The way we commonly educate today—one instructor with many students—advanced civilization and changed the world. But it is not the best way.

Private one-on-one tutors can be vastly superior to standard classroom teaching. However, it has not been feasible to educate an entire population with private tutors—that is until recent advances in computers. Here we describe a new software tool which allows educators to create and edit such computer-as-tutor lessons for any audience. Questions by the computer tutor can be put to the student and alternative branches in a lesson on any topic can be followed. The software can be edited as a text document and then processed to instantly update the lesson in any way. The tools use standard components, and we make these tools available under public license for comment, criticism, use, and improvement as we begin to apply them in educational settings. We have found such lessons relatively easy to develop.