Adaptive math tools are used in our district as a support to the student and teacher, not as a replacement of instruction or class collaboration. These tools allow students to work on math concepts at an individualized level and rate, thus increasing student confidence in math skills and developmental potential.
ALEKS is the district supported adaptive math support tool for students in AGS1 and above. This online program creates a personalized and dynamic learning path with an ongoing cycle of learning and assessment, celebrating small wins along the way with positive real-time feedback. ALEKS (Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces) is the product of more than thirty years of research by software engineers, mathematicians, and cognitive scientists from New York to California that uses groundbreaking artificial intelligence to improve student performance in math.
Every student is different. Identifying each student’s knowledge gaps is a luxury that time doesn’t allow and a challenge for every instructor. By having a deep understanding of each student’s learning needs, ALEKS delivers meaningful practice to students on content they have the prerequisite knowledge to successfully learn.
The ALEKS 'Course' refers to the math content/level a student is practicing. What might be called a learning target or sub-target in the BSD is called a Topic in ALEKS. Students move through Topics as they would lessons.
The Initial Knowledge Check happens when you log in for the first time. ALEKS uses artificial intelligence to determine exactly what each student knows, doesn’t know, and is most ready to learn in a given course. When students first log on to ALEKS they take the Initial Knowledge Check, which is a 25-30 question adaptive assessment. ALEKS chooses each question based on the student’s answers to all of the previous questions.
To accurately reflect what you know, try to answer each of the questions to the best of your ability. When the Initial Knowledge Check is completed ALEKS will display your unique knowledge state as a "Pie" and create an individualized set of learning topics just for you.
After completing the Initial Knowledge Check, students will reach the Home Page of their ALEKS course and see the ALEKS Pie. The button on the top right allows students to switch their home page view from the ALEKS Pie to the ALEKS Timeline.
A student can take several actions from the Home Page:
Select the CONTINUE MY PATH button to begin/continue completing lesson topics
Open the navigation menu (three bars) from the top left corner to access resources such as the reports and message center
This view on the homepage shows overall course mastery. Each pie slice represents a different area of the course and has three color-coded sections:
Dark = topics mastered on a Knowledge Check
Light = topics learned, but not yet mastered
Grey = Remaining topics not learned or mastered
A student can select a pie slice name on the right to see the number of topics, mastered, learned, and remaining for that pie slice. The ALEKS Pie will update each time a student learns a topic or completes a Knowledge Check. Students always have a clear idea of where they are in the course.
The ALEKS Timeline
The Timeline View tracks students' weekly progress to help them manage their study time. Each day displays how many topics the student has completed. Students can also see when their next Knowledge Check will be be clicking the icon to the left of the Timeline button in the top left of the screen. If they need more time to review, they can delay the Knowledge Check for up to 24 hours.
Once students clicks Continue My Path, they enter the Learning Mode and are presented with the topic that they are most Ready to Learn.
Each topic is organized in a similar way:
The Learning Page: offers a detailed explanation of a sample problem for students to read.
The Practice Page: where students begin working on practice problems.
The Explanation Page: shows another example with answers
Support materials, such as the help videos and dictionary, are easily accessible on any lesson page or practice problem if a student needs additional help.
To ensure that topics learned are retained in long-term memory, ALEKS periodically reassesses the student through Knowledge Checks and provides extra remediation where needed.
In Learning Mode you can access the Topic Carousel by selecting the downward arrow tab in the upper left corner of your screen.
The Carousel lists topics that a student is currently ready to learn. The topic a student is most ready to learn will appear first (far left). Use the arrows to scroll to new topics. Some topics may be locked because there is one or more prerequisite topics that must be learned before attempting the topic.
Students can switch topics at any time by selecting a new topic card in the Topic Carousel. When you select a card, a sample problem is previewed in the bottom half of the window.
