Not every way of using ALEKS involves supervised classroom sessions. When this is sensible, however, it provides a new dimension to the students' learning.

The instructor in an ALEKS course need not be collecting, correcting, or distributing papers, struggling with discipline issues, organizing groups, managing materials, giving instructions, or supervising activities. The instructor in an ALEKS course may be just as busy teaching mathematics to individual learners: getting one student started on a new topic, checking another student's work, responding to questions, suggesting alternate methods and explanations, making or reinforcing connections among concepts, congratulating those who "add an item to their pie." ALEKS provides comprehensive support to the student in every phase of its use; yet the instructor will find that the additional direct support given this way is unexpectedly welcome and productive. Suddenly the relation of teacher and student is based on knowledge and discovery, not management and sanction. No one is "behind" in ALEKS; setbacks are readily addressed and overcome; every student can expect to make progress and be recognized.

It is important, especially in the early stages of an ALEKS course, that the instructor be generous in recognizing student progress. Students need to understand that when they add an item to their pie, or show progress in a new assessment, it is an achievement, and the proper use of ALEKS. Soon this will become second nature and learning will be its own motivation. At the same time, formal rewards for the effective use of ALEKS need to be built into the course structure and made clear from the outset (See Sec. 3.).

Students will be assessed at the beginning of their use of ALEKS (following Registration and the Tutorial), and at regular intervals thereafter. The instructor does not need to supervise all ALEKS assessments; normally, students will be using ALEKS outside as well as in the lab or classroom, and taking assessments at various times and locations. Once the students realize that the purpose of the ALEKS assessment is to provide appropriate material in the Learning Mode, there will be little reason to get help, use the textbook or calculator inappropriately, or in any other way achieve incorrect assessment results.

We recommend that the initial assessment be supervised. The students may need assistance in their first use of the system, they will need to be reassured that the assessment is not for a grade, and it is important that the results of this initial assessment be valid, so that that the students' work in the Learning Mode be productive from the start. For the instructor's own information, other supervised assessments may also be held at regular intervals to provide accurate "snapshots" of overall progress by the course (See Sec. 11). We suggest that such supervised assessments be scheduled at the midpoint and end of the course. Also, any assessment results which may be used as a component in the students' grades should, of course, be obtained from assessments performed with the level of supervision required by the educational institution for final exams (See Sec. 15).

NOTE. In cases where students do not seem to be making adequate progress in ALEKS, the cause may be found in help that the student received on an unsupervised assessment from a person or inappropriately used calculator, skewing the assessment results and leading to inappropriate material in the Learning Mode.