Profile of Manager

I am Khor Seow Bei Wen, as a manager in this CSR project. I am responsible to divide works and confirm all the things well done. I also join in my teammates’ works. I have learnt cooperative and time management when doing this project. This CSR Project also exposes me to see, think and care about the community. We should have the awareness to protect our earth, show our care to this community and start doing it from now.

Profile of Editor

Finally, by the time I wrote this column, our creation of this weblog is finished. Hi, everyone! I am Foong Yee Ching with matrix number 96097. I am the Editor of this CSR Project and as you all know, the job as an editor is not easy. However, it is also the same with my fellow teammates. I am grateful to have them as my teammates because they helped me a lot in doing my parts of this CSR project and also gave encouragement to me. Thanks to them and Dr. Ellisha!!!

Profile of Creative/Presentation Manager

I am Lew Chee Leng. As a Creative/Presentation Manager, I know my responsibility very well in order to complete this CSR Project on time. I put in more positive energy into it with speed and higher intensity. I present operation systems and concepts which used to solve problem for my team’s case organization in a creative way. Besides, I also analyze and summarize article related to the paperless topic and use quality improvement tools to analyze questionnaire. I identify cause, effect and find out solution way. My awareness about paperless concept has been great improved and I believe it will guide my daily life.

Profile of Solution-Based Idea Manager

Hi, I am Law Poh Leng. I play a role as a solutions-based idea manager in ATW 223 assignment. When conducting this project, I realize that it is not an easy task. I come out with something that I had never known and learnt it before. It forces me to pay attention in every lecture, share and discuss with others and start to explore IT technology. Although it is quite difficult, I cannot deny that I really learn many new things from it. I know about weblog, think about operations management solution, innovating operation based on CSR perspective and concern about paperless community. Last but not least, I learn that nothing is impossible if I willing to put my effort into it.

Solution Model

Our solution model shows how problem of using many papers can be solved by changing of education system and teaching methods of School of Management. This action required consent and compromise of the Dean and all the staffs including lecturers, administration staff and also students of the school.

First of all, the direct link to changing of education system and teaching methods will also change the requirement of lecturers to students from passing up the assignments and project in the form of papers to uploading them via internet. Students will follow the requirements and upload the assignments and project via internet. E-learning also occurs through this process. There is no cost of printing and photocopy and also carrying costs of papers storage associated with e-learning. Hence, the overall usage of papers by students is reduced.

The second path of the process map shows that changed education system and teaching methods also include implementation of paperless technology such as Electronic Data System (EDI) in the School of Management. Paper is not used in any transactions between students and administration of School of Management. Therefore, papers usage is minimized.

The last path indicates that awareness of importance of paperless system is created among the students through the changing of education system and teaching methods. Students will be more sensitive and concern about sustainable environment. Hence, students will reuse the half used papers and later recycle them along with used papers. Usage of papers by students is reduced to the minimum.

In conclusion, these three paths shown in the process map are the proposed steps to be practiced by School of Management in order to solve the problem of usage of many papers by the students.

Third Concept: Lean System – Paperless Transaction

In the solution model, we also plan to use the concept of paperless transaction which is under the topic of lean system. Electronic data interchange (EDI) is one of the ways which paperless transaction can be done.

EDI is an electronic process by switching from paper invoices to an electronic process. EDI can be used when students are registering for courses. Such costs come from the registration forms, registration slips etc. can be cut off.

Second Concept: PDCA Cycle and Quality Improvement Story

Plan stage

Step 1: Problem Identification and Validation
The problem identified is usage of many papers by students. The existence of this problem is validated by the results of the survey of one hundred respondents who are students of School of Management. According to the survey, 64% students use around 1-5 pieces of papers everyday. This quantity of papers is considered a lot and this can be seen if we sum up the amount of papers for a month which is (3 × 30) = 90 papers.

Step 2: Understanding the Current Situation
Respondents are using many papers in their daily life as USM students. The usage of many papers will increase the burden of students in term of costs of printing and photostating. Furthermore, by using many papers, students are required to store enough papers and this will lead to the reduction of space in their rooms.

Step 3: Analysis of Cause
This step can refer to the cause and effect diagram above. The usage of many papers is due to students’ attitudes which is insensitive and also not concern about the negative impact of usage of too many papers. Therefore, they use a lot of papers in their daily life as students. Another cause of usage of many papers is requirement of lecturers that students need to print out and pass up lecture notes, tutorial assignment and also project. Moreover, technology in USM is incompatible and not in advance if the paperless students life implemented. For example, speed of internet is too slow and cost of buying and maintaining the computers is high. Usage of many papers is due to the students throw the half used papers and also misuse of papers.

Do stage

Step 4: Corrective Action/ Proposed Solution
We can minimize the usage of papers of a student by downloading lecture notes, upload assignment on the internet, e-examination, e-learning and also e-communication. Hence, these proposed solutions should be implemented.

