Instructor's Manual: For Behavioral Science Statistics
Instructor's Manual: For Behavioral Science Statistics
Instructor's Manual: For Behavioral Science Statistics
Preface xiii
1 Introduction 1
1.1 What is ALEKS? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 The ALEKS Instructor’s Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 Quick Start 5
2.1 Obtaining a Course Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 Registering Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
iii
iv CONTENTS
4 Assessment Mode 17
4.1 Assessments in ALEKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.2 Rules for Assessments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.3 Scheduling of Assessments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.4 Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.5 Answer Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.5.1 Manipulators for Mathematical Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.5.2 Mathematical Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
4.5.3 Types of Mathematical Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.5.4 Advanced Mathematical Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.5.5 The Answer Editor for the Numberline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.5.6 The Answer Editor for Graphing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.5.7 The Answer Editor for Histograms (Statistics) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.6 Assessment Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.6.1 Standard Report Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.6.2 Interpreting the Piecharts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.6.3 Multiple Piecharts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.6.4 Ready to Learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.6.5 Progress Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5 Learning Mode 35
5.1 The ALEKS Learning Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5.2 Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
5.2.1 Exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
5.2.2 Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
5.2.3 Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.2.4 Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.2.5 Dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.2.6 Calculator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.2.7 Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.2.8 Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
CONTENTS v
5.2.9 Quiz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.2.10 Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.2.11 Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
5.2.12 MyPie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
5.3 The Learning Mode Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5.3.1 Item Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5.3.2 Explanation Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5.3.3 Practice Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
5.3.4 Wrong Answer Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.3.5 Dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.4 Feedback in Learning Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.5 Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.6 Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
5.7 Ask a Friend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5.8 Suspend Account and Leave of Absence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
12 Support 149
12.1 Form for Reporting Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
B Syllabi 171
B.1 Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
List of Figures
ix
x LIST OF FIGURES
8.1 The Standards & Syllabi Directory (Advanced Instructor Module) . . . . . . . . . . 108
8.2 The Syllabus Editor (Advanced Instructor Module) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
The features of ALEKS make it a self-contained tool, opening new horizons for
educators and learners alike in any educational context. The ALEKS Course Man-
agement System enables instructors to oversee and monitor their students’ progress,
communicate with them, track usage levels, and focus instruction. By its unprece-
dented use of Artificial Intelligence, ALEKS determines quickly and precisely what
your students know and what they need to learn, guiding them down individualized
learning paths to mastery. Assessment and practice problems are algorithmically
generated, so the students cannot predict them. The syllabi used in ALEKS are
customizable, letting you add or subtract topics from your course with a click of
the mouse. Since it is accessed over the World Wide Web using standard browsers,
no complicated technical preparation is needed—and your students can work at any
time, from home, from work, or from the classroom! ALEKS is integrated with
McGraw-Hill/HSSL textbooks and a variety of other online learning resources.
The benefits of using ALEKS are striking. Students work in a dynamic, interactive
learning environment on precisely those materials that they are individually ready
to learn, building momentum toward mastery. Students love ALEKS because they
call the shots, working on their own schedule on what they need to learn right now.
It is the personalized, “just-in-time” learning system.
xiii
xiv PREFACE
Introduction
ALEKS is an online system for the assessment and individualized teaching of a va-
riety of subjects. It is accessed over the World Wide Web on any suitable computer
and is designed to allow the monitoring and management of entire courses and in-
stitutions. The core of the system is an efficient, adaptive assessment engine which
determines quickly and precisely what an individual student knows. Based on that
assessment data, the system is able to offer material that the student is best able to
learn at a given time. The ALEKS Learning Mode includes explanations and algo-
rithmically generated practice problems, ongoing assessment of student knowledge,
an online dictionary, and facilities for review and collaborative help. It can be used
on an independent basis or as a supplement to classroom instruction.
The ALEKS system is the product of years of cutting-edge research into the math-
ematical modeling of human knowledge (See Chapter 10). The creators of ALEKS
are cognitive scientists, software engineers, and university professors in the math-
ematical disciplines. In designing ALEKS, their goals were to achieve the utmost
simplicity of use without compromising the depth, rigor, or richness of instruction at
its inspirational best. ALEKS is a tool to empower both instructors and learners:
it opens doors and windows into the assessment and representation of knowledge,
and it breaks down barriers to success by recognizing the vast diversity of paths
that lead to mastery. The ALEKS system can make a radical difference in how
learning is experienced.
The purpose of the ALEKS Instructor’s Manual is to give instructors using ALEKS
information on the operation of the system that is as complete as possible. The
1
2 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
system is not complex. ALEKS can be and often is used with no documentation
whatsoever. At the same time, we wish to offer instructors a clear idea of everything
ALEKS does, how it works, and where to find answers to questions.
NOTE. For a brief, comprehensive overview of ALEKS, please turn directly to the
Frequently Asked Questions in Chapter 11.
The first chapters are those most likely to be turned to by instructors using
ALEKS for the first time. Chapter 2, “Quick Start,” contains a concise check-
list for beginning to use ALEKS. Chapter 3, “Setup Guide for Instructors,”
provides all of the information necessary for preparing to use ALEKS with
one or more courses. This ranges from technical requirements and installation
through the students’ first ALEKS session (which typically involves registra-
tion, tutorial, initial assessment, and entry into the Learning Mode). (Much of
the information is the same as that in Appendix A.)
Chapters 4 through 8 contain descriptions of the principal parts of the ALEKS
system: Assessment Mode, Learning Mode, and Instructor Module. The In-
structor Module is discussed in three chapters. Chapter 6 presents the Instruc-
tor Module generally, and is followed by treatments of the more specialized
capacities of the Advanced Instructor Module. Chapter 7 covers Results &
Progress, the facility for monitoring student use of ALEKS and managing ac-
counts. Chapter 8 covers Standards & Course Syllabus, the facility for review-
ing and modifying the curricular information used by ALEKS for a particular
college or course. Chapter 9 is a brief guide to teaching with ALEKS.
Chapters 10 through 12 provide additional information that may be necessary
or of interest to instructors using ALEKS. Chapter 10, “Knowledge Spaces
and the Theory Behind ALEKS,” explains the history of Knowledge Space
theory and its fundamental concepts, along with the evolution of ALEKS
itself. Also included is a Bibliography for those seeking to understand the
theory behind ALEKS in greater depth. Chapter 11 provides answers to
frequently asked questions about ALEKS. Chapter 12 gives the information
necessary for obtaining technical and other support.
NOTE. Instructors who need technical or other support in the use
of ALEKS should turn to the form at the end of Chapter 12 (See
Sec. 12.1).
The ALEKS User’s Guide is distributed to all students using ALEKS. The
User’s Guide is reproduced here in Appendix A. Unlike the other chapters of
the ALEKS Instructor’s Manual, Appendix A is addressed to student users
1.2. THE ALEKS INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL 3
Quick Start
The purpose of this chapter is to provide a summary of the steps involved in starting
a course with ALEKS.
In order to use ALEKS with your course, you will need to have at least one Course
Code. You give this code to the students in your course; they will use this Course
Code, together with their Student Access Code, to register. The Student Access
Code, together with the Course Code, is all your students need to register with
ALEKS. When they register they will receive a Login Name and Password; after
this they will no longer need the Access Code or Course Code. Students should not
use the Student Access Code and Course Code to register a second time, as they
will not be able to create a new account this way.
You can have as many courses and sections as you need or want in ALEKS. For
each course or section, there is one unique Course Code. Students who register using
this code will be enrolled in the corresponding course. Students who accidentally
enroll in the wrong course can easily be moved to the right one at any time, without
any unwanted effect on their work or records (moving a student to a course using
a new domain in ALEKS will trigger a new assessment). To obtain the Course
Code for any course, log on to your instructor account, click on “Course
Admin,” and then on “View all your courses and course codes” (See
Sec. 6.2). Or, in the Advanced Instructor Module, simply select the name of the
course and click “Edit.” The Code will appear in the upper right-hand part of the
screen (See Sec. 7.18).
If you are creating a new college or district account in ALEKS, you must first obtain
an Instructor Access Code. If someone else has registered you as an instructor with
ALEKS, you do not need an Instructor Access Code. If no one has done this for
5
6 CHAPTER 2. QUICK START
If someone else has registered you with ALEKS, you will already have an instructor
Login Name and Password. In this case also, we strongly advise that you take the
Instructor Tutorial to familiarize yourself with the features of the Instructor Module.
Once you are logged on to ALEKS as an instructor, you can create one or more
courses as follows.
The Course Code for your course will be visible when you create the course. You
can see this code again at any time by selecting the name of the course and clicking
“Edit.”
6. Begin using ALEKS by taking the Student Tutorial and an initial Assessment.
Students will subsequently use their Login Name and Password to enter their ac-
counts.
8 CHAPTER 2. QUICK START
Chapter 3
It is important that instructors using ALEKS with their courses clearly understand
the system’s functioning and the ideas that underlie it. Time should be taken to
study all materials provided, including this Instructor’s Manual, and to try out the
system thoroughly. The supervisor for ALEKS can contact ALEKS Corporation
for consultation at any time, and preferably well in advance of the first session (See
Sec. 12.).
