A new approach to teaching and learning structural analysis

After the 9/11 incident, many structural educators became aware of the importance of inculcating in their students a clear understanding of local and global structural behaviour to develop basic knowledge about the progressive collapse of structures. The authors of this paper have addressed the issue by training students through 'virtual' experiments in a self-learning environment with the help of a newly developed software application, iSA (Instant Structural Analysis). One of the outstanding features of this application is that it allows students to instantly observe the changes in structural behaviour that are induced by changes in loading conditions, structural geometry, support conditions and member properties. This paper not only discusses the need to modify traditional teaching methods in the education of the new generation of structural engineers, but also presents some of the features of iSA that serve as handy tools in the teaching and learning of structural analysis.