Check Stage

Step 5: Check Results
Based on the survey results, % of students agree that they should download lecture notes, % of students feel should upload assignment, % students agree e-examination should be implemented, % of students agree that e-learning should be implemented and % of students agree that e-communication should be implemented. According to the interview with Dr. Lee Lik Seng, Dr. Lee also agrees that the lecture notes shall not be printed out and should be viewed from the computer screen in order to reduce usage of papers.

Act Stage

Step 6: Standardization
As the students agree that the most effective solution to minimize usage of papers is downloading lecture notes. This statement is also supported by the interview with Dr. Lee as stated above. Therefore, all the lecturers are advised to deliver their materials to their students via internet.

Step 7: Conclusion/ Next Steps
In this last step, a complete report about the problem of usage of many papers and also the progress and improvement of the proposed solutions implemented is to be created. Alternately, a presentation about this to management of School of Management can be made.

First Concept: Cause and Effect Diagram

Cause and effect diagram is used to find the cause of a problem. We choose it as one of our solution model’s tool because it can help us to identify the causes of our problem. Our problem is the usage of many papers by students, based on our topic which is “Paperless Students’ Life on Campus”.
We divide the causes into four part : manpower, machines, materials and methods.

Under the manpower section, we find that the causes are negative attitudes of students towards the usage of papers, lack of awareness among students about this issue and requirements of lecturers about paper works. Students play very important role in solving this problem. Students should take their initiative to reduce usage of papers. They have to concern and sensitive to this issue. It will be more effective if the lecturers also put their effort in solving this problem. Since there are many inventions of educational technology, lecturers may use those tools in their teaching methods. Using those technologies, it is not impossible to implement paperless technique in education.

In the machines section, we find that the technology is not in advanced. The internet that students use is slow and not stable. The range of wireless connections is also not wide so that sometimes it is difficult to access into learning. Besides, there are students who are not afford to buy personal computer which is expensive and the maintenance cost is also high.

In the materials section, we find that most of the usage of papers come from the workloads of students such as the assignments and lecture notes. Some of the students do not full-used their papers and misuse the papers.

In the methods section, we find that our education system is the cause. Our education system can be improved to reduce the usage of papers. More technologies can be used in teaching and learning methods.

Discussion on Operation Systems and Concepts Used to Create Solution Model

From the above diagram, it is shown that the solution model that we use incorporated with three concepts of operations management which are Cause and Effect Diagram, PDCA cycle and Electronic Data System (EDI) under lean system.

Cause and Effect Diagram defines the cause of problem. PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act ) cycle suggests and implements the solutions. Electronic Data Interchange under Lean System used to solve the problem. The cycle rounds again to improve better and greater.

Analysis of Survey Question 10:

10. As a student, what you think you should do in order to create a paperless environment if the teaching method in campus still use a lot of papers?

a. Discuss the issue with the lecturers
b. Reuse papers for printing assignments or notes

c. Just follow the requirements of lecturers
d. Others_______________________

The Pareto Chart above shows that most of the students can create a paperless environment in USM campus if the teaching method still use a lot of papers (unchanged) by reusing papers. However, there are also a large number of students will follow the lecturer’s requirement to use papers without taking any own initiative to create a paperless environment. Around 20% of students are brave enough to discuss the matter with their lecturers whereas 4% of students will use other method.

Analysis of Survey Question 9:

9. Which way do you think is the most effective to create awareness among students about paperless concept?
a. Peer influence b. Brochures c. Campaign d. Talk e. Other __________

From the Pareto Chart above, we can see that the largest number of students agree that peer influence is the most effective factor that can create awareness of paperless among students whereas the lowest frequency of students agree that other factors are effective in creating awareness. Almost 30% of students agree on campaign, 12% agree on talk and 9% agree on brochures can create paperless system awareness respectively.

Analysis of Survey Question 8:

8. Have you ever get involved in any activities that will lead to a paperless student life on campus?

a. Yes b. No

Until now, there are only 20% of students from our survey have involved in activities which promote paperless whereas a large number of students; 80% have not involved in any paperless activity.

Analysis of Survey Question 7:

7. Do you think paperless student life can be implemented fully in campus?
a. Yes b. No

In students’ opinion, there are only 23% of students agree that paperless system can be implemented fully in USM campus. In the other hand, there are 77% of students think that paperless system cannot be implemented fully in USM campus.

Analysis of Survey Question 6:

6. In what way do you think you can reduce paper usage?

a. Upload assignment on internet b. Download lecture notes
c. E-learning d. E-communication e. E-examination

The pie chart above shows that most of students; 45% agree that e-communication can reduce the usage of papers to the minimum. However, there are only 6% of students agree that downloading lecture notes can minimize the usage of papers. For other ways to reduce papers usage, there are 25% of students agree on uploading assignment on the internet, 14% agree on e-examination whereas 10% students agree on e-learning.

Analysis of Survey Question 5:

5. Do you print a lot of lecture notes or assignments?
a. Yes b. No

This histogram shows that whether student will print out the lecture’s note as a reference. Most students choose to print out the note which is supported by the statistic: 62 students out of 100 students. However, there are also 38 students choose not to print out the note.

