Background Courseware for engineering education can feature many discrete interactive learning elements, and typically student usage is not compelled. To take advantage of such courseware, self‐regulation of learning may be necessary. Evaluation of courseware should consider actual usage, learning gains, and indications of learning self‐regulation. Purpose (Hypothesis) The research question focuses on how students' interactions with the courseware affect their learning gains. The hypothesis tested is that learning gains from online courseware increase with usage, and particularly with usage that suggests learning self‐regulation. Design/Method Students in a lecture‐based statics course were assigned to study previously developed courseware as part of homework assignments. Learning gains were deduced from pre‐ and post‐ paper and pencil diagnostic quizzes, and from the first class exam. Credit was based on quiz scores, rather than courseware usage. Usage of interactive elements of the courseware was inferred from log files of students' interactions with the courseware, and patterns suggesting learning self‐regulation were identified. Results High, statistically significant learning gains were found. Substantial usage was evident, with core learning activities initiated by, on average, three‐quarters of students. Learning gains and performance on the relevant class exam appeared to be more closely correlated with usage that indicated self‐regulation of learning rather than with total usage of the courseware. Conclusions Methods of assessing courseware should go beyond courseware features, learning gains, and student self‐reports of effectiveness to include monitoring of actual usage and analyses relating usage to learning. Self‐regulation of learning is likely to be critical to successful usage of courseware, and courseware should be designed to encourage it.

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Concept inventories have been proposed for an increasing number of subjects in engineering and other fields. Such an assessment tool has been developed for Engineering Statics. An assessment instrument like a concept inventory is of value, however, only if performance on it is an indicator of performance in the subject more generally. The relation between class examinations and inventory performance were reported recently for students at the home institution of inventory developer (Steif). In the present paper we analyze the relation between class examinations and inventory performance for additional schools.We find the inventory is predictive of student performance at other institutions, and is relevant to a wider range of problems than earlier suspected.

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