Universities are increasingly introducing programming courses for beginners into their curricula as programming knowledge becomes a key skill in various fields which results in larger class sizes for programming teachers. Three key aspects of efficient programming education were identified: integrated development environments, collaboration through pair programming, and assessment with feedback methods. A novel platform designed for novice students was developed to embed an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and live pair programming in a web browser. The platform was tested by 192 student volunteers from an introductory programming course in the first year of a bachelor’s degree in economics and management. The results indicate that it was useable and group work provided increased grades. The solution was developed mainly as a proof of concept but can be easily adapted to other courses.