The following table presents the technical requirements for ALEKS in summary
form.
PC Macintosh
Operating System Windows 95/98/2000/ME/XP/NT4.0+ MacOS 7.6.1+
Pentium 133+ MHz (166+ preferred),
Processor
Pentium II+
RAM Memory 32+ MB 32+ MB
Browser Netscape 4.5-4.8, 6.0+, Explorer 4.0+ Netscape 4.5-4.8
(6.0+, Explorer
5.2+ OS X only)
Modem Speed 28+ kbps 28+ kbps
Your browser should be configured with Java enabled. Both Netscape and Internet
Explorer usually ship with Java. You can also install Sun Microsystems’ Java
VM, version 1.4.1+, which can be obtained from Sun.
9
10 CHAPTER 3. SETUP GUIDE FOR INSTRUCTORS
Note that any of the kinds of direct connection (cable, ISDN, DSL) that are typical in
computer labs are adequate for use with ALEKS. If your computer lab has security
safeguards in place, you will need the cooperation of your LAN administrator, system
administrator, or lab technician to install the ALEKS plugin.
A student using America Online 4.0 will need to upgrade to America Online 5.0 or
higher to use ALEKS. This can be done from AOL.
3.3 Installation
Installation of the ALEKS plugin takes place from the ALEKS website for Behav-
ioral Science Statistics (Fig. 3.2):
http://www.behsci.aleks.com
NOTE. You must use this URL to access ALEKS. Although there are other
ALEKS websites you may find using an Internet search engine, only this one con-
tains your registration data as a licensed ALEKS instructor. It is advisable to
3.4. REGISTERING AS AN INSTRUCTOR 11
Close all applications other than your web browser before beginning installation.
Installation of the ALEKS plugin is automatic. If you attempt to use the system
directly by clicking on “Be our Guest” or on “Register with ALEKS” it will auto-
matically check to see whether your computer has the most recent plugin currently
installed. If it does not, it will download the plugin and ask for your permission to
install. (This is not a high-risk operation for your computer. The ALEKS plugin is
a small library of Java classes which are used by your browser when you are logged on
to ALEKS. They are inactive at other times, and do not do anything except provide
functionality for ALEKS. They can easily be removed from the computer with no
other effect except that ALEKS ceases to be available on that computer. ALEKS
Corporation Customer Support will be happy to answer any questions about the
plugin.) When you grant permission, it will install. Following installation you must
close and reopen your browser application. Installation is automatic for registered
users as well.
If you need to download and install the plugin when this does not occur automati-
cally, click on “Download the ALEKS plugin.”
Before You Begin. In order to register as an ALEKS instructor you need your
Instructor Access Code. When you register with the ALEKS system your name
is put into the database as an instructor and you are able to access the Instructor
Module (See Chapters 7–8.).
Step 1. Go to the ALEKS website for Behavioral Science Statistics (use your
Bookmark/Favorite, if you made one; see Sec. 3.3):
http://www.behsci.aleks.com
Step 3. You will see instructions for instructors registering with ALEKS. Click on
“Register.”
12 CHAPTER 3. SETUP GUIDE FOR INSTRUCTORS
NOTE. If you do not have a current plugin the download and installation process
will begin here (See Sec. 3.3). When it is finished, you will need to quit your Web
browser (“Exit,” “Close,” or “Quit” under the “File” menu), open your Web browser
again, and go back to the ALEKS website for Behavioral Science Statistics (use
your Bookmark/Favorite for the ALEKS website). Return to Step 1, above, to
begin registration.
Step 4. At the beginning of registration, you will be asked for your Instructor
Access Code. Enter this in the spaces provided and click on “Next” (Fig. 3.3).
Answer the questions to complete your registration. Among other questions, you
will be asked to provide complete information on the course you are teaching with
ALEKS. Following your registration as an instructor you will be able to use the
Instructor Module to create additional courses if needed (See Sec. 7.17).
Step 5. In the course of registration, you will be given a Login Name and Password.
Write these down and keep them in a safe place, since you will need them to return
to the system. Your Login Name is not the same as your name, but usually consists
of the first letter of your first name plus your last name in its entirety, with no
spaces or punctuation. Thus “Jane Smith” may have the Login Name “jsmith”; if
there is more than one “Smith” in the database whose first name begins with “J,”
a numeral will be appended, as “jsmith2.” You can change your Password at any
time.
NOTE. Login Name and Password can be typed with upper- or lower-case letters.
Neither may contain spaces or punctuation.
Step 6. Following Registration you are also given the Course Code for the course
you are teaching. Record and file this information carefully. This code must be
3.5. INSTRUCTOR MODULE 13
supplied to your students when they first log on and register with ALEKS (See
Sec. 3.8).
When Registration is complete, the instructor enters the ALEKS Instructor Mod-
ule; she or he can return to the Instructor Module by logging on to ALEKS with the
Instructor Login Name and Password provided (See above). The Instructor Module
is an extremely important component of the ALEKS system permitting instructors
to monitor and manage their ALEKS courses. The Instructor Module is designed
for the utmost ease of use; it guides users through the steps needed to accomplish
tasks in such a way that no separate training is needed, and mistakes or confusion
are unlikely. See Chapter 6 for a complete description of the Instructor Module.
After the instructor is familiar with the features of the Instructor Module, he or she
may wish to try the Advanced Instructor Module, which is somewhat more complex
than the standard interface but offers greater efficiency in some operations. There
is a Tutorial in ALEKS explaining the use and features of the Advanced Instructor
Module (See below).
To ensure the best possible experience of ALEKS for your students, we recommend
that instructors check the computer lab in which ALEKS will be used in advance
of the first session. This means installing and testing the plugin on some or (prefer-
ably) all of the computers in the lab. If security measures are in effect, you will
need the cooperation of the lab administrator to install the plugin. To install and
test, simply log on to ALEKS through ”Be Our Guest” on each computer or use
your instructor login to enter your account. Installation will occur automatically.
Following installation, restart the browsers and attempt login again. This time you
should access ALEKS.
If the ALEKS plugin is not preinstalled and tested in this way, it will be installed
when your students first access the system. This will take away a certain amount
of time from their use of the system. Also, if there is some problem in the lab that
makes installation difficult, it is far better to catch and resolve it before the students
arrive.
14 CHAPTER 3. SETUP GUIDE FOR INSTRUCTORS
It is strongly recommended that the first ALEKS session be conducted under su-
pervision, with one or more instructors on hand to help the students get started.
Instructors may also choose to schedule supervised assessments at midterm and at
the end of the course. It is not generally necessary to schedule a separate orientation
meeting before the students actually begin using the system, although in some cases
there may be reasons for doing so. Presumably, the students will all have copies of
the ALEKS User’s Guide. The instructor should encourage students to familiarize
themselves with this brief guide. You may wish to remind them to bring it along to
the first session as it contains their Access Code, which is required for registration.
It is also advisable to emphasize the few requirements for assessments in ALEKS:
paper and pencil are needed, simple calculators, and no help whatsoever can be
received by students being assessed. A basic calculator is part of ALEKS. Remind
them that help is not allowed during the assessment because if the student being
assessed does not do their own work, the assessment results may not be accurate,
and this will hinder that student’s progress in the Learning Mode.
If at all possible, the students’ first session with ALEKS should be long enough
for them to complete their assessments and begin work in the Learning Mode. One
hour may be considered a reasonable period of time. If the students cannot finish
their assessments during this time, ALEKS will automatically keep their place, and
they will resume next time where they had left off. No work will be lost.
3.8 Registration
Students register with ALEKS by going to the ALEKS website for Behavioral
Science Statistics and clicking on “Register with ALEKS.” This will be expedited
if the browsers used by the students have Bookmarks or Favorites pointing to the
website (See Sec. 3.3).
NOTE. In order to register, all students must have both their Access Code and
the Course Code for the course that you are teaching. The students find the Access
Code in their copy of the ALEKS User’s Guide, inside the back cover. The Course
Code is sent to the instructor by ALEKS Corporation or obtained by the instructor
at the time of registration (See Sec. 3.4). You are responsible for giving this code
to the students at the time of the first session.
To obtain the Course Code for any course, log on to your instructor
account, click on “Course Admin,” and then on “View all your courses
and course codes” (See Sec. 6.2). Or, in the Advanced Instructor Module,
simply select the name of the course and click “Edit.” The Code will appear in the
upper right-hand part of the screen (See Sec. 7.18).
3.9. TUTORIAL 15
The student registration process is described in detail in the User’s Guide (See
Appendix A). There are complete online instructions for every step of this simple
procedure. Among other information, students are asked to supply their email
address (so they can be helped more promptly in case of difficulties) and their
Student ID number (if the instructor wishes to have this in the system). Special
care should be taken in entering the latter, as the system cannot detect mistyping.
Both email and Student ID are optional information.
Near the conclusion of Registration students receive a Login Name and Password.
These should be noted carefully, as they will be essential for all further work with
ALEKS. You may wish to advise the students to change their Passwords at the
earliest opportunity. They should use a Password they will remember easily, but
which will be hard for others to guess. Login Name and Password can be typed
with upper- or lower-case letters. Neither may contain spaces or punctuation.
