There were of course 'traditional' solutions to these educational failings. But it was felt that such practices would not necessarily help those students needing the most assistance. Leaving aside the problem of plagiarism, a struggling student will 'learn' the procedure of solution from another student before producing their own response. But as a result of recent work and observation of best practice at other Institutions, it was considered that a new course model could be implemented for first-year dynamics, in which the aims stated above could be more nearly realised. Figure 1 Students at work in the Maths Computing Laboratory in 1995.
Students attempt problems that are presented on the computer screen.
The assessed problems are marked based on the number of attempts required to obtain the correct answer. Students who fall behind are thus easily spotted. There is a messaging environment which sorts messages into narrow topic areas, for example comment about a single problem. A typical 'lead-up' problem card. During 1995 tutorial classes in this new environment consisted of perhaps 40 students with one tutor.