ALEKS eNewsletter

Your Spring/Summer ALEKS K-12 eNewsletter is below.

If you would like to subscribe to our Newsletter email list, please send a request with your name and email address to info@aleks.com.

Sincerely,

ALEKS Corporation
info@aleks.com

What's New?
Training Center
Support FAQ
Implementation Strategies
Where is ALEKS?
Submit Your Story
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15% Off ALEKS Independent Use Accounts

Give your students the opportunity to improve their math skills with ALEKS this summer and beyond! ALEKS independent use accounts can be purchased by parents for your students directly from the ALEKS Website for a variety of courses. Parents will receive 15% off their purchase of an ALEKS independent use account.

My School Already Uses ALEKS

Instructions for Coupon Redemption:

Download letter/coupon below (available in English or Spanish)
Print copies for your class
Distribute copies to students to give to their parents, or distribute them at your school's Open House

My School Does Not Use ALEKS

Instructions for Coupon Redemption:

Download letter/coupon below (available in English or Spanish)
Print copies for your class
Distribute copies to students to give to their parents, or distribute them at your school's Open House

Expanded ALEKS Mathematics Solutions
Available for English Language Learners
Bilingual Course Products for Grades 3-11

We are pleased to announce that the ALEKS library of K-12 course products is now available in English and Spanish for grades 3-11. ALEKS bilingual courses allow students to toggle between English and Spanish math content with the click of a mouse.

Bilingual Screenshot

Automatic Upgrade to New ALEKS Navigation Bar

All ALEKS K-12 accounts will automatically be upgraded to include a new ALEKS navigation bar for the Student Module on July 3, 2008. The navigation bar includes a new look and user-friendly features to improve the ALEKS learning experience.

Nav Bar

* QuickTables, a math fact mastery program for multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction can be added to any ALEKS course product by contacting ALEKS Customer Support.

Please direct any questions regarding your ALEKS account or the upgrade to ALEKS Customer Support at http://support.aleks.com.

Use Remaining 07-08 Discretionary Funds
Purchase ALEKS student subscriptions with remaining funds now,
and activate them when you are ready to use them.

ALEKS can be implemented as a core curriculum or supplement for use in remediation, intervention, gifted, after-school, or summer school programs. Since ALEKS is accessible from virtually any computer with Internet access, your students can work on ALEKS at school and at home.

In addition to 5, 7, 9, and 12-month subscriptions, ALEKS also offers 1, 2, and 3-month subscription lengths which are perfect for summer school.

Would you like us to help you place your order?

Would you like ALEKS to contact you with more information?

Have You Explored the ALEKS Training Center?

Learn more about ALEKS features via the online Training Center. Live and pre-recorded trainings are conveniently available for your viewing and training needs. You do NOT need to register to attend.

Live WebEx Training Sessions:

Training and Demonstration Sessions Available Daily.
View Schedule

Pre-Recorded Trainings:

Creating a Quiz in ALEKS
A step-by-step guide for creating a quiz in ALEKS by selecting from the various topics offered in the course.
Total Time: 2 min 54.

Reading Class Reports
A quick overview on how to read and interpret some of our most popular class reports.
Total Time: 2 min 24.

More Pre-Recorded Trainings

Contact ALEKS Customer Support

Hours (Eastern Time): Monday - Friday, 7 AM to 10 PM
Email: contact us at http://support.aleks.com
Phone: (714) 619-7090

Top Customer Questions:

Vista Unified School District: Alta Vista High School
Vista, CA

Computer Scenario: In-Classroom & Computer Lab

ALEKS Portion of Curriculum: 100%

Time Spent in ALEKS: 45 minutes per class period, 5 days per week

ALEKS Course Product: Algebra 2 & Chemistry

Terry "Skip" Curtis, Teacher
I introduced ALEKS at my school after seeing it at the 2003 NCTM Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, UT. I teach high school math and science at a continuation school, and found ALEKS to be a perfect solution for my classroom. The most pronounced problem at my school is the students' varying math backgrounds. Some students have missed important math concepts in early grades, and as a result, are unable to keep up with more proficient members of the class. Because it is highly individualized and targets gaps in student skills, I use ALEKS to address the widely varying math abilities of my students.

