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Today teachers in schools and lecturers in institutions of higher learning are endowed with a wide range of new teaching experiences through web-based teaching and learning approaches (WBTLA), which was not possible before through the traditional classroom approach. With the use of WBTLA emerged problems related to usability in technical, pedagogical and contextual aspects of teaching and learning. This paper examines usability problems in the context of teaching and learning at higher institutions of learning in Malaysia. By using the framework proposed by Hadjerrout (2010), a survey was carried out to determine the aspects related to usability and the extent to which lecturers believed that they enjoyed teaching as well as faced difficulties in employing WBTLA in their classes. The findings show that while lecturers agreed on technical and pedagogical usability and the extent of difficulties involved which they could overcome, their perceptions and beliefs of contextual usability and the extent of the difficulties involved are less clear. This leaves much to the ability and willingness of each respective institution to invest in the technology and provision of training to the lecturers. Despite the problems identified the lecturers do see that WBTLA has good prospects in the future.

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert