This paper describes an adaptive system called VL-PATSy, an extension to an existing system (PATSy) that adds a mechanism for serving vicarious learning (VL) resources. Vicarious learning is the notion that people can and will learn through being given access to the learning experiences of others. The VL resources represent an innovative form of learner support for a complex cognitive task (clinical reasoning). The VL resources are delivered in response to system-detected reasoning impasse events or in response to student demand in timely and context-sensitive ways. A three tier XML-oriented, rule-based architecture was chosen as an efficient and lightweight implementation solution and a design pattern approach was utilised.