ALEKS is based on the realization that students learn accounting in different ways, at differing speeds. Starting from an accurate assessment of their current knowledge, students in ALEKS are only offered what they have shown themselves ready to learn. They therefore experience less frustration (from material that is too hard for them) and boredom (from material that is too easy for them). Learning is more efficient and more rapid. Students have "ownership" of their learning process, and grow in confidence and independence. If a student forgets what was once learned, ALEKS smoothly and efficiently guides the student through all necessary review and reinforcement. The student will not be "lost." With time and persistence, every ALEKS student will progress toward mastery; this progress will be clearly visible to both student and instructor.

It is normal for students to be in disparate knowledge states; this would be the case in any event, but ALEKS puts this information clearly at the instructor's disposal. The relative mastery attained by students appears clearly from the "Learning Progress Since Latest Assessment" Report in the Instructor Module. ALEKS does not require the students to progress as a unified group. ALEKS will permit a student to work on any topic in the category "ready to learn," a well-chosen list of topics which the student has not yet learned, but has demonstrated (within ALEKS) the readiness to begin learning.

Students using ALEKS will experience new independence in learning, to which some may be unaccustomed. Many will find this difference exhilarating. Instructors also may find different opportunities for optimizing their role in the learning process, with a greatly expanded ability to accurately monitor and effectively promote their students' learning. The role of the instructor is critical in providing structure, support, and reward for the students' effective use of ALEKS. If ALEKS is used properly, the instructor's scope for individual coaching and small-group instruction will be greatly expanded, as will the freedom to teach a broader and richer accounting culture (to some or all students, time permitting).

In other words, ALEKS turns the instructor from a footsoldier in the trenches into a field commander, possessed of powerful resources, surveying a broad landscape of information, able to make effective strategic decisions. The point is that ALEKS puts the instructor in command; among other things, the instructor can take more or less of ALEKS, give it a greater or lesser position among other course requirements and activities. Various styles of use are possible. The following should be understood as mere suggestions, designed to give instructors a sense of the possibilities offered by ALEKS's substantial library of tools.