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y a teacher or trainer, but results from self-constructingideas and concepts by the learner or trainee. The trainersupports this process by providing hints and feedback;his/her role changes from being a teacher towards actingas a coach. The task of such coach consists in nondirectivequestioning and helping coaches to analyse andaddress their own challenges rather than offering adviceor direction.Against this background, coaching is to be understoodas helping a person in actively creating and successfullypassing individual learning processes through guidanceon-demand.It is a highly focused process that unlockspotential and maximizes performance at both theindividual and organizational levels. It helps people gainclarity, remove self-imposed limitations and increasetheir self-reliance, so they can better leverage theirstrengths and help others to do the same. Coaching helpsindividuals to develop critical insight, bringing a newsense of purpose to their actions. It helps them to seewhere they are, where they want to go to, and how to getthere. It stirs them to contribute more. Coaching is aformal system that results in positive, lasting change.E-coaching is coaching delivered over an electronicmedium. It focuses on the same goals as “regular”coaching. A coach's goal would be to facilitate clientgrowth and potential by assisting them in identifyingneeds, developing goals, building strategies to meet thesegoals, and providing support and encouragement in orderto ensure these goals may be met. E-learning by itselfaddresses more the use of technology for teaching, wheree-coaching has the power to represent a ‘teacher” in theprocess. Consequently, coaching systems differ frominstructional (e-learning) systems that only presentsubject matter (domain knowledge) and that only checkwhether the student has understood the presentedmaterial. Coaching systems are computer programs thatprovide an environment for learners to acquire skills inapplying domain knowledge and that assess and correctlearners in their performance. In a coaching system thecoachee performs a task and the system (the e-coach)interprets the performance of a student, i.e. it monitorsdiscrepancies between intended results and actual results(see Muntjewerff and DeTombe 2004).THE IDEA AND VISION OF AN ECR E-COACHTaking into consideration both aspects, i.e. the needfor training support on the implementation and executionof the ECR concept as well as the chance a coachingapproach and especially e-coaching offers,implementation of ECR strategies in Poland andGermany was supposed to be supported by providing ane-coach for understanding and implementing ECR (seeNeumann et al. 2006). This ECR e-coach will be aunique supporter for the gaining, training and applicationof ECR knowledge and competence. For this, it is basedupon high-quality multimedia learning material,interactive assessment procedures and a library of termsand methods, examples and best practices, and guidelinesfor efficiently, effectively, and successfullyimplementing ECR strategies into supply chains. Theseelements are composed to form attractive e-learningmodules on the ECR topic in English, German, andPolish languages. Due to their well-structured designthey can be built in the learning management system oflocal preference (i.e. Lotus Learning Space, WebCT,Moodle, etc.) to meet specific needs of the differenttarget groups of both university students (undergraduatesas well as postgraduates) and logistics professionals(training-on-the-job). Introduction of the e-coach intotraditional education and training programmes willenable to apply a blended learning methodology for thespecific target group and learning content.However, the e-coach is not just a framework fordelivering learning material and accompanying learningprocesses. It also provides additional coachingfunctionality for the pre-learning process assisting theuser in identifying both his/her individual learning needsand the subject matter or context they are settled in. Withthis, special focus is put on increasing the active role of alearner in the learning process and especially his/herresponsibility for the design and success of the learning.Instead of learning what a teacher has decided to belearned, the learner is supported in understanding whatthe practical problem is s/he might have and whichknowledge on theories, methods, procedures, bestpractices etc. might be of help to deal with the problemand finally solve it. This specifies the subject area andtopics to be mastered. Furthermore, and even if anexperienced practitioner would be able to self-identifythe context of a problem him/herself, in a second step thee-coach requires and supports self-reflection of ownknowledge and competence in these fields. In the end, alearning process is created that is tailor-made to theindividual needs of the learner and customized for his/herpersonal level of understanding and competence.This methodological support describes the differencebetween the coaching and a teaching/training approach.Using information and communication technologies aswell as intelligent case-based reasoning in this processallows decoupling human coaches from somehow beingpermanently on call. Thus, the ECR e-coach will be apersonal coach available anywhere and anytime to reacton individual needs for support. With this the e-coachgoes far beyond what is already available across Europeto support ECR-related training, e.g. under theframework of the ECR Europe General LearningProgramme (see Penning and Karli 2004) whichcurrently comprises a variety of traditional class-roombased courses and seminars (http://www.ecrnet.org) only.Consequently, a learner is required to be on-the-spot forAnnual Proceedings of Vidzeme University College “ICTE in Regional Development”, 200662