An Open University project was planned to develop a set of computer assisted learning (CAL) microcomputer programs for a second level, summer school physics course, scheduled to begin in 1982. Major project aims were the development of an underlying system to effectively use medium resolution graphics with a simple animation capability; integration of simulations with tutorial style dialogs--in more or less natural English--which are not necessarily related directly to the simulation itself; and use of a flexible choice of "escape" options. This paper reviews the major issues which were involved in the design and implementation of the system as a whole and looks briefly at some of the individual teaching programs developed, which were planned to include about eight large teaching packages in kinematics, motion in force fields, electromagnetic fields, quantum mechanics, and statics. Concluding remarks indicate that UCSD PASCAL was a good language for the system development and writing of the teaching dialogs and simulations, that memory-mapped graphics devices have a tremendous potential in CAL, and that the most efficient method of animation seems to be via a direct data transfer to the screen memory. Four references are listed. (LMM)