On-line learning systems in introductory physics: how do students use them and why?

On-line educational technologies are becoming increasingly important across a range of tertiary studies. Swinburne University of Technology, for example, has the aim of 20% of all student learning taking place on-line by the year 2015. In many situations this involves taking existing traditional teaching and learning activities and adapting them to an on-line environment, whilst in other cases the technology allows for completely new approaches to learning. Important in all cases is an understanding of how students interact with the on-line learning system, since it may be present a range of new issues, both positive and negative. This work investigates how students interact with an interactive on-line learning system for an introductory physics unit, both in terms of their observed behaviour and their underlying motivations