The learning design focuses on self-assessment and correcting misconceptions about topics in engineering dynamics via the use of a computer program that presents graphical problems which students need to solve by predicting the outcome.

The Learning Design Sequence is illustrated as follows.

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WHAT THE STUDENTS DO
The activities that students are required to do in sequence are:

1. Orientation to a content topic.
2. Reinforce/consolidate understanding of concepts presented in the orientation materials by work through a number of problems in a web-based tutorial system.
3. Record all working on the web tutorial problems in a note book, called a "log book".

These 3 activities are repeated in sequence a number of times throughout the subject.

Several different problem interfaces have been developed over the years, as staff have implemented problem sets in new subject areas. Typical student activities include:

1. Collaborative working on the problems e.g., group discussion or shared written work.
2. Entering a number with units, or several numbers with units.
3. Dragging markers onto an image.
4. Sketching a graph.
5. Entering a general math expression.
6. Interpreting the feedback provided.

Students are not given many clues about the expected answer prior to their response.

At the end of the subject students must sit a written examination, which is marked in the usual way and makes up the bulk of the assessment.

SIGNIFICANCE OF ORDER
The web tutorials are a practice environment. Students discover the meaning of the theory, as taught in the lectures, by trying to apply the concepts themselves in new ways.

The examination is to certify that students have attained the required level of understanding. This is very important in a professional degree program.

CRITICAL ACTIVITIES
The graphical problems are not easy, and they are carefully designed (by an experienced teacher) to draw out common misconceptions. Students try to solve them, often applying naïve or incomplete theory, and discover that they cannot get the expected answers. Why? The time spent asking "Why" is the most critical activity.

Everything else in the learning design is structured to maximize the time in productive "Why" mode. The lecturer challenges the students and misconceptions are highlighted. The problems are challenging but rewarding, friends are nearby to contribute their own unique view of "Why", and tutors are there to help students who are stuck. The exam provides a focus for student learning.

Sometimes we are asked if we could do without the lectures. I think the lectures are an essential part of the overall learning environment because they give the students an important sense of belonging to a community.

ACCESSIBLE RESOURCES
In 1993, Professor Stone prepared a set of very concise lecture notes which were constrained by the size of computer screens available at that time. Those lecture notes are now available on our web site and are very popular with the students. In some courses we even print them out and give them to the students.

Students are encouraged to buy a recommended traditional engineering textbook (Meriam & Kraige, Dynamics), but few of them do, and we do not press the point.

The tutorial system is the main resource during the semester. It is commercial software called "FlyingFish" and was developed at the University of Western Australia. The system is essentially a web page server which also maintains student records, very much like other "Managed Learning Environments" available these days. FlyingFish is unusual, however, in that the emphasis is on:

• providing students with rich interfaces that are not simply multiple choice; and
• providing good feedback to students for common errors.

The tutorial system includes an integral bulletin board called the Forum. The arrangement of "threads" in the Forum is designed to maximise the effectiveness for staff and students. There is one thread for every problem in the tutorial set. Students like this because they know that if they look at the thread for a given problem, it will be undiluted information about the issues they are struggling with. Staff like the Forum because once a given query has been answered, it remains in the bulletin board for all students to see. The Forum is cleared each year because each class must be allowed to ask their own questions.

RESOURCES IN CONTEXT
It is important to see the resource set as part of an overall "package" for the students. The package includes the items listed above, but also some others:

• Professor Stone plays touch rugby with the class. Only about 10% of students participate but the rest know they are welcome.
• The staff make themselves very available to students. If a student knocks on a staff door, help is always available.
• We sometimes run a mock examination to help the first years relax in the real one.
• The staff make guest appearances in one another's lectures, and sometimes sit in on the lectures of the others, "heckling" or otherwise participating – students love this.

VARYING THE RESOURCE SET
Each teacher, each course, and each group of students is different. At another university, with older students, it might not be necessary to run the lecture series, or it might be OK to have it on video in the library. Mature age students might not need the regular deadlines.

SUPPORTS SUPPLIED
The supports provided to the student include:

• A printed handout (also available on the web) which explains the fundamentals of the tutorial system (how to log in, deadlines, expected behaviour), how to contact staff, the assessment weights, and physical location of the teaching areas.
• A set of web-based lecture notes (in some years we print these, depending on the clemency of the administration). The lecture notes include some QuickTime™ movies to illustrate motion concepts.
  Online discussion board: The tutorial system has an integral bulletin board called the Forum. Every problem in the set has a dedicated bulletin board. The bulletin board pages are monitored by staff and student questions are answered quickly.
• The tutorial problems themselves are programmed to recognize common errors, and if one of these is recognized, students are shown specific feedback messages.
• Students are encouraged to work/discuss the problems in small groups. Tutorials are organised in large computer rooms and there are tutors present. Students quickly realise that the best strategy is to try the problems in collaboration with friends. Tutors do not dominate the room but are there to help. The learning environment is thus a fairly chaotic and noisy place, but the students like it and go forward rapidly with the help of friends.
• Staff have an open door policy. To some extent the computer tutorial system makes this possible - it answers many common queries automatically, leaving only the harder ones for staff.

SIGNIFICANCE OF SUPPORT STRATEGIES
There is more to our learning environment than meets the eye. We have certain computer systems and practices but the personalities of the staff are also very important.

The technology we use can be transferred to another site, and in fact it is now used at eight other universities, but at each site there is a champion/developer/expert who is also usually an academic.

The key to success is not to buy certain hardware, nor even certain software, but to have the right people take up the new teaching style with vigour.

SUPPORT STRATEGY ADAPTATION
When we give seminars about what we have been doing, we are often approached by staff who want to do something similar. Some of the resulting collaborations have been very fruitful. The striking thing about them all, however, is how different the resulting developments are. Each staff member has a distinct vision about the resources and support that his or her students need. Sometimes our existing problem types can be recycled in the new discipline area, sometimes custom development is needed. The new course may need a different deadline approach, or a different Forum structure, or it may need to be more adaptive to student progress.

Summary: Our strategies can be modified, perhaps they must be modified, to match each new teaching situation.