What is ALEKS?

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

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

Once the student achieves a basic familiarity with the system and its tools, ALEKS administers a personalized interactive assessment. The assessment includes about 25 to 30 questions. For maximum assessment accuracy, ALEKS does not tell the student whether the answers are correct or incorrect.

Following the initial assessment, the student receives her report in a color-keyed pie chart. In the "pie" each "slice" corresponds to a particular area of the syllabus, such as "Acids and Bases" or "Matter and Energy". The degree to which a 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 in the pie chart, the student makes an immediate transition into the ALEKS Learning Mode. The Learning Mode provides practice problems and offers explanations of concepts and procedures. The explanations are the gateway into ALEKSPedia where students can access additional information related to the topic they are working on. While working on problems in Learning Mode, the student receives immediate feedback and, in some cases, suggestions for correcting mistakes.

In the Learning Mode, students are also able to review topics that they have recently mastered.

Students and instructors have the ability to print worksheets for additional practice or review. These worksheets are uniquely generated based on each student's current knowledge.

When you log on as an instructor, you immediately enter the Basic Instructor Module, where ALEKS provides an easy to use series of pull-down menus to assist you.

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

Instructors are able to check on student and class progress using a pie chart report.  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 topic.

You can also examine a comprehensive report for each student that shows his personal Pie, what he knows, what he is ready to learn, and his learning progress history in bar graph form.

The quiz feature in ALEKS allows you to build a quiz from topics you choose.