3.9 Tutorial
Following Registration, the students enter a brief tutorial on the use of ALEKS
input tools, also called the Answer Editor Tutorial (See Sec. 4.5). There are
separate Tutorials for different subjects since the specific tools for them differ some-
what. If the course covers more than one subject, all necessary Tutorials will be
taken. The ALEKS Tutorial provides ample feedback to ensure that students com-
plete it successfully.
Students proceed directly from the Tutorial to their first assessment (See Chapter 4).
To reiterate, no help of any kind should be given to students being assessed, not
even rephrasing a problem.
The ALEKS assessment is adaptive and variable in length. Some students will have
very short assessments, whereas others will have assessments that are considerably
longer. Consistency of effort and concentration is the factor most likely to influence
the length of an assessment.
NOTE. All students will be assessed upon their first use of the system. This will
provide you with a baseline picture of your class and of each individual student.
16 CHAPTER 3. SETUP GUIDE FOR INSTRUCTORS
At the conclusion of each assessment, the student is given a brief Tutorial on how to
interpret the Assessment Report. This will be in the form of one or more color-coded
piecharts, with accompanying textual information (See Sec. 4.6). It is extremely
important that the students know how to interpret these piecharts correctly. Some
instructors have found it worth the effort to sit with each student individually as
they conclude their assessments. They can then make sure the students understand
the parts of the report and help them choose topics for entry into the Learning
Mode.
Explain to students that subsequent assessments will produce only the piecharts.
The piecharts also appear in the Learning Mode each time a new concept is mastered
and “added to the pie.” If the student wishes to choose a new topic, the pie can
also be accessed by means of the “MyPie” button.
Students enter the Learning Mode by clicking on one of the topics contained in
their piechart (topics they are completely “ready to learn”). If at all possible, the
students should be given sufficient time in their first ALEKS session to use the
Learning Mode and, ideally, begin to “add concepts to their pie.” If they have
this experience, their interest in using ALEKS is likely to be more favorable. The
instructor should also be present to answer questions regarding the Learning Mode
and to assist the students in familiarizing themselves with its varied features. This
is particularly important in cases where their subsequent use of ALEKS will be
unsupervised.
Chapter 4
Assessment Mode
The Assessment Mode is the heart of the ALEKS system. Its ability to quickly
and accurately determine a student’s knowledge enables ALEKS to continuously
make available the material the student can most readily employ, and thus efficiently
guide individual learning paths. The Assessment and Learning Modes work together
closely. In ALEKS, learning is powered and optimized by assessment.
17
18 CHAPTER 4. ASSESSMENT MODE
informed it has begun. Next a series of problems is posed to the student. The
student provides the solution to each problem using the Answer Editor (or clicks
“I don’t know”). In the Assessment Mode, the system does not inform the student
whether the answer just given was correct or not. The assessment continues until
the system has determined the student’s precise knowledge of the domain, at which
time the assessment ends and a report is presented to the student. The number
of questions asked cannot be known in advance, although consistency of effort and
attention seem to contribute to shorter assessments.
Initial Assessment. The initial assessment takes place at the outset of students’
use of ALEKS, immediately after Registration and Tutorial (See Sec. 3.10). We
strongly recommend that this initial assessment, which has the character of an
orientation to the system for student users, take place in a supervised computer lab
setting to ensure that students do not receive help or collaborate. In creating or
editing a class account, the instructor can stipulate that the initial assessment be
allowed only from school (See Sec. 7.17.).
The instructor simply announces the assessment for a certain time and place. Just
prior to this time the instructor prompts the course assessment in the Instructor
Module (See Secs. 7.9–7.10). The next time students log on they will automatically
enter the assessment.
4.4 Buttons
The Assessment Mode (Fig. 4.1) has a reduced set of active menu buttons enabling
the student being assessed to leave the system (“Exit”) or get help on use of the
Answer Editor (“Help”). Other buttons appear, but they are disabled. All of the
ALEKS menu buttons are enabled in the Learning Mode (See Sec. 5.2).
20 CHAPTER 4. ASSESSMENT MODE
The two aspects of the ALEKS interface relevant to work in the Assessment Mode
are the Answer Editor and the Assessment Report.
Input to the ALEKS system is always in the form of proper expressions and con-
structions, never multiple choice. A critical reason for this is to prevent substantial
inaccuracies which arise from students’ guessing and trying out the different choices.
The general term for the input tools used in ALEKS is the “Answer Editor.”
This encompasses a variety of actual modes for user input: an Answer Editor for
mathematical expressions, an Answer Editor for the numberline, an Answer Editor
for graphing in the Cartesian plane (with x and y coordinate axes), and an Answer
Editor for histograms (in Statistics). A student beginning to use ALEKS is
thoroughly trained in all features of the Answer Editor that are relevant to the
subject being studied during the Tutorial (See Sec. 3.9).
In much of what follows, emphasis is on the “Answer Editor for mathematical ex-
pressions,” as this is the section which involves the greatest degree of interplay
between mouse, keyboard, and on-screen buttons and icons.
Answer Editor
Expression Keyboard equivalent
keypad
p button
Square Root [ ] [ ] (none)
[ ]
Fraction [ ] /
Mixed Number [ ] [[ ]
] (none)
Repeating Decimal [ ][ ] (none)
Absolute Value [ ] |[ ]| (none)
List of Expressions [ ], [ ], . . . ,
Exponent [ ][ ] ∧ (before exponent)
Multiplication Expression [ ]×[ ] ∗
Percentage % %
Greater-Than [ ]>[ ] >
Less-Than [ ]<[ ] <
Greater-Than-Or-Equal-To [ ]≥[ ] (none)
Less-Than-Or-Equal-To [ ]≤[ ] (none)
Equal-To [ ]=[ ] =
Not-Equal-To [ ] 6= [ ] (none)
AND AN D (none)
OR OR (none)
entered using the basic keyboard or the buttons of the keypad. Individual dig-
its can be entered only from the keyboard. Symbols can be entered using the
buttons of the keypad and, sometimes, from the keyboard as well (Fig. 4.2).
Basic Editing Tools
The cursor, showing the point at which material is entered, can be moved
using the Left and Right arrows and the Tab and Enter keys. It can also be
positioned using the mouse. Input can be deleted using the Backspace key
(Fig. 4.3).
Selecting Input
It is possible to select a continuous portion of input by dragging the pointer with
the mouse button held down. A segment that has been selected by dragging in
this way can be deleted by pressing Backspace, replaced by typing, or replaced
by clicking the buttons of the Answer Editor keypad. It can also be inserted
into a mathematical expression such as a fraction or a square root (the selected
portion is placed in the numerator position or under the square root sign,
respectively).
Clear & Undo
After material has been entered, the field can be returned to its empty state
by clicking on “Clear.” Clicking on “Undo” cancels the most recent action.
Clicking on “Undo” a second time restores the effect of the canceled action
22 CHAPTER 4. ASSESSMENT MODE
Key Effect
Right arrow
Tab moves the cursor one place to the right (ahead)
Enter
Left arrow moves the cursor one place to the left (back)
deletes input immediately preceding (to the
Backspace left of) the cursor and moves the cursor one
place to the left (back)
OR deletes selected input
Figure 4.3: Using Special Keys in the Answer Editor
The purpose of the Answer Editor for mathematical expressions is to process user
input in the form of syntactically correct mathematical expressions. One important
way in which the Answer Editor guides the user in constructing such expressions is
by means of the blue boxes. If a blue box remains on the screen, it is clear that the
input typed so far is not valid. If no blue boxes remain it may or may not be valid.
The following set of tips is intended to illustrate the variety of ways in which math-
ematical expressions can be entered using the Answer Editor. It is in no way a
thorough description of the Answer Editor, which includes many other kinds of
mathematical expressions and constructions.
Here, “Button” will always refer to a button on the Answer Editor keypad. By
24 CHAPTER 4. ASSESSMENT MODE
“select” we mean drag the mouse over the expression to be selected with the mouse
button depressed, so that a red box appears surrounding it.
Percentage 48%
The next example illustrates the possibility, in some cases, of using either the
Answer Editor keypad or the regular keyboard to enter signs:
Enter the expression you wish to express as a percentage and click on the
percent button; OR
Enter the expression you wish to express as a percentage and then enter
the (keyboard) percent sign.
7
Fraction 10
Fractions can be entered conveniently at least three ways:
Enter the numerator, enter a (keyboard) forward slash character, and enter
the denominator; OR
Enter the numerator, click on the fraction button, and enter the denomi-
nator; OR
Click on the fraction button, enter the numerator, then click on the blue
square in the position of the denominator and enter the denominator.
Mixed Number 5 87
Mixed numbers can be entered in more than one way, but they each require
use of the mixed number button:
Enter the whole number part, click on the mixed number button, enter the
numerator, press Enter, and enter the denominator; OR
Click on the mixed number button, click on the first blue box (for the
whole part), enter the whole number part, press the right arrow, enter the
numerator, move the cursor to the denominator position, and enter the
denominator (i.e., fill in the boxes).