Analysis of Survey Question 4:

4. What will you do with the used paper?

a. Throw it b. Recycle c. Other usage ______________

The histogram shows how students deal with the used paper. Most of the students usually throw the used paper away. This is proved from the data above which is 50 students out of 100 students throw the used paper. There are also a quite large number of students recycle the used paper. A few students will use the paper again in other forms such as packing.

Analysis of Survey Question 3:

3. What will you do with the half used paper?

a. Continue writing b. Throw it c. Recycle

Histogram is a bar graph that plots a measurement on the y axis and the frequency of the occurrence of the measurement on the x axis. The histogram above shows students’ attitude toward the half used paper. Most of the students who comprise 72 students out of 100 students continue writing with the half used paper. This is a good attitude. But there is also a small group of students who throw it instead of continue writing. There are only a minority of students who prefer to recycle the half used of paper.

Analysis of Survey Question 2:

2. What form of papers that you always deal with?

a. Assignments b. Lecture notes c. Tutorial works d. Others__________

The line graph shows that form of papers students deal with everyday in student life. Lectures note is the most common type student deal with in student life which contributes 38 students from 100 students. Students also used many papers on doing assignment to hand up to lecturers. Other usage of papers include making appointment by using a piece of paper and attach it to lecturer board is the least. Students also use papers in doing tutorial homework every week.

Analysis of Survey Question 1:

1. How many estimated papers do you use (anything that relate to papers) for

everyday?
a. >> 5 b. 6-10 c. 11-15 d. >> 16

The graph line shows that estimated paper used per day by the students of School of Management. There is no student who does not use any paper per day. The highest estimated paper used per day is 1 to 5 which has 64 students of 100 peoples. There are also a few students using 6 to 10 and also 11 to 15 estimated papers per day. Only a few students used more than 16 estimated papers per day.

Our Questionnaire

Dear Friends,
Please answer these questions. It is part of a research to fulfill the ATW 223 project assignment.

1. How many estimated papers do you use (anything that relate to papers) for everyday?
a. <<5>> 16

2. What form of papers that you always deal with?
a. Assignments b. Lecture notes c. Tutorial works d. Others__________

3. What will you do with the half used paper?
a. Continue writing b. Throw it c. Recycle

4. What will you do with the used paper?
a. Throw it b. Recycle c. Other usage ______________

5. Do you print a lot of lecture notes or assignments?
a. Yes b. No

6. In what way do you think you can reduce paper usage?
a. Upload assignment on internet b. Download lecture notes
c. E-learning d. E-communication e. E-examination

7. Do you think paperless student life can be implemented fully in campus?
a. Yes b. No

8. Have you ever get involved in any activities that will lead to a paperless student life on campus?
a. Yes b. No

9. Which way do you think is the most effective to create awareness among students about
paperless concept?
a. Peer influence b. Brochures c. Campaign d.Talk e. Other __________

10. As a student, what you think you should do in order to create a paperless environment if the teaching method in campus still use a lot of papers?
a. Discuss the issue with the lecturers
b. Reuse papers for printing assignments or notes
c. Just follow the requirements of lecturers
d. Others_______________________

Interview with USM Healthy Campus Coordinator Associate Professor Dr Lee Lik Meng

1. What do you think of the idea of paperless teaching method?
Paperless teaching method is a new and different way of learning of teaching.

2. Do you think it is possible to implement paperless teaching method?
According to Dr Lee, it is not impossible to implement paperless teaching method but it is tough if there is totally no usage of papers. The reasons are simple because we are used to the usage of papers in all form of learning materials. As an example, lecturers use Power Point Slide Show in teaching and the students will normally print the slides show. They feel that reading from the screen will make them uncomfortable and more importantly is that this culture is not encouraged in our country.

However, there will be a time when this culture will be practiced due to there is not essential to print and also pervasion of e-learning and e-communication. This happens when the information is too huge and the students will need to read it fast or else they will unable to catch the pace of rapidly changing information in this era of globalization.

3. In your opinion, what are the issues surrounding paperless life of students of USM?
One of the issues surrounding paperless students’ life in USM is management of USM tries to minimize the printing of papers for meeting. In the past, they used to print 80 to 90 sheets of paper for each person during the meeting. This is supported by the management of Vice Chancellor Office which also reduces printing of papers. Library of USM upload the whole books or examination papers on the internet for the students to download. USM library has created a digital database for students to access to the journals and articles for free.

Nowadays, some of the assignments are required to be uploaded on the internet which is also an example of paperless teaching method. However, there are some problems occur following this requirement which are the speed of internet is too slow and the cost of computers is unaffordable by the students. Besides the attitude of students, the old teaching method of majority lecturers that the students should use papers in learning also inhibit the implementation of paperless teaching method. Some of the lecturers want the journals to be printed although they find them on the website.

4. Is e-learning a good solution as part of development of paperless student life?
According to Dr Lee, e-learning does not focus more on minimizing usage of papers but is a different way of learning of teaching of lecturers. However, e-learning is a good start of the development of paperless students’ life because it is a changing teaching method from paper to multimedia. Nowadays, students and lecturers can interact with multimedia text by using Geographic Information System (GIS).

E-learning changes the way the authors work which is they do not mainly focus on making profits from publishing books instead they post their works on the internet for the people to access to the works. This is a creative common among the authors which is when a new finding or item is created, they will make the finding accessible by other people who can gain benefit from that except just mainly selling the finding for profit.

5. In your opinion, what will you do to encourage lecturers to reduce usage of paper in their teaching method?
In Dr Lee’s opinion, new lecturers should take a course on new teaching and learning method which can reduce usage of paper includes adopting technology and e-learning. The lecturers should aware of how students are evolving and adapt their teaching method with the new environment.

In a few years from now, the lecturers will see that the younger generations (future students) reject the old way of teaching which mainly based on usage of papers. Lecturers should understand that they suppose to act as facilitators and not just ‘lecturers’. Hence, lecturers are responsible in the development of students who are sensitive about sustainable environment by reducing usage of papers.

Description of Organization- School of Management

Our studied organization is School of Management in University Science of Malaysia (USM). The School of Management offers two undergraduate courses which are Management and Accounting. The School of Management, USM, conferred its first Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) graduate in 1994 and its first Master of Art (M.A.) graduate in 1996.

Associate Professor Dr. Ishak Ismail is the Dean of the School of Management. Associate Professor Dr. Yuserrie Zainuddin and Associate Professor Dr. Zamri Ahmad are the Deputy Dean of the School of Management. Besides, there are Assistant Head Register and several section chairs in the administrators. The academic staffs in School of Management are divided into five sections: accounting, finance, marketing, organizational behavior and operations management.

We choose this organization because we would like to find out what had caused so much papers were being used by the students in the school. From our observations, we found out that the students are using more than necessary amount of papers in their students’ life. We, as students, in fact have to aware of this issue because the usage of papers has increased the environmental problem. As more trees are cut down, temperature increases and global warming becomes more serious. Hence, we would like to do a survey which will target 100 students from School of Management and also an interview with USM Healthy Campus Coordinator Associate Professor Dr Lee Lik Ming in order to find out the facts that will support our proposed problem of this school.

In conclusion, we will be using operations system and concepts to analysis this problem and propose a solution model to reduce the usage of papers and attempting to implement “Paperless Students’ Life on Campus”.

Trends discussion of case studies:

1. The University College of Engineering and Technology Malaysia (KUKTEM)

In 2001:
KUKTEM was established specifically to provide education and training in leading edge technologies. Although funded by the government, KUKTEM's board of directors comprises leaders in the automotive engineering and petroleum and gas industry.

In 2003:
KUKTEM invested in an end-to-end Avaya solution – a fully converged network supported by 10GE and wireless LAN, to IP Telephony and contact center applications. KUKTEM with the capacity to handle data traffic up to 10,000 megabits per second, the Avaya 10GbE network provides the huge bandwidth needed to power the paperless environment whereby books, lecture notes and examinations are all online.
KUKTEM has more than 200 faculty and staff and about 1,000 students who are equipped with notebooks to access lecture notes, books and examinations online, thanks to the host of solutions from Avaya. One example of the applications is the Library-on-Server application, which allows students to download or read online books stored on the server. This drastically reduces manpower, maintenance and upkeep costs needed to manage a large physical library of books. All lecturers attend meetings with their computer notebooks and tap KUKTEM's wireless LAN. By doing so, meeting minutes and notes can be disseminated and shared immediately afterwards, helping to both minimize and speed administrative work. First online examination was scheduled September this year.

In 2004:
KUKTEM had 3604 voice/network nodes and near limitless wireless access powered by hundreds of Avaya Wireless throughout the 29 buildings of the KUKTEM campus. All endpoints, access points and gateways rode on the 10GE network that carried voice and data on this single backbone. At KUKTEM, Avaya Interactive Response (IR) system is integrated with their campus management system for students, staff and public to provide information, results and around-the-clock scheduling. When the next phase of development is completed, KUKTEM's database will be fully integrated with the IR to provide rapid 24x7 €services to call-in requests.

In 2006:
KUKTEM planned to extend the same connectivity and services found at the main campus to lecturers and students at the first remote campus which was built the same year.


2. Charles Sturt University (CSU) in 2005

Barney Dalgarno from School of Education, Charles Sturt University and Anthony Chan, Peter Adams, Phil Roy and Daryl Miller from School of Computing and Mathematics, Charles Sturt University had done a research on campus and distance student attitudes towards paperless assessment and feedback. This paper reports on a large-scale trial of paperless submission, marking and return of assignments at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in 2005.

A simple extension of manual paper-based marking is the use of technologies to digitise and deliver the paper submissions to remote markers. Another extension of paper-based submission and feedback is the use of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) equipment to automatically mark multiple choice test papers. An alternative is the use of online quiz systems which provide immediate feedback to learners.

