no strict time frames are defined for having the
assignments done (in case the families should share the gadgets).
Following the lead of some countries, lectures may be appearing on TV to
make it accessible to a wider audience. 

Connectivity
Millions of people around the world are experiencing technical difficulties
because of the high usage rate of online learning systems, video streaming
software, & other digital tools. The platforms are overloaded: poor quality
video and audio, internet problems. Internet connection is either unstable or
the current data plan is not enough to cover the progressive e-learning
needs. Students in both urban and rural areas are struggling with the
“homework gap”. Teachers are trying to manage the bad internet
connection during the online lessons. 

Solution? Unfortunately, little can be done to resolve the connectivity

problem when everyone goes online. Calling your provider and seeking
advice can work out in some cases, as well as upgrading your current
Internet plan or hoping for 5G coverage. However, the sad truth is we all
have to adapt to a slow Internet speed amid the coronavirus lockdown and
learn to live with it.
Computer literacy
It’s hard for teachers, students, and parents to start using a learning
management system or any other digital tool out of nowhere without
additional training. They could be overwhelmed by the amount of data they
deal with trying to go digital, as well as frustrated facing the unknown. 

Solution. Anadditional class of computer literacy for both teachers and

students is always a good idea. Besides, many digital tool providers offer
customer support as well as a large learning base to their users to get
armed with tutorials.  

Adjusting of online courses

to deaf or hard of hearing
students
The deaf and hard of hearing students were taken from their offline classes
with interpreters and put home with poor ability to adjust the remote
learning to their needs as well as amplify these adjustments. Provided that
online learning is already a kind of challenge for the students, those deaf or
hard of hearing facing a double problem multiplying the chances of falling
behind.   

Solution. Students can be provided with the lesson script, typically made

by teachers as supportive material for each lesson. Video transcription is
another way to reach out to the deaf or hard of hearing students,
automating the process by using voice-to-text applications. Another idea is
to choose the motion-picture based material for the lessons, which will
keep all students more engaged. Finally, AI-powered personal
assistants may become real helpers teaching the students with special
needs.
Data privacy
From the very beginning of school shutdown, teachers and students have
been connected using multiple digital tools without paying due attention to
the amount and nature of the personal data they collect. Reaching the main
objective of a quick transition to online learning, we had to neglect our
privacy, especially when large e-learning software suppliers offer temporary
free subscription plans. 

The recent case of  Zoom, a remote conference services company that has
appeared to store all video conference recordings on storage space without
a password, proves we have to thoughtfully approach choosing the digital
tools for online learning delivery.

Solution. Finding a balance between a quicker move to online learning and

data security prioritization isn’t an easy thing. Although the companies
make generous partnership offers to the teachers & students, data privacy
advocates recommend using only those products which don’t use student’
data for any purpose beyond the educational one. Getting into a
partnership between schools and companies is undesirable without signing
a contract with a clear explanation concerning the data they collect & use.

Security
The covid-19 outbreak, as well as any other crisis, is a fertile ground for
cyber criminals, unleashing the wave of cyber attacks. Keeping the
sensitive data from being stolen is a number one priority for digital tools
that help deliver e-learning. 

Solution. Starting to use an application, we can’t be 100% sure our data

will be kept safe. However, it’s still within our power to be careful about the
data we disclose on the Internet. We could avoid or at least reduce the risk
guided by the simple rules, which remain relevant at any time:
  Don’t use suspicious websites and applications;
 Don’t follow the suspicious links;
 Be attentive when open emails from unknown senders (mission impossible for
teachers who receive dozens of emails per day from co-workers, students, or
parents);
 Update your software regularly. 

For those who want to know more, National Cyber Security Alliance has
launched the COVID-19 Security Resource Library to help users get up-to-
date information concerning privacy and security safely.

Isolation
This rather psychological factor is still highly affecting students’ motivation
and learning progress. Being in the classroom, students got used to instant
eye-to-eye communication with each other allowing reacting together,
sharing the experience, joking, & making a non-verbal contact,
strengthening the social skills. For many students, a classroom has been a
kind of sanctuary, which is now taken away. It’s not a surprise most of them
feel isolated, scared by the pandemic, parents’ job loss, friends’
disconnection.

Solution. Education is not only about gaining knowledge, it’s also about

the interaction between students and teachers. In today’s world, teacher
responsibility is not only to provide e-learning but support the students, stay
connected, and keep the integrity within the classroom as well. Show your
students you are open to communication. Keep the lessons simple. Be kind
grading assignments. Find time to discuss students’ concerns about the
current world situation during the lesson. Ask each student how you can
help. Tell them how you’re dealing with the current situation. We
understand how hard it is to encourage the students and how responsible
the role of a teacher is. Please keep calm and stay optimistic?

Lack of interaction
During the online lectures, it’s hard to keep students engaged without a
teacher’s physical presence and face-to-face contact. Moreover, a key
concern is connected to science labs (physics, chemistry, etc.), impossible
to put into practice without in-person instructions and courses relying
mostly on hands-on work (i.e. nursing, art classes). 

Solution. There are many ways to engage students during the online

lessons: PowerPoint presentations, short videos, quizzes, on-the-go
recordings, gamification, bite-size learning… Ensuring constant contact:
tracking the progress and giving feedback is another step to keeping each
student engaged. Referring to science labs, students may use scientific
modeling and simulation applications to gain practical experience.

Besides, maybe the time has come for us to review the classic relations
between teachers and students, approaching a “fair trade-off”: the first have
knowledge of the subject to share, the second can make the most of
gadgets. Why not seek the support of your students? Sincere interest in
what students are doing best engage them even more than any interactive
teaching strategy.

LMS imperfections
Not understanding the psychology of teaching and learning and not
understanding how teachers and students really work during LMS creation
is one of the cornerstone problems of the industry.

Solution. Building a good LMS is possible only under the guidance and

with the help of a learning consultant with the teaching experience.
Conducting multiple interviews with teachers and students, researching the
social, psychological, and personal teaching aspects is a must when
working on an LMS creation.
Bottom Line
In-depth research made by the Jellyfish.tech team revealed the major
problems in the e-learning system and the possible solutions. We are still
determined to help teachers & students around the world adapt to new
learning conditions based on our digital transformation expertise.

The world is changing. Today’s crisis has opened the door to new
opportunities:

 giving a leading role to students;

 achieving new standards of online learning
 using gadgets not only for fun, but to get something new by taking online
courses, joining the relevant community for the experience exchange, or
accessing the free information sources.

Together, we’ll be able to get a handle on the mess a shift to e-learning

seems to make and find the most efficient approaches to digital learning.

Let’s stay connected to make the world better ?