The paper presents a new environment, available world wide, which addresses the specialised needs of engineering education using computer assisted learning. Furthermore, the paper presents the structures, sample outputs, benefits, student performance and implementation of a module for finite element analysis with adaptive mesh refinement. The module involves integrating state of the art technologies namely the World Wide Web, Computer Assisted Learning (CAL), Software Support Management and Adaptive Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to provide an efficient learning mechanism. The implementation involves teaching engineering students enrolled in finite element applications courses in an interactive, on-line environment. The performance of two groups of students has been compared. The first group received conventional training. The second group of students used the WWW-CAL-FE module in their training. The module, which accommodates and integrates a wide range of learning activities, reduces the emphasis on lecturing. It helps students to develop an ability to simplify and understand complex mathematical problems, by observing cause and effect relationships. Furthermore, due to the anatomy of the module, students appreciate the strategy and the sequence of computations relating to F'E analysis and adaptive mesh refinements. Various other benefits of the WWW-CAL-FE module are discussed in the paper.