The major benefit that technology can provide in this context is in supporting the process of submitting, marking and returning student assignments. Electronic submissions of students’ work can be marked either in an online or offline state. In the online state, the assessment is marked while linked to the server usually via the Internet. Online marking systems tend to be limited in their capabilities for providing feedback embedded within the students’ work, and can involve usability problems. Offline marking systems, which involve downloading the students’ work and then marking it using desktop tools, before uploading the marked assignments have the potential to provide a richer range of marking options and improved usability.

At CSU, students enroll in subjects either in Distance Education (DE) mode or Internal (on campus) mode. DE students are provided with three options when submitting written assignments. They can hand deliver their assignments to a CSU campus, mail them, or submit them via CSU’s purpose built Electronic Assignment Submission and Tracking System (EASTS). EASTS offers comparable functionality to commercial systems like WebCT and Blackboard for uploading assignments electronically; this feature is often referred to as an assignment or digital drop box. Normally assignments submitted via EASTS are printed by CSU’s central Learning Materials Centre (LMC) and then delivered via internal mail to the academic for marking. Once marked, academics return the printed assignments to the LMC, who then mail them back to the students. Internal students normally submit their assignments in a printed form and have them marked in the traditional paper-based way before collecting them during class time.

The paperless marking process consists of three separate processes, namely submission, marking and return. In each case there are a number of alternative approaches that can be used. This section describes and summarises the main hardware configurations, software packages, file formats and feedback styles included in the trial. Evaluation techniques used are closed questions on student questionnaire and open ended questions on student questionnaire.

The results that gain from the respondents, regardless of study mode, would overwhelmingly prefer to submit their assignments electronically. While some students commented that the typewritten feedback was easier to read, the themes of storage, retrieval and access flexibility were more common. There is a sizable minority of students (especially internal students) who either would prefer to receive their feedback through conventional non-electronic means, or are uncertain of their preference. Students are overwhelmingly in favour of the wider use of paperless assignment feedback.

This paper that done by Dalgarno, Chan, Adam, Roy and Miller have reported the results of a survey of students who participated in a large-scale trial of paperless assignment submission, marking and return. The results suggest that students are very positive about the use of paperless approaches to marking. Key advantages identified include reductions in time delays, ability to retrieve feedback while away from home, improved legibility of feedback, reduced printing, confirmation of receipt of assignments, more convenient storage of past assignments and the ability to obtain a replacement copy of lost assignments. Some disadvantages identified included the cost of printing returned assignments, problems with uploading large assignments over slow Internet connections and the possibility of students hacking into each others work.

In conclusion, there was no clear difference between the preference for paperless marking of students studying on campus and at a distance, with the majority of students in all study modes responding positively. This was considered interesting because Internal students have the least to gain from paperless submission and return but are still overwhelmingly positive about it, perhaps reflecting a change in the patterns of work and study for these students. One other interesting finding was that many students expressed a strong preference for receiving feedback via email (e.g. using a push model), while many other students expressed a strong preference for downloading their feedback themselves (ie. using a pull model). This suggests that paperless return systems should provide students with a choice of how to receive their feedback.


3. NTR health varsity becomes paperless organization

9 Jan 2003, 0029 hrs IST , TNN
NTR University of Health Sciences vice-chancellor G Sham Sunder inaugurated the computerized local-area network (LAN) in the university. The NTR-UHS has thus become a paperless university. Medical journals and textbooks could also be shared through the digital network, thereby reducing costs.
The University of Wisconsin-Stout furthers its vision of the digital campus, greatly enhances student services and reduces operating expenses. UW-Stout operated a one-card system on-campus. Digital solution would allow the UW-Stout community to move rapidly toward a cashless, keyless, and paperless university while expanding services to meet the needs of its users. 90% of students activated their cards by visiting the co-branded Stout/Higher One website.


4. CASE STUDY- School of Business, Utah Valley State College

This case study is on School of Business, Utah Valley State College, Orem, Utah, 84058. It talks about the perceptions and experiences of students in a paperless accounting class. Steve Teeter, Susan R. Madsen, Jason Hughes, and Brent Eagar had done a research in this school.
Faculty members at one U.S. institution designed and offered a paperless accounting course that utilized a variety of technologies. This study explored student perceptions regarding the satisfaction and effectiveness of three of these technologies: 1)the Classroom Performance System (CPS) response pad (clicker) from eInstruction.com, 2) Tablet PC (teacher use); and 3) a course management system.

The primary purpose of this research study was to explore student satisfaction and attitudes regarding cutting-edge classroom technologies. This research asks the overarching question, “What are the student perceptions of satisfaction and effectiveness before and after completing an undergraduate paperless financial accounting course?”

Classroom Performance System (CPS) response pad (clicker) is a wireless response system that provides students and the instructor with immediate feedback; gathers assessment data during class; exercises reinforce learning objectives and skills taught.Tablet PC for a chalk board. Lectures can be saved and put online.