Click on the square root sign button, click on the fraction button, enter the
numerator, tab, enter the denominator, then tab, enter an asterisk (from
the keyboard), and enter the multiplier.
List 1, 2, 3
For the purposes of the following example, assume that there is a list consisting
of three components to be entered:
Enter the first expression, click on the list button (or press the keyboard
comma), enter the second expression, click on the list button, enter the
third expression, click on the list button, and enter the fourth expression;
OR
Click on the list button (or press the keyboard comma) twice, click on the
first blue box, enter the first expression, move the cursor right, enter the
second expression, move the cursor right, and enter the third expression.
There are also some cases where the Answer Editor does part of the formatting.
For example, in problems where answers must be expressed in some kind of
units, such as dollars or candies, the unit expression needed may appear in
advance.
√
Square Root 81
Click on the square root button and enter the expression into the square
root sign; OR
Enter the expression you wish to appear under the square root sign, select
it, and click on the square root button.
In the simple example just given the second method reverses the sequence of
steps of the first method. Such complementary methods are typical.
26 CHAPTER 4. ASSESSMENT MODE
Absolute Value | − 6|
Click on the absolute value button and enter the expression whose absolute
value you wish to express; OR
Enter the expression whose absolute value you wish to express, select it,
and click on the absolute value button.
Exponent 32
Click on the Exponent button, enter the base, then move the cursor to the
exponent box and enter the exponent; OR
Enter the expression you wish to raise to a power, click on the exponent
button, and enter the exponent.
√
Square Root Preceded by Multiplier 2 6
With more complex expressions you can use the mouse to place the cursor in
the needed position, as in the second method:
Enter the multiplier, click on the square root button, and enter the expres-
sion you wish to be under the square root sign; OR
Click on the square root button, click to the left of the square root sign,
enter the multiplier, tab (or press the right arrow, or press Enter, or click
on the blue box under the square root sign), and enter the expression you
wish to be under the square root sign.
For topics involving set notation, there will appear icons for each of the special
symbols required, such as curly braces, “belongs to,” “such that,” the real numbers,
the integers, and so forth.
4.5. ANSWER EDITOR 27
The Answer Editor for the numberline consists of a numberline and tools for placing
full and empty endpoints and segments (Fig. 4.4). To place a segment, mark a point
on the numberline with the pencil, then click on that point with either the full or
the empty tool. To place a segment, use the Region tool to click on any point in
the relevant part of the numberline. If the user clicks between two endpoints, the
segment will extend to each of them. When the user clicks between an endpoint
and an extremity of the numberline, the segment will appear with an arrow to
indicate that it continues to infinity. Click with the eraser to remove any part of
the construction.
28 CHAPTER 4. ASSESSMENT MODE
The Answer Editor for graphing consists of a Cartesian plane with x- and y- coor-
dinate axes and a selection of other tools for graphing lines and regions of the plane
(Fig. 4.5).
To graph a line, use the pencil tool to plot two points. Then, align the straightedge
(ruler) on the two points (it is a “grabby” tool and will jump to a point when it
is near it). Then use the pencil tool to draw the line. Note that the effect of the
straightedge continues past its ends, so there is no need to move it to make a line
going from edge to edge of the depicted plane.
To fill in a region, use the region tool and click in the desired region of the plane.
One must draw all lines defining the region before filling it in. In order for one
or more of the lines defining a region to be dotted (as in the graph of a system
containing one or more strict inequalities), click on the line with the dotted line
4.5. ANSWER EDITOR 29
To place a point where coordinates are not both integers: use the input field to enter
numerical values (fractions and mixed numbers can be placed using the icons beneath
the field), then click on the icon with horizontal broken line (for the y-coordinate)
or vertical broken line (for the x-coordinate). A broken line will appear on the
plane for each given coordinate. Use the pencil to mark the desired point at their
intersection. Another method is the click on the ordered pair icon (with a comma
separating two boxes in parentheses), enter a pair of coordinates (in terminating
decimal, fractional, or mixed-number form), then click on the icon with a small
Cartesian plane and a point marked by “X.” This will place the point directly on
the plane without using the pencil.
To draw a graph requiring an asymptote, use the asymptote tool (broken horizontal
or vertical line) to place the asymptote as needed. A slanted asymptote may be
placed by first drawing two points and then using the tool with a broken diagonal
line. Plot the additional points needed for the graph, and then click on the graph
button (curved line connecting “X”s).
For each type of conic section, there is a special tool allowing the construction of its
graph. Normally, the user clicks once with the tool to establish the center or vertex
of the graph, and then one or more additional times to determine its final form.
As with the numberline, select the eraser tool and click on any part of a line, arc,
or other component to remove it.
30 CHAPTER 4. ASSESSMENT MODE
The Answer Editor for histograms consists of a space for drawing histograms and
icons (buttons) permitting the creation and adjustment of bars (Fig. 4.6).
Initially, the histogram appears with a small number of bars (e.g., two). The height
of the bars is adjusted by clicking on the top edge of each and holding the mouse
button down while dragging to the desired height. To add bars, click on the icon
with the plus sign; to subtract bars, click on the icon with the minus sign. Each bar
has a space beneath it where an appropriate label can be typed in.
Any bar may be set to any integer height by dragging. To set the height of a bar
at a non-integer value, enter the value in the white area to the upper right of the
histogram, then click on the icon with the broken horizontal line. This will place a
broken line on the histogram at that height. Any bar may then be dragged to the
height of any broken line that has been placed.
4.6. ASSESSMENT REPORT 31
The standard report format is used for all assessment reports. This format consists
of one or more piecharts (Fig. 4.7).
Piecharts express the results of a given assessment. They contain the following
types of information:
to what extent the student has attained the knowledge for each part of the
syllabus, according to the assessment.
Each color-coded slice of the piechart refers to a particular part of the syllabus, such
as “Whole Numbers” or “Proportions and Percents.” Each slice is marked with an
abbreviation. The meanings of these abbreviations and of the chart’s color-coding
are given in the legend immediately following the piechart. If the abbreviation next
to the slice is underlined, it means this topic contains concepts the student is most
“ready to learn.”
A piechart will show only those topics that are part of the curriculum for the course
indicated. The portion of the chart taken up by any one topic reflects the importance
of that topic relative to others in the given syllabus.
The progress a student has made toward satisfying the syllabus for knowledge in
a given topic is expressed by the degree to which the slice corresponding to that
area is shaded (i.e., filled in with solid color). The measure of progress given by
the piecharts is dependent on the standards for a particular course and is set by
instructors and administrators (See Chapter 8).
When a user places the pointer over one of the slices of the pie charts, the slice
pops out of the pie. A list of the items for that topic the student is currently best
ready to learn will appear. Not every slice necessarily contains such a list, even if
the topic has not yet been fully mastered. If the slice contains concepts, its label is
underlined. This is because a student may not be ready to learn a concept in a given
topic (slice) before concepts in another topic (slice) have been mastered. Clicking
on any one of these concepts takes the user into the Learning Mode, beginning with
that concept.
For some courses in ALEKS, there is a piechart labeled “Readiness” and a piechart
labeled “Mastery.” The “Readiness” piechart shows the student’s level of mastery
in the subject-matter considered prerequisite for that of the student’s current course
(the prerequisite topics for Behavioral Science Statistics are a selection from Basic
Math and Algebra). The “Mastery” piechart shows the student’s level of mastery
in the current course.
The concepts given as most “ready to learn” do not represent a casual selection of
concepts that the student has not yet mastered. By resuming study with one of
these concepts, the student is following the most efficient path to mastery of the
4.6. ASSESSMENT REPORT 33
Another graphic expression of the student’s progress is given by the bar graphs at the
bottom of the report (“History”). These represent the general extent of the student’s
mastery: the blue portion of each bar represents material that was learned as of the
given assessment, the green portion material mastered in the Learning Mode since
that assessment, and the yellow portion material belonging to the curriculum for
the given level that has yet to be learned. When the bar is entirely blue, the student
has completed the curriculum for a level or levels.
34 CHAPTER 4. ASSESSMENT MODE
Chapter 5
Learning Mode
In the Learning Mode students always work on one particular concept at a time.
The Learning Mode provides them with a rich array of resources to help in mas-
tering this concept. This includes explanations, references to a McGraw-Hill/HSSL
textbook if one is being used in conjunction with ALEKS, links to supplemental tu-
torial material and interactive applications, practice problems, diagnostic feedback
on problem solutions, and access to a student Dictionary. Moreover, the Learning
Mode is designed to monitor the progress made by students toward mastery of a
given concept and advise them on continuing or changing concepts. A student is
required to solve an appropriate number of practice problems correctly before the
system will conclude that the concept has been mastered. At this point the stu-
dent is encouraged to choose a new concept from the (updated) piechart, but the
opportunity to continue to work on this concept is available if the student wishes. If
the student makes mistakes, a greater number of correct solutions may be required.
If the student has continued difficulty, the system may suggest closer attention to
the explanations or offer the name of a classmate who has recently mastered this
concept. If the student appears frustrated by the present concept, a new selection
will be offered.
The student continues to work in the Learning Mode until a new assessment is
35
36 CHAPTER 5. LEARNING MODE
ordered, either by the instructor or automatically when a certain amount of time has
been spent or a certain amount of progress has been made since the last assessment
(See Sec. 4.3).
5.2 Buttons
5.2.1 Exit
One can end a session with ALEKS in either of two ways: click on the “Exit”
button at the upper left-hand corner of the browser window or simply close the
window in one of the ways provided by the browser. Also, if no input is supplied to
the system for 15 minutes the session is terminated automatically. No matter which
way you exit, ALEKS will return you to the same place when you next log on.
5.2.2 Options
The “Options” button opens a page containing the user’s current registration infor-
mation (with a link for changing the Password), course and instructor (with a link
for changing the course), a checkbox for joining “Ask a Friend” (See Sec. 5.7), a link
for suspending the account (See Sec. 5.8), and the beginning and expiration dates of
5.2. BUTTONS 37
the account (Fig. 5.1). “Report” connects to a menu of all assessment reports (See
Sec. 5.2.4.). “History” displays a list of concepts the student has worked on recently,
indicating the level of mastery achieved and providing the opportunity to return to
that concept for further practice. Clicking on “Done” returns to the Learning Mode.
5.2.3 Print
To print the contents of the ALEKS display, click the “Print” button on the menu
bar. This transforms the display into a form suitable for printing. Next, click on
the browser’s “Print” button, or use whatever keyboard equivalent is provided. The
procedure is the same as for printing any web page. To return to the Learning
Mode, close or minimize the window that was printed.
5.2.4 Report
Clicking on the “Report” button displays a menu of all past assessments, with the
most recent displayed by default. Any assessment can be selected (by date) from the
menu. Then click “Graph” to see the results of that assessment. This will include
one or more piecharts, a list of concepts recently learned, a list of concepts most
ready to be learned, and the progress bar graphs (See Sec. 4.6.5). To return to the
Learning Mode, click “Done.”
NOTE. Click on the link “and many other more elementary concepts.” to see a
complete list of topics mastered.
5.2.5 Dictionary
Clicking on the “Dictionary” button produces a new browser window with an index
of entries in the online student Dictionary. Click on any entry to view the defini-
tion. Remember that the Dictionary can also be accessed by clicking on underlined
words (hypertext links) anywhere in the Learning Mode. Dictionary definitions are
designed to present concepts in their simplest form first, moving into greater depth
as the definition proceeds (See Sec. 5.3.5). Close or minimize the Dictionary window
to return to the Learning Mode.
5.2.6 Calculator
The Calculator button will light up (become enabled) on topics where ALEKS
permits use of a calculator. Click on this button to use the online calculator.
38 CHAPTER 5. LEARNING MODE
5.2.7 Review
The “Review” button gives a list of concepts the student has recently worked on
in the Learning Mode (See Sec. 5.5). One can click any of these concepts to get
further practice on it. There is also an option for “more extensive review.” Click
on “Done” to return to the Learning Mode.
5.2.8 Worksheet
5.2.9 Quiz
The student can take a quiz assigned by the instructor or check the results of quizzes
already taken by clicking “Quiz.” If a quiz has been “scheduled” by the instructor,
however, the student does not need to use this button; when the student logs on
during the time the quiz has be taken it will begin automatically (See Sec. 7.11).
5.2.10 Message
The student can use the “Message” button to check for messages from the instructor
or administrator, and send or respond to messages if this has been enabled (See
Secs. 7.12, 7.13). It is also possible to send messages directly to ALEKS Corporation.
Click on “Done” to return to the Learning Mode.
5.2. BUTTONS 39
5.2.11 Help
The “Help” button in the Assessment and Learning Modes provides detailed assist-
ance with use of the Answer Editor (Fig. 5.2). The Help Menu contains a list of
questions on how to use the various icons of the Answer Editor; clicking any one of
these leads to a brief refresher tutorial on the use of the icon.
5.2.12 MyPie
Clicking on “MyPie” produces a piechart display reflecting the current state of the
student’s mastery in the Learning Mode (See Sec. 4.6). The student can use this
button to select a new concept to work on from among those currently most “ready
to learn.”
40 CHAPTER 5. LEARNING MODE
The item page contains the title of the current item, followed by a problem or
instance of that item (Fig. 5.3). Terms are underlined and set off as hyperlinks
(clicking on these will open the Dictionary). There is, however, no Answer Editor:
the answer to the problem must be given on the Practice page.
Underneath the problem are two buttons, “Practice” and “Explain.” Clicking on
“Explain” goes to a detailed explanation of the item with additional Dictionary
links. Clicking on “Practice” goes to a page containing the Answer Editor and
provides the opportunity to attempt solving the problem.
5.3. THE LEARNING MODE INTERFACE 41
Like the item page, the explanation page (Fig. 5.4) begins with the title of the
current item and an instance of that item (the same one that appeared on the item
page, but rephrased and sometimes accompanied by a hint). The answer to the
problem is supplied at the end of the explanation.
Here again, mathematical terms are linked to Dictionary definitions. The system
may suggest looking up certain key terms to help with the explanation (especially
if the explanation has already been visited). At the bottom of the page is the
“Practice” button. Clicking on this button produces a new instance of the same
problem-type. Sometimes there may also be a button for “Additional Explanation”
or “Detailed Explanation.”
42 CHAPTER 5. LEARNING MODE
This page displays an instance of the problem, followed by the Answer Editor. This
is where a solution to the problem can be attempted (Fig. 5.5). All practice problems
are generated by algorithms with random selection of numerical values values so that
the variety of problem instances for any item is very great.
Underneath the Answer Editor are buttons labeled “Next” and “Explain.” Clicking
on “Next” has the same effect described in the Assessment Mode: it submits the
answer. Here, however, the user finds out immediately whether the answer is right
or wrong. If it was correct, a new problem is presented or (if the system believes this
topic has been mastered) a choice of new items is offered. Wrong answers will bring
about presentation of the same problem (on the Wrong Answer page) with feedback
on the student’s error. Students can then click on “Explain.” At the explanation
page, the problem is rephrased and often a hint is given.
5.3. THE LEARNING MODE INTERFACE 43
The wrong answer page appears only after an incorrect answer has been submitted
on the practice page (Fig. 5.6). It is identical to the previous page except that the
system explains the answer is wrong, and offers advice on what went wrong and
which words might be looked up in the Dictionary.
The old, incorrect answer appears in the Answer Editor, where it can be corrected
and resubmitted. Again, clicking on “Explain” is an option that leads to an expla-
nation of the problem.
44 CHAPTER 5. LEARNING MODE
5.3.5 Dictionary
Clicking on a link to the Dictionary creates a new window on top of the ALEKS
interface. At the top of the window is a bar with an Index button and text entry
field (Fig. 5.7). The “Index” button gives access to an index of all the Dictionary’s
headings and subheadings. Beneath this bar is the Dictionary entry, with links to
other entries and graphic illustrations as appropriate. The window can be closed
after use or minimized for quicker access the next time needed.
suggested. This teaching strategy attempts to minimize frustration and keep the
student’s head clear. If a concept has been left without mastery being attained,
however, the system may suggest returning to it after one or two other topics have
been covered.
5.5 Review
A student using ALEKS can review topics recently worked on in the Learning
Mode by using the “Review” button (Fig. 5.8). Clicking on any of these topics
provides the chance for additional practice; this is particularly useful when the
student knows that a new assessment is imminent. When the student has not yet
worked in Learning Mode since a new assessment, this list may be empty. “More
Extensive Review” gives a comprehensive list of all topics mastered by the student
for brief, summary review.
The Review page also contains a link to the Worksheet (See Sec. 5.6).
46 CHAPTER 5. LEARNING MODE
NOTE. The system will sometimes automatically offer a student the option of
reviewing past material at the time of login.
5.6 Worksheet
NOTE. In order to view or print documents in .pdf format, such as the ALEKS
worksheet, Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader must be installed on your
computer. Most computers have this software. If for any reason your computer
does not, there is a link on the ALEKS Worksheet page to download it.
Under some circumstances, a button marked “Ask a Friend” will appear at the
bottom of the page in the Learning Mode, next to the “Explain” button. Clicking on
this button enables the student to ask for help from another student using ALEKS
in the same course.
The button appears only if (1) the instructor or supervisor has made this feature
active, (2) the student was unsuccessful in answering this concept, and (3) there is
another student who has successfully answered the concept and who has chosen to
participate in the “Ask a Friend” component.
These two features are intended to provide additional flexibility in the student’s
access to an already-purchased subscription with ALEKS. “Suspend Account” is
used when a student has already purchased and registered in ALEKS, but then
decides to drop the course with the intention of taking it again at the next oppor-
tunity. “Leave of Absence” is used when a student has subscribed to ALEKS for
two semesters, but is skipping a semester in between. Both of these features are
accessed through the “Options” button.
