What is ALEKS?

• ALEKS is a Web-based learning system.
• ALEKS is a precise assessment tool.
• ALEKS provides highly targeted instruction that offers topics based on assessment results.
• ALEKS gives immediate feedback in learning mode.
• ALEKS is a full-featured course management system with rich reporting features.

Currently, ALEKS is available for a wide range of course products.

After registering with ALEKS, the student learns how to use the input tools by taking a brief, interactive tutorial.

Once the student is familiar with ALEKS and its tools, the student takes a personalized interactive assessment. The assessment includes about 15 to 25 questions. For maximum assessment accuracy, ALEKS does not tell the student whether the answers are correct or incorrect.

Following the initial assessment the student received her report in a color-keyed pie chart. In the "pie" each "slice" corresponds to a particular area of the syllabus, such as "inferential statistics" or "random variables". The degree to which the slice is filled by a darker color shows the extent to which the student has mastered that area.
The report describes the student's current knowledge of the subject and makes precise recommendations for further study. Each slice of the "pie" may be opened to produce a list of the concepts on which the student can choose to work.

By clicking on any of the items suggested by the system, the student makes an immediate transition out of the report and into the ALEKS Learning Mode. Learning Mode provides practice problems and offers explanations of concepts and procedures.

In the Learning Mode students are also able to review topics on which they have recently worked.

Students also have the ability to print out worksheets for additional practice or reveiw.

When you log on as an instructor you immediately enter the Instructor Module, where ALEKS provides an easy to use series of mini tutorials to assist you.

ALEKS provides a variety of information on the students in a course including: time of last session; duration of all sessions; performance; and other useful information. Bar graphs allow you to quickly grasp each student's performance at the time fo their last assessment (in blue), the progress they made in Learning Mode (in green), and the material remaining to be learned (in yellow).

Instructors and administrators are able to check on any student's progress or the progress of an entire course, using a pie chart report similar to that for individual students.
In addition, ALEKS can group students according to chosen criteria, enabling you to target specific topics. For instance, you can view a list of all students in a course who are ready to learn the same item.

You can also examine a comprehensive report for each student. This will show the students' personal Pie, what she knows, what she is ready to learn, and her history in bar graph form.

The quiz feature in ALEKS allows you to choose any topics in a course.