This study included 62 students who were primarily computer science, technology management, and business management majors. Students were given 15 open-ended probing questions. These questions were designed to extract information about the students’ experiences and perceptions of the educational technologies used. Qualitative data were collected through the three written

reflection assignments. Students were awarded points for completion and not content of these assignments. Reflection questions were posted on the course management system and students were asked to use the Mailbox or Assignment function to submit responses via confidential submission directly to the instructor. The instructors read the responses for grading purposes. A research assistant downloaded the responses into a structured word processing document for further analysis.

The first reflection assignment asked students about their perceptions of the paperless class. Overall, most of the students made positive statements regarding the heavy use of technology in this course and, interestingly, many of these students also expressed some apprehension or concern as well. Although there were some initial concerns among students, most of the students were positive as they anticipated the benefits of the paperless accounting classroom experience.
Students were asked to reflect on their experiences related to three of the technologies used in this course: clicker (CPS system), the use of a Tablet PC by one of the instructors, and the course management system. In the professor’s section, 96 percent of the students who responded (n=28) said that they enjoyed or liked the CPS system, and 93 percent of the respondents commented that the immediate feedback was a major reason for their satisfaction.

Fifty-seven percent commented that they would recommend the CPS system to other professors and students, and 32 percent stated that more teachers should use this system in their classrooms. No student said they would not recommend it. Although they liked it, 21 percent cited cost as an issue or concern while 54 percent said cost was not an issue. Nearly 30 percent of the students stated that the CPS system enhanced their learning, 21 percent felt it made learning easier, and 14 percent noted slight problems with the CPS system which did not detract from its benefit.

The second section’s results were quite different (n=22). While 45 percent wrote that they could see some helpful aspects of the CPS, including immediate feedback (23 percent), only 14 percent said they would recommend it. Sixty-eight percent reported that the cost was an issue or a waste primarily because the instructor only used it three or four times during the whole semester. They resented spending money and not having the instructor utilize it. Interestingly, 77 percent of the students felt that they could obtain benefits from this system if it were used correctly. Over half of the respondents noted that the system should have been used more often, and 32 percent stated that the instructor wasted time getting the CPS set up each class period. Students said that the adjunct instructor “needed more training” on the system. Over 60 percent noted problems stemming from the instructor not taking the technology “seriously” or his lack of preparation to use such a technology tool.
Tablet PC. Fifty percent of the students found that that the Tablet PC saved class time and was easy to follow (54 percent). Twenty-seven percent explained that it helps the instructor interact with the students, and 27 percent said that more instructors should use it. All students said they would recommend that the professor continue to use this technology. A few provided suggestions for improved visibility of the screen from the back of the classroom. In conclusion, we found a strong positive reaction to the use of the PC Tablet. In fact, all of the students in the classroom responded enthusiastically to its use. They felt that it was much more effective than traditional use of a chalkboard. It enabled the instructor to add significantly to his presentation and discussions. Students enjoyed their involvement.

Course Management System. The course instructors used six primary components of the integrated course management system: grades, chat rooms, emails, reflection submissions, announcements, and discussions. Most of the students (78 percent) found the course management system to be at least partially useful, while 31 percent did not like the major components of the system. Positive comments revolved around having a place to easily access grades and assignments (29 percent), easy communication with the instructor (12 percent), organizational benefits (10 percent), and convenience. Most students did not sound overly excited about the technology (compared to responses about the Tablet PC) but found the system at least somewhat useful. The students used this technology primarily to access grades, send emails to the instructor, and to submit their reflections for this study. They completed the discussions only because the y were assigned, and they did not use the chat. It was clear that most students wanted to make the course as simple as possible and did not want to use any optional system elements.

They had met several limitations with this research study such as the exploratory nature of this research, different instructors for each section of the course, take into account perceptions related to student technological ability when entering the course, the student’s actual technology proficiency prior to the class was not assessed and the context in which this study was undertaken was the U.S.A. This study is at least a start in scratching this surface. Although educating adults is a complex phenomenon, the discovery of potentially effective strategies and pedagogies is most beneficial for those who love their profession and have the desire to make a difference at the grassroots level.

5. Sun Life Financial with RightFax and FileNet

Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of wealth accumulation and protection products and services to individuals and corporate customers.

Five years ago, Sun Life Financial was a paper-tied company. Much of the documentation employees worked with were faxed in and out on manual fax machines. This process compromised employee productivity time by requiring employees to manually scan faxes in order to save them in the company’s imaging system (a system designed to store, manage and retrieve documents).

The Sun Life Financial initiative to become a paperless office meant finding a better way to manage faxed documents. Sun Life Financial realized the power of e-document delivery that brings incoming faxes into a computer (instead of a paper-based fax machine) and allows outgoing faxes to be sent from the computer as well. Sam Aidonidis, systems developer at Sun Life Financial said the company’s research showed RightFax to be the market leader in fax server and e-document delivery technology. The company has been using RightFax technology for approximately five years and its installation has grown from one RightFax fax server to five servers in all: two RightFax Business Servers and three RightFax Enterprise Servers.