Within a limited time from the first use of the Student Access Code a student can
“suspend” his or her ALEKS account and recover it later for the full period. If the
account is 1-semester or 2-semester it can be suspended 1 semester, if the account
is 1-quarter it can be suspended 1 quarter, and if it is 8-week or 6-week it can
be suspended 8 or 6 weeks. The flexibility offered by this option is limited in the
following ways:
1. it can be used only once and it has to be used within the first 30 days (1-
semester, 2-semester), first 14 days (1-quarter), or first 7 days (8-week and
6-week accounts);
2. once an account has been suspended it can only be recovered after the semester
(1-semester and 2-semester), quarter (1-quarter), 8 weeks (8-week) or 6 weeks
(6-week accounts) have passed;
3. once the recovery date has arrived the account should be used (time will begin
to run on the subscription period whether it is used or not).
48 CHAPTER 5. LEARNING MODE
To request that his or her account be suspended, a student goes to “Options” and
chooses “suspend account” under the “Special” heading. Clicking on the link dis-
plays a warning that explains the rules given above. The student can then choose
to go ahead or to cancel the request.
The Suspend Account feature should not be confused with the Leave of Absence
feature, which is available only for 2-semester accounts. The Suspend Account
feature has to be used within the first few days of the first use of the access code.
The Leave of Absence feature can only be used for a 2-semester account after the
first semester has ended. A student could conceivably use the Suspend feature at
one point, then request a Leave of Absence later on, within the same two-semester
course.
At any time between the end of the first semester and the first week of the second
semester you can decide if you want to take the leave of absence. If you don’t plan
on using ALEKS during the next semester you go into “Options” and click on
“Take a leave of absence.” This link will only be available during the period when
it can be selected, that is, close to the end of the current semester. There will be a
reminder to students as they log in after the first week of the second semester that
the new semester has started and that this is their last opportunity to opt for a
leave of absence. If you don’t plan on taking a leave of absence you don’t need to
do anything.
At any time during this period you are also allowed to switch to a new course by
clicking on “Options” and choosing “Change course” to enter a new Course Code.
As is the case with the Leave of Absence, this link is only visible at the outset of
the semester, and students will be reminded that they can switch when they log in
to ALEKS.
Chapter 6
The basic interface to the ALEKS Instructor Module was designed for the greatest
possible ease of use. Although all parts of ALEKS can be used without training or
documentation, the wealth of features in the Instructor Module is not always easily
grasped by a first-time user. The basic interface, to address this need, has been
constructed to be a fully functional, menu-driven gateway to the ALEKS Instructor
Module. Once common operations are familiar, the instructor may prefer to bypass
the basic interface and work directly in the advanced interface, which is somewhat
more powerful, especially in the fewer steps needed to accomplish tasks and in the
possibilities for combining tasks and working with groups.
The essential method of the basic interface is what software designers call the “wiz-
ard.” This method breaks a task down into steps and leads the user through those
steps, asking questions and confirming the accuracy of information and decisions
as it goes. The wizard minimizes the likelihood that the user will become lost or
confused or take an unintended action while using the system. The use of the wizard
method involves a tradeoff between the number of steps required for a given action
and the degree of familiarity expected of the user.
Throughout the Instructor Module (as we will call the basic interface in this chapter)
there is a left-hand sidebar with links to the major areas of the Instructor Module:
“How do I,” “Course Admin,” “College Admin” (available to users with Adminis-
trator status), “Reporting,” “Taking Actions,” and “Advanced” (Fig. 6.1). These
areas will be explained in the following sections. Also, each page of the Instructor
Module contains a link to the Message Center, which can be used at any time to
send queries or messages to ALEKS Corporation Customer Support.
49
50 CHAPTER 6. INSTRUCTOR MODULE: BASIC INTERFACE
Like the Advanced Instructor Module, the basic Instructor Module offers different
capacities to users who are registered in ALEKS with Administrator status, as
opposed to those with Instructor status. Essentially, an Instructor has control only
over those courses for which she or he is the instructor; an Administrator has control
over all courses for all instructors in the college, exactly as though he or she were
the instructor for each of those courses.
6.1 How do I
The first thing you will notice on the home page of the Instructor Module (called
“How do I”) is a menu of questions. These questions correspond to the most fre-
quently performed operations in the Instructor Module, such as “How do I change
someone’s password?” or “How do I create a new instructor account?” By choosing
the last item, “More,” in the menu, or clicking “full list,” you can see the entire reper-
toire of questions listed by category (Fig. 6.2). These categories are also included
in the links featured in the left-hand sidebar of the Instructor Module: “Course
Admin,” “College Admin” (Administrator), “Reporting,” “Taking Actions,” and
“Advanced.” Along with “How do I” (for the home page) and “Logout,” respec-
tively the top and bottom elements of the sidebar, these are available from anywhere
in the Instructor Module.
The questions on “How do I” are simply a way of getting quickly to the tutorial
descriptions found in the Instructor Module. For example, clicking on “How do I
move a student from one course to another?” brings you to the page for “Move a
student from one course to another,” which can also be found by clicking the sidebar
link for “Course Admin.”
52 CHAPTER 6. INSTRUCTOR MODULE: BASIC INTERFACE
The “How do I” page contains an email link and telephone number for contacting
ALEKS Corporation Customer Support. Questions and messages can also be sent
directly to ALEKS Corporation Customer support using the Message Center links
found on each page of the Instructor Module.
Course Admin is concerned with the creation and management of courses in ALEKS,
and is available to all instructors for ALEKS in a given college (Fig. 6.3). This area
of the Instructor Module will be needed especially around the beginning of a new
term or course, and also as the term proceeds, when students complete domains in
ALEKS and need to be moved up to new ones.
for each course (Administrator: for each instructor), view name, topic, instruc-
tor (Administrator), number of students, and Course Code.
edit own title, name, status options, email, and email/message options and
click “Save.”
Move a student from one course to another (See also Sec. 7.20):
NOTE. This procedure is fine for moving one student at a time. If groups of
students need to be moved, see Section 7.20.
click on name from list of empty courses (Administrator: for each instructor);
click “Confirm” to confirm deletion of empty course.
College Admin allows the ALEKS Administrator(s) for a given college to create
and manage the accounts of instructors using ALEKS, and is accessible only to
users with Administrator status (Fig. 6.4). In most cases, instructors, once they are
enrolled in ALEKS, will be able to manage their own accounts, and will require
little or no assistance from the Administrator.
fill in title, name, and administrator status (Administrator) and click “Next”;
edit Login Name, set Password, and click “Save”;
option to create courses for new instructor (below).
Move a course from one instructor to another (See also Sec. 7.18):
6.4 Reporting
Reporting should be used frequently during a course taught with ALEKS to mon-
itor the students’ use of and progress in the system.
To begin, click on a name from the list of courses (Administrator: for each instruc-
tor). A series of options for reporting will be shown (Fig. 6.5).
The rows in these views contain bar graphs showing students’ performance on and
following dated assessments. You can use the students’ Login Names or ID’s rather
than their names as the identifier in the left-hand column; simply click on the
corresponding link at the top of that column. This may be useful when the data from
this page needs to be downloaded and stored in a particular format for administrative
purposes.
Each student’s name is linked to their individual Progress page (See Sec. 6.4).
headings. One or more fields may be blank if the information gathered for that
student is not sufficient at a particular time. It is also possible to choose “Time to
Completion”; this indicates the estimated time necessary for individual students to
complete the course goals based on average progress for the period chosen. Where
the Intermediate Objectives are in use, this also shows “Time to Current Objective”
(See Sec. 7.22).
Download Excel Spreadsheet. A link at the top of the page allows you to
download the data in Excel spreadsheet format.
Sorting. The information in the Course Progress page can be sorted on any of the
columns. Simply click on the header or footer of a column to sort on that column;
a second click switches between ascending and descending order.
58 CHAPTER 6. INSTRUCTOR MODULE: BASIC INTERFACE
Scheduled assessment report shows the results of an assessment that has been
scheduled for the course in the form of a series of bar graphs (Fig. 6.9). The
blue portion of each bar graph shows the student’s knowledge as measured
by the assessment; subsequent progress in Learning Mode is not shown in this
view. Grades for the assessment are shown if the instructor has chosen to grade
the assessment (See Sec. 6.5). A menu at the top of the display can be used to
choose earlier scheduled assessments.
62 CHAPTER 6. INSTRUCTOR MODULE: BASIC INTERFACE
Average report (piechart) displays one or more combined piecharts for the
course, showing its average progress toward mastery of the curriculum (Fig. 6.10).
Display options. Beneath the piecharts there are other kinds of analysis available
for class assessment data. Choose “Average,” “Ready to learn (learning),” “Ready
to learn (assessment),” “What students can do (learning),” or “What students can
do (assessment)” from the “Display Mode” menu and click on “Graph” to display
results.
Average
This option produces a list of the specific concepts mastered by a percentage
of the students, as of their most recent assessment. The list is organized by
general categories (Fig. 7.6). For each concept, the percentage of students in
the course who demonstrated mastery is given.
