We implemented an intensive and timetabled block of commercially produced interactive CAL courseware into a Level II University geoscience undergraduate course. We carried out the implementation in conjunction with a thorough evaluation of the process including a pre-course survey, a monitoring process during the course which included simple tests of cognition, a post-course survey and a study of the final course assessment. The CAL was received favourably by the students, with perceived benefits which included, more student-centred learning, self-paced learning, better time-management and easier review and revision, which all suggested an approval of the more flexible approach to the course offered by the CAL. Our conclusion is that while the CAL implementation was successful in achieving the outcomes we expected and it did this whilst marginally reducing the formal teaching input, students and staff agreed that the best method of application of this type of CAL is in a mixed-mode of CAL used as an adjunct rather than a replacement to the more traditional personal interactions of lectures, tutorials and laboratory classes.