On top of its RightFax servers, Sun Life Financial added the RightFax Connector for Panagon Image Services, which integrates RightFax capabilities with Panagon Image Services from FileNET Corporation. Panagon Image Services is a high-volume digital image server for storing, retrieving, and managing transactional content and objects of all types. With the Connector for Panagon, Sun Life Financial has created an efficient and intelligent channel for storing and accessing the extremely high volumes of business-critical content transmitted via fax. Key data points can be captured from inbound fax content so that the electronic document can be indexed and automatically routed. The process provides an added layer of security and data loss prevention as well.

Aside from the RightFax/FileNET integration – which supports approximately 16 inbound and eight outbound lines – Sun Life Financial also utilizes the RightFax Gateway for Lotus Notes. Aidonidis said employee productivity spikes even higher faxing directly from Notes and the implementation of RightFax technology has allowed his group to eliminate 45 fax machines. RightFax and FileNET help they make sure work is being done quickly and ensures they don’t lose revenue or clients because of an inability to track work.

In conclusion, Captaris and RightFax not only align well with Sun life Financial’s values: The company is good to work with, the products are customer-focused and add value, but also made it becomes a paperless office.

Trends Mapping of Paperless issue

Trends mapping

Year 2002

27 February
The electronic transactions in e-Grades, e-Giving, e-Parking and Kronos Time Keeping projects of university life have reduced the amount of paperwork and time that is involved in filling out applications, applying for parking permits, filing grades and other administrative tasks.

April-Jun
The audiologists at the Washington Audiology & Imaging Center use computers called Clios, which are similar to a small laptop computer and have a wireless transmitter that works like an antenna. This allows patient information that has been entered into the electronic medical record to be transmitted into the main file database. At the end of the evaluation, the audiologist can complete their chart entry by using the Clio or a desktop computer at various kiosks throughout the office.

Year 2003

22 February
Microsoft is trying to make that offices becoming paperless using InfoPath. InfoPath is an application that lets you design and use electronic forms. Users can build forms in InfoPath that store the data within the form as XML files. As with a Web page, an InfoPath form starts with a layout table. Each data source for a form needs to be associated with a connection in the form. You can create two types of data connections: those that submit data and those that receive data. InfoPath forms do offer three levels of form security: Restricted, Domain and Full Trust.

October
Chubb & Son initiated a download promotion campaign, contacting those agencies that weren't using download and alerting them of the upcoming initiative to discontinue sending agencies copies of certain personal lines documents. Mark Galante, assistant vice president of Chubb & Son says the campaign's success is reflected by Chubb's receiving the Download Company of the Year Percentage Growth award from ACORD and, most recently, the Download Partner of the Year award from the Applied Systems Client Network (ASCnet). Download offers not only support of a paperless environment, but time and savings-time savings, therefore money savings-for the agency.

Year 2005

8 January
Krishnan of LL2B.com, a digital age thinker, has set about burying paper. His crusade against paper chase in government offices has happily been endorsed by the Electronic Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT), which uses his web enabled, platform independent, paperless solution developed totally using open source technology.

25 January
With the growth and maturity of online statement delivery, paperless statements are fast becoming the norm in the banking industry. Paperless statements can be made available through emails, e-banking services or over websites and are usually free of charge.

27 May
Green Earth Office Supply offers a wide variety of office supplies that are earth friendly and sustainable. Green Field Paper offers a wide variety of alternative options, including paper made from hemp, cotton, and recycled paper. Office Depot offers recycled content paper and is a leader in green office supplies. Recycled Products Purchasing Cooperative is a nonprofit organization that sells recycled paper and alternative paper.

5 July
Grant D. Griffiths, Attorney purchased the Fijitsu ScanSnap scanner and use the full version of Adobe Acrobat. He uses a great program called pagesender to do all incoming and outgoing faxes.

July/August
Many small institutions have been imaging checks for years, enjoying the savings, efficiencies and new product opportunities possible in a paperless environment. Those that aren’t yet image-enabled are expected to be coaxed along by continued Fed consolidation and rising paper processing prices. But small organizations’ plans for image exchange suffer from the sluggish pace of large banks, whose own adoption requires significant investment and process re-engineering.

14 November
Electronic imaging has grown extremely popular on Towson University since the ImageNow software was first piloted in February 2005. Financial Services' Accounts Payable unit enhanced business processes with the assistance of ImageNow. Besides, Undergraduate Admissions also benefited the most from electronic imaging.

2 December
Xerox Corp. is developing electronic paper: thin digital displays that respond to a stylus, like a pen on paper. Notations can be easily erased or saved digitally. Anoto Group would allow notations made with a stylus on a page printed with a special magnetic ink to simultaneously appear on a computer screen.