Ready to learn
This option also shows a list of specific concepts, organized by general cat-
6.4. REPORTING 63
egories. For each concept, it shows the number of students in the course who
are ready to learn that concept in the Learning Mode (learning) or as of their
most recent assessment (assessment). Clicking on the number of students will
display a list of their names; there also appears a link for sending a message
to all the students in the group so defined (See Secs. 7.12, 7.13). The button
“Open All” displays all students’ names in each group (with links).
What students can do
This option also shows a list of specific concepts, organized by general catego-
ries. For each concept, it shows the number of students in the course who have
recently mastered that concept in the Learning Mode (learning) or as of their
last assessment (assessment). Clicking on the number of students will display
a list of their names; there also appears a link for sending a message to all the
students in the group so defined (See Secs. 7.12, 7.13). The button “Open All”
displays all students’ names in each group (with links).
Course quiz results shows the results on any given quiz for all students in the
course who took the quiz, using bar graphs (Fig. 6.11).
64 CHAPTER 6. INSTRUCTOR MODULE: BASIC INTERFACE
Progress report for a single student in this course displays a list of bar
graphs for the single student chosen. There is one row for each assessment
that the student has taken, with dates (linked to the Report page for that
assessment) (Fig. 6.12). Each row contains one to three bar graphs, depending
on the student’s level. Each bar graph measures the student’s mastery as of
the given assessment as seen by the blue portion of the bar. Progress made
in the Learning Mode subsequently to that assessment (but before the next
assessment, if there is one) is measured by the green portion of the bar. There
are also percentage values given beneath the bar for the blue and green portions
of the bars; for example, 57+9% means that the last assessment showed 57%
mastery, and that subsequent work in the Learning Mode added another 9%
mastery. If there is more than one bar per row, they will correspond to the
syllabi for the previous level, the current level, and the subsequent level.
Information on each assessment, total hours and weeks spent subsequently in the
Learning Mode (up to the time of the next assessment) with average numbers of
items gained per hour and per week is also provided (optionally, this shows the time
left to completion of course goals).
6.4. REPORTING 65
Report for a single student in this course (piechart) displays one or more
piecharts for the single student chosen, showing the student’s current progress
toward mastery of the curriculum (Fig. 6.13). There is also a menu giving
access to earlier points in the student’s progress.
Beneath the piecharts is a list of concepts that the student has mastered recently
(“What <Name> Can Do”) and another list of concepts that the student is currently
(as of the given assessment) most ready to begin learning (“Ready to Learn”). There
may also be a summary of the student’s history in ALEKS (“History”) and a log
of work in the Learning Mode following that assessment (“Learning Log”). There
are also buttons allowing the instructor to request or cancel an assessment for that
student and to edit Intermediate Objectives (See Sec. 7.22).
Complete list of topics mastered. Click on the link “and many other more
elementary concepts.” to see a complete list of topics mastered by the student.
Individual quiz results shows the results for any given student on any quizzes
taken by that student.
66 CHAPTER 6. INSTRUCTOR MODULE: BASIC INTERFACE
Additional course management features are available under “Taking Actions” (Fig. 6.14).
In order to schedule a course assessment, the instructor is asked to specify the name
of the assessment (by default, a scheduled assessment is called “Requested Assess-
ment” plus its number), a date (by default the current date), and a time (by default
the current time) (Fig. 7.8). “Detailed scheduling options” permit the instructor to
restrict the assessment to campus and to limit the time when it can be begun. When
this information has been given, the instructor schedules the assessment by clicking
“Save.” If all the defaults are left, the students will immediately enter Assessment
Mode at their next login. If a later date and/or time are chosen, the students will
enter Assessment Mode the next time they log in after that date and time. The
calendar graphic provides a quick and easy way to choose the date of an assessment
6.5. TAKING ACTIONS 67
The three buttons under the graph determine the use of the evaluation: if “Dis-
abled,” no one sees it; if “Private,” the instructor sees it but the students do not; if
“Public,” the instructor sees it and each student sees it for their own work.
The graph has sliders, with labels referring to the intervals they define. Additional
sliders may be placed by dragging the right-hand or left-hand sliders, or sliders
may be removed by dragging them off to the right or left. The sliders may be set
and the labels edited as the instructor desires. To change the label on a new or
existing slider, select the text of the current label, retype as desired, and then press
“Return.”
Tips. Double-click on the name of any topic to see a sample problem. Topics can
be selected in continuous groups using the Shift key or discontinuous groups using
Ctrl; the entire folder is selected by using Ctrl-a.
The Quiz feature in ALEKS allows instructors to create quizzes for their students
using any topics in the ALEKS domain. These quizzes are administered through
ALEKS and scored automatically, with optional use of a grading scale set by the
instructor. Quizzes may be scheduled for particular days and times, or they may be
made available for the students in a course to take when they are ready (“Home-
work Quiz”). The results of quizzes can be seen through the reporting features
of ALEKS, but do not influence the students’ knowledge states or their guided
learning in ALEKS.
Grading with quizzes. The grading scale used with quizzes is like the one used
for assessments (See Sec. 6.5). As with assessments, grading is not obligatory; if no
grading scale is set, the students and the instructor will only see the percentage of
questions answered correctly.
Quizzes may also be “hidden” for later availability to students (“Don’t make this
quiz available yet”), or they may be scheduled. A graphic calendar is provided for
easy scheduling of quizzes. If the quiz is scheduled, the instructor will have options
for specifying the time of day it is to begin, the time limit on the quiz, whether
students are notified, how many days the quiz should be in effect (“Window of time
to take the quiz”), whether the quiz is restricted to the college, and prevention of
automatic assessments up to five days before the quiz is scheduled.
The quiz may be assigned to all the students in the course or, optionally, to some
group within the course.
Using this link connects you to the ALEKS Message Center, an extremely powerful
and useful component of the ALEKS system. Please see Section 7.12 for a detailed
description of the Message Center. The Message Center can also be reached via the
envelope icon in the upper right corner of every Instructor Module page.
6.6 Advanced
On clicking this link, the user is shown a brief explanation of how the Advanced
Instructor Module differs from the standard one (Fig. 6.17).
Instructors using ALEKS should not be intimidated about trying the advanced
interface. It is a visual or graphic (“point and click”) interface based on a model
of directories, files, and actions applied to files and directories, which is essentially
6.6. ADVANCED 71
shared by all modern computer systems. With even slight familiarity, most users
will have no difficulty using it (See Chapters 6-8).
The Tutorial for the Advanced Instructor Module is a complete guide to the most
commonly-used features of this area (See Sec. 7.2). From within the Advanced
Instructor Module, it is possible to retake the Tutorial at any time or to review
parts of it by using the “Help” button.
click “Next” to enter the Tutorial for the Advanced Instructor Module.
When an instructor has achieved a certain level of familiarity with the Instructor
Module, she or he may wish to try using the advanced interface, or even to use the
advanced interface exclusively. As noted, the Advanced Instructor Module has cer-
tain advantages of efficiency and flexibility, especially in operations affecting groups
of students.
click “Next” to enter the Advanced Instructor Module (optionally, set your
preferences to log directly into the Advanced Instructor Module when using
this account).
72 CHAPTER 6. INSTRUCTOR MODULE: BASIC INTERFACE
Chapter 7
The Tutorial for the Advanced Instructor Module is designed to parallel the function
of the Tutorial taken by all student users of ALEKS when they first register with
the system. It introduces the instructor to the features of the ALEKS Advanced
Instructor Module in a brief, but thorough, interactive way, and will give instruc-
tors who choose this interface confidence in carrying out the operations needed to
effectively monitor and manage their ALEKS courses.
The Tutorial for the Advanced Instructor Module reproduces the advanced ALEKS
interface and poses the instructor a series of tasks involving the interface tools
(Fig. 7.1). The instructor proceeds to the next page by carrying out the current
task; feedback is provided to guide the instructor through all needed actions.
73
74 CHAPTER 7. ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE: RESULTS & PROGRESS
Instructors will normally take the Tutorial at the time that they begin to explore
or use the advanced Instructor Module interface. The Tutorial can be skipped; an
instructor who has skipped part of the Tutorial can return to where they left off or
restart from scratch. Also, the Help page contains an index, which links to every
section of the Tutorial. Current instructors may take the Tutorial at any time by
clicking the link marked “Show me a Tutorial” at the top of the Advanced Instructor
Module window. (An instructor who has chosen to skip all or part of the Tutorial
sees “Return to the Tutorial.”)
7.3. ACCESS TO THE ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE 75
Figure 7.2: The Results & Progress Directory (Advanced Instructor Module)
When you enter the Advanced Instructor Module with instructor status, you will
see a directory containing only your own courses. If you have an administrator
account you will see all of the instructor directories for your college. If you have
a root administrator account you will see directories for all colleges under your
administration (Fig. 7.2).
NOTE. The directory window is called the “Selector.” It is the chief graphic
navigation tool of the Advanced Instructor Module. You can always return to the
Selector by scrolling your browser window up. Similar Selector windows are used in
other areas of the Advanced Instructor Module for special purposes.
If you have an instructor account, the system features at your disposal can affect
only your classes and the students under your supervision. If your account is that
of a supervisor, your privileges are similar, but extend to all the classes and all of
the students in the college. If your account is that of a root administrator (e.g., over
an entire multi-campus community college system), your privileges extend to all
colleges under your administration. In the following, we assume that your account
is that of a supervisor.
