Guidance and Hints

During the solution process, the student may need some help. The first available help is the guidance, which provides an initial idea on how to start. The guidance is a static tip and remains the same throughout the solution process. A dynamic help is provided by the a hint that refers to the last step that was typed by the student. The hint provides focused help either on what was wrong if the line was incorrect, or a tip on how to continue from this point if the typed line was correct.

The instruction experience of the authors has played a key role in developing an intelligent software, that can anticipate and detect common mistakes made by students and provide help when needed.

The following example shows the guidance, which is only a suggestion. The student does not necessarily have to follow it.

The student solves correcly, but still he may need some help.
The hint provides an idea how to continue.

When the student makes a mistake the hint tells what it wrong.