Year 2007

27 January
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is all set venture into the digital era. The corporation is close to signing a Rs 1,100 crore (Rs 11 billion) Electronic Data Management System (EDMS) contract with a consortium-led by global IT major Hewlett-Packard (HP) that will transfer it to the paperless world by 2010. Under the deal, the consortium that wins the contract would have to install scanners to convert existing policies into digital format and archive it at a central server. Each policy contains 20-30 sheets of paper, resulting in around 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) sheets that have to be scanned. The process is long-drawn and could take upto 3-3.5 years. Once LIC gets paperless the customer can avail of loan, make changes in the policy and all branches will be able to access to his documents. The scanning of 400 crore papers is expected to be completed by 2010. But with over 3 crore (Rs 30 million) policies added every year, around 9 crore (Rs 90 million) of dockets would have to be scanned in addition to the existing policies. This is not an easy task.

14–16. May
In March of this year, Liverpool Primary Care Trust working with software provider Clinical Solutions extended its patient-management and clinical-consultation system from two to four of the city’s walk-in centres (WiCs). The centres had been working in isolation — two using an electronic system and two on a paper-based system. This would benefit patient care and provide an effective means for the PCT to allocate resources, based on real time information. Working from isolated paper-based systems created a host of difficulties for Liverpool’s WiC staff and the PCTs. In terms of patient histories and records of care at the centres, it took time for staff to locate the details they were looking for, and they had no access to other centres’ records (where a patient might have previously been treated). Patients were thus forced to wait longer than necessary. Paper records are no longer liable to loss or unauthorized viewing, as the system can be configured to give different levels of access depending on the rights granted to the individual user. Both time and money is saved as they no longer need to pay storage for paper records and all the information is in one place.


15 June
All Customs offices must use the Customs Information System by December this year, said Royal Customs Department deputy director-general (Operations) Datuk Ibrahim Jaafar. We expect 97 stations nationwide to be 100% paperless and using the online system to ensure speed and efficiency. Last year, the department collected RM1.016bil in taxes and this was mainly due to the efficiency of the officers and cooperation by the public.

24 July
Paperless does not mean 'no paper.' It means LESS paper. Going paperless means configuring the right hardware and software and it remains subjective because there is a huge technological world out there with many products. With the MacBook and ScanSnap, every document can be scanned. With pagesender, all of faxes can come into Mini and are emailed to MacBook no matter where the users are. By using the paperless or virtual office described above, we are able to work out of a home office without the need for walls full of file cabinets, a loud and expensive copier and piles of file folders taking up good carpet space.

17 August
A paperless vehicle entry system is being tested at border check points in Sarawak, Sabah and Brunei. They will only have to fill in their data on the Customs Department website, and a sticker will be issued to them at the Customs checkpoint upon online verification. Motorists can apply for the entry permit from their homes. This way, the process will take less than a minute at the checkpoints, compared to the longer time needed for manual registration.

6 Nov
Paper has a number of problems in addition to its environmental implications and also lacks a number of the affordances of its digital counterparts. The key is to recognize that paper is all about process, whereas digital media are all about information and retrieval. Embracing paperless reference filing is not the same thing as rejecting paper's important role in our work. From article 17, the writer, norbauer said the first and perhaps most important aspect of his paperless workflow is Fujitsu ScanSnap. He uses JungleDisk to automatically back up his "inbox" and "Archive" folders to S3. He also ditched all of his paper photographs by commissioning ScanCafe to cheaply digitize the negatives.


Year 2008

8 January
A school on a remote Scottish island is showing that huge savings can be made through careful scrutiny of resources and going digital. They realized just how much we were spending on photocopying. Between 2005 and 2006, they spent just over £20,000 on paper, ink, jotters, everything. ImageRunner 6800, was a sophisticated machine that could, with the addition of a PC and suitable software (Ecopy), be turned into an industrial-strength scanning machine - an e-copier. The students do most of their work in OneNote [software] on the Ultra Mobiles so this has cut down on paper.

19 January
A spokesman of a major bookstore in Penang said people seemed to prefer sending e-cards and SMS greetings these days compared to conventional season greeting cards. They were selling 20% less Chinese New Year greeting cards compared to last year. Sending SMS greetings and e-cards were convenient, fast, cheap and that they would not get lost in the post like conventional ones. It is also environment-friendly and as part of the trend towards a paperless society.

29 February
The paperless environment is growing in all areas of classroom instruction including lectures, homework, quizzes and examinations. A paperless classroom allows professors to provide immediate feedback to students on papers and exams and can save professors a great deal of time in preparing presentations. Advantages are less paperwork to hand out to students, absent students have access to assignments and PowerPoint information, teachers have fewer student papers to transport and potentially lose, online quizzes provide instant feedback to students, online quizzes provide statistical data to guide teacher instruction, less time spent on grading and lower paper costs for School/department. Where there are advantages, there are also disadvantages as well. Students who do not have computers are home, students may not possess strong computer skills, students may require direct instruction on how to access computer based processes they are being asked to do, students may have difficulty learning from a computer screen, and might require more multimodal means of instruction.

Group Aspiration

Project Manager: Khor Seow Bei Wen 96116
Project Editor: Foong Yee Ching 96097
Project Creative/Presentation Manager: Lew Chee Leng 96132
Project Solutions-Based Idea Manager: Law Poh Leng 96126