Chem.-Lab multimedia based pre-lab courseware material is prepared for Freshman Engineering students and is used in NJIT and Rutgers Universities, Newark NJ. Before entering the lab, students are required to study the courseware and demonstrate their understanding by taking an online Pre-Lab quiz. Those students who pass the quiz are admitted to the actual lab, while others keep trying. For those students who are having difficulty in passing the quiz, an Intelligent Tutoring System called Study Buddy is available. The courseware uses multimedia presentation and includes play to learn style test games for self-assessment. The courseware currently contains 12 lab units. The design of the courseware is based on a holistic approach where lab units are linked to real life case studies when applicable. Each case study is presented with chemistry knowledge as well as social, historical, economical and environmental issues. The idea is to prepare a complete engineer.  The technology is infused with the addition of a context sensitive dictionary to help freshman with the new technology terms.