Toward a Web-based study support environment for teaching automatic control

This article presents the results of a research project with the goal of designing and developing a Web-based study support environment based on two measures for improving study effectiveness: the informing of and communication with students at all times; and frequent advice, based on self-test exercises, on student progress in mastering the course content. The project was implemented in an introductory course on system identification within the curriculum of electrical engineering, a fourth-year undergraduate course taken by 30 students. We offer a global outline of the new course format in which the designed environment was implemented. We also give more insight into the practical realization of the designed environment, and finally, the results from the use of the environment are presented and discussed.