Teaching through adaptive hypertext on the WWW

Since early 1994 the introductory course 2L670, "Hypermedia Structures and Systems" has been available on World Wide Web, and is an optional part of the curriculum in computing science at the Eindhoven University of Technology. The course has since been completed by more than 200 students from six different universities, five in the Netherlands and one in Belgium. In order to participate in this course the student only needs a World Wide Web browser. There is no need for separate e-mail, netnews, bulletin boards or ftp software (although these additional tools could be useful for communicating with the teacher and with other students, and for handing in the final assignment). In this paper we present the evolution of this course, from a static hypertext document (used in 1994) to a fully adaptive hypertext courseware (used since January 1997). The current edition of the course features automatic evaluation of small tests, a repository for assignment work, a discussion system, complete monitoring of each student's progress, and adaptive content and link structure. We also reflect on the problems students have experienced with each version, and the solutions that have lead to the current courseware and that will lead to future developments.