Implementation

How did you implement ALEKS?
Students have access to a computer lab that can accommodate up to 20 students. Additionally, most classrooms have one or more computers, providing students with access throughout the school day.

In my class, ALEKS comprises 100% of the course curriculum. By the end of the course, students must create a portfolio of ALEKS work, which includes ALEKS quizzes, a final report from ALEKS, a summary of how ALEKS has helped the student to advance in math, and a biographical summary of a famous mathematician.

Because ALEKS is our core curriculum, students are required to work on ALEKS throughout the entire course period. Upon entering the classroom, students must log in to ALEKS and begin working; I provide a 2-minute warning at the end of the period to allow students to complete the problems that they are working on. Additionally, students are required to work on ALEKS assignments for one hour at home for homework. I understand that not all students have Internet access at home so I sent letters to parents regarding the ALEKS curriculum, and encouraged them to obtain Internet access for their students. Students without Internet access can print personalized ALEKS worksheets in class and complete them for homework.

Grading

How do you incorporate ALEKS into your grading system?
Students earn course credits based upon the completion of the final ALEKS portfolio, the number of hours spent in the program, quiz scores, and their completed progress. Without the completed portfolio, students can earn elective credits based on the number of hours spent in ALEKS. As a result, ALEKS comprises 85% of the student's grade, with the remaining 15% attributed to the biography and completed portfolio.

Do you require students to make regular amounts of progress in ALEKS? If so, how is this progress measured and what is the amount of progress that they are responsible for completing?
Yes, students are required to show progress in ALEKS. If a student does not make progress as indicated in the "Number of Weeks to Complete" portion of the History Report in ALEKS, the student is issued a warning and required to put more time into ALEKS. If a student does not respond positively, they are transferred to a traditional math class where they use math packets and a more traditional textbook-based approach.

Learning Outcomes

Since using ALEKS, please describe the learning outcomes or progress you have seen?
The increase in successful completion of math credits is over 100%! Most students feel a great sense of accomplishment when they fill in their pie slices and complete increasingly higher percentages of their objectives. One student in particular completed all of his high school math credits in less than three months, and credited ALEKS with helping him graduate from high school! He is now applying the math skills that he learned in ALEKS as a Corporal in the Marine Corps, where he is responsible for guiding aircraft from a computer operations center.

Best Practices

Are there any best practices you would like to share with other teachers implementing ALEKS?
I like the idea of individual responsibility for progress in ALEKS. Students can ask me to assist them in understanding a problem as it appears in ALEKS, and I will help to solve the problem if needed. However, if it is the last question in a topic, I require the student to do one more question on their own to demonstrate that they understand and have mastered the topic.

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Stop by Our Booth and Learn How ALEKS
Can Bring Your Students Math Success

ALEKS exhibits at dozens of educational conferences across the nation. Stop by our booth at one of these upcoming tradeshows.

ALEKS Crew
ALEKS booth staff ready to greet you!

Alabama Educational Technology Conference - Booth #413 & 512
June 17-20, Birmingham, AL
For more information, visit: AETC

Technology in Education Conference - Booth #113
June 24-27, Copper Mountain, CO
For more information, visit: TIE

National Educational Computing Conference - Booth #9929
June 29- July 2, San Antonio, TX
For more information, visit: NECC

Conference for the Advancement of Mathematics Teaching - Booth #213
July 9-11, Dallas, TX
For more information, visit: CAMT

Share Your ALEKS Success Story!

Congratulations to Mr. Terry "Skip" Curtis of Alta Vista High School in Vista, CA, winner of the Winter quarter iPhone drawing! If you have an ALEKS implementation strategy like Skip (see implementation strategy above), please share your strategy and you will be entered in our quarterly drawing for a chance to receive an iPhone! Our Spring/Summer winner will be announced in the Fall eNewsletter.

*Submissions must be received by June 20, 2008.

Know someone who could benefit from this eNewsletter? Ask them to subscribe to the ALEKS Quarterly eNewsletter by sending a request with their name and email address to info@aleks.com.