Pedagogic coaching with web browsers and Java']JavaScript

Pedagogic coaching, providing personalized hints or assistance to learners as they need them, has long been identified as a promising approach for helping learners benefit from interacting with learning environments that rely on computers and networks. Although implementing coaching by reliance on intelligent tutors has proved too complex for widespread application, this paper describes an approach to coaching that limits the context so that rule-based branching constructs simple enough for implementation with JavaScript, an object based language that is built into all popular contemporary web browsers. Learners receive immediate feedback about their work on complex, open-ended, problems without direct intervention of the teacher.