The Advanced Instructor Module has two parts: “Results & Progress” and “Stand-
76 CHAPTER 7. ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE: RESULTS & PROGRESS
ards & Syllabi.” When you enter the Advanced Instructor Module, you are auto-
matically placed in “Results & Progress.” Use the ALEKS menu bar to change the
part of the Advanced Instructor Module in which you are working (See Chapter 8).
“Results & Progress” is used for most administrative tasks, such as monitoring
individual and group progress. Instructors using ALEKS with one or more courses
will probably wish to check into this part of the Instructor Module on a daily basis.
This allows the instructors to verify the rate of progress achieved by the students.
The features also enable instructors to set up additional classes if they need to.
The following sections describe the various actions that can be carried out by in-
structors with appropriate levels of privilege in the Advanced Instructor Module.
Bulletin Board and Mailing List. The “Help” button also gives access to the
ALEKS bulletin board and mailing list for instructors. The purpose of these fea-
tures is to allow instructors using ALEKS to exchange information and viewpoints
on teaching methods, strategies, and the like. They can also be accessed from the
ALEKS website by registered instructors (click on “Help”).
7.5. VIEW STUDENT PROGRESS 77
To view student progress, select the name of the student and click on the “Progress”
button. A chart will appear below the directories window with one or more rows of
information (Fig. 7.3). There is one row for each assessment that the student has
taken, with dates (linked to the Report page for that assessment). Each row contains
one to three bar graphs, depending on the student’s level. Each bar graph measures
the student’s mastery as of the given assessment as seen by the blue portion of the
bar. Progress made in the Learning Mode subsequently to that assessment (but
before the next assessment, if there is one) is measured by the green portion of the
bar. There are also percentage values given beneath the bar for the blue and green
portions of the bars; for example, 57+9% means that the last assessment showed
57% mastery, and that subsequent work in the Learning Mode added another 9%
mastery. If there is more than one bar per row, they will correspond to the syllabi
for the previous level, the current level, and the subsequent level.
7.22), and a link for downloading this information to the instructor’s computer.
Monitoring progress. When a student has spent enough time on ALEKS to have
had two or more assessments, the sequence of bar graphs appearing on the Student
Progress page begins to tell a clear story of the student’s success in moving toward
mastery. There may be considerable difference among individual students in the
speed and smoothness of their progress. When one bar graph appears above another
bar graph, the uppermost one represents a later assessment, in which the student
seeks to confirm knowledge of material tentatively mastered in Learning Mode. For
some students progress in assessments is slower than that in Learning Mode. This
can be seen when the green portion of one bar graph extends further to the right than
the blue portion of the bar graph above it (not everything covered in Learning Mode
was confirmed subsequently in the assessment). For other students the opposite is
true: progress in assessments is for some reason faster than that in the Learning
Mode. This can be seen when the green portion of one bar graph does not extend so
far to the right as the blue portion of the bar graph above it (more knowledge was
confirmed in the assessment than had been covered previously in Learning Mode).
When a student is frustrated, this will be obvious from the bar graphs; in such cases
the instructor may need to provide extra help or encouragement. It is well worth
the instructor’s time to check daily on individual and course progress in ALEKS.
7.6. VIEW STUDENT ASSESSMENT REPORT 79
Select the name of the student for whom you wish to observe a report and click
on the “Report” button. A display containing one or more piecharts will appear
beneath the directories window (Fig. 7.4). Its interpretation is the same as for
the reports received by students following all formal assessments (See Sec. 4.6.1).
By default, the Report page shows the most recent assessment or the most recent
knowledge attained in the Learning Mode. Other assessments or other Learning
Mode reports may be chosen by selecting dates from the menu at the top of the
chart and clicking on “Graph.”
Dates. Each report in the menu at the top of the Student Report page is dated.
If an assessment is begun on one date and finished on another, the begin and end
dates are shown on the Student Report page, along with the amount of time spent
in the assessment (the menu shows only the begin date). The date for a Learning
report is the last date on which the student worked in the Learning Mode before
any subsequent assessment.
Beneath the piecharts is a list of concepts that the student has mastered recently
80 CHAPTER 7. ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE: RESULTS & PROGRESS
(“What <Name> Can Do”) and another list of concepts that the student is currently
(as of the given assessment) most ready to begin learning (“Ready to Learn”). There
may also be a summary of the student’s history in ALEKS (“History”) and a log
of work in the Learning Mode following that assessment (“Learning Log”). There
are also buttons allowing the instructor to request or cancel an assessment for that
student and to edit Intermediate Objectives (See Secs. 7.9, 7.22).
Complete list of topics mastered. Click on the link “and many other more
elementary concepts” to see a complete list of topics mastered by the student.
Select the course for which you wish to observe progress and click on the “Progress”
button. A chart will appear below the directories window with a series of rows,
one for each student enrolled in the course (Fig. 7.5). The rows contain bar graphs
(See interpretation in “View Student Progress,” Sec. 7.5). By default, only the
bar graph for the most recent assessment is shown (the students’ names are linked
to their individual Progress pages, while the assessment dates are linked to their
individual Report pages). You can use the students’ Login Names or ID’s rather
than their names as the identifier in the left-hand column; simply click on the
corresponding link at the top of that column. This may be useful when the data from
this page needs to be downloaded and stored in a particular format for administrative
7.7. VIEW COURSE PROGRESS 81
purposes.
Report Style. A range of options providing variations on this format are accessible
through a menu at the top of the chart. Choose the desired format from the menu
and click on “Compute” to view results.
Of these options, the following have been found particularly useful by a wide range of
users: “Progress in learning mode” (for frequent checks on progress and time spent
in ALEKS), “Total progress” (for viewing the overall effectiveness of students’ use
of ALEKS over a longer period of time, such as a term or semester), and “Full
progress over last 6 months” (for convenient examination of the learning patterns
followed by students in a course).
first assessment taken within the last month, and the light blue portion shows
progress made between that assessment and the most recent one taken.
Most recent assessment only
All students who have completed at least one assessment have bar graphs. The
blue portion shows mastery as of the most recent assessment.
Full progress over last 6 months
For each student who has taken at least one assessment, there is a bar graph
shown for each assessment taken in the last 6 months. The interpretation is the
same as for “Progress in learning mode”; that is, the blue part of the bar shows
mastery on the assessment, and the green part additional mastery achieved in
Learning Mode following that assessment (but before any subsequent assess-
ment).
Full progress over last 3 months
For each student who has taken at least one assessment, there is a bar graph
shown for each assessment taken in the last 3 months. The interpretation is the
same as for “Progress in learning mode”; that is, the blue part of the bar shows
mastery on the assessment, and the green part additional mastery achieved in
Learning Mode following that assessment (but before any subsequent assess-
ment).
Full progress over last month
For each student who has taken at least one assessment, there is a bar graph
shown for each assessment taken in the last month. The interpretation is the
same as for “Progress in learning mode”; that is, the blue part of the bar shows
mastery on the assessment, and the green part additional mastery achieved in
Learning Mode following that assessment (but before any subsequent assess-
ment).
Scheduled Assessment
Underneath the “Report Style” menu is a second menu listing assessments
that have been scheduled for this course. To view the results of that assess-
ment, select the name (with date) of the assessment and click “Compute” (See
Sec. 7.10).
Buttons at the bottom of the page allow the instructor to schedule an assessment
for all the students taking the course and to download information from the page in
a format suitable for spreadsheet display (See Sec. 7.10).
complete the course goals based on average progress for the period chosen. Where
the Intermediate Objectives are in use, this also shows “Time to Current Objective”
(See Sec. 7.22).
Assign Learning Rates. A link at the top of the Course Progress page provides
access to the learning rates feature (See Sec. 7.24).
Sorting. The information in the Course Progress page can be sorted on any of the
columns. Simply click on the header or footer of a column to sort on that column;
a second click switches between ascending and descending order.
Grouping. It is possible to create arbitrary groups within the course and generate
Progress pages for these groups. Simply select the names of the students in the
Selector: hold Shift to select a continuous range, or Ctrl to select a discontinuous
group. Then click the “Progress” button.
Select the course for which you wish to view a report and click on the “Report”
button. A display containing one or more piecharts will appear beneath the direc-
tories window (Fig. 7.6). Its interpretation is the same as for the reports received
by students following all formal assessments, except that it represents a synthetic
summary of reports received by all students in the course. The period summarized
may be changed using the menu at the top of the chart (click on “Graph” to display
results).
Display options. Beneath the piecharts there are other kinds of analysis available
for class assessment data. Choose “Average,” “Ready to learn (learning),” “Ready
to learn (assessment),” “What students can do (learning),” or “What students can
do (assessment)” from the “Display Mode” menu and click on “Graph” to display
results.
Average
This option produces a list of the specific concepts mastered by a percentage
of the students, as of their most recent assessment. The list is organized by
7.8. VIEW COURSE REPORT 85
general categories (Fig. 7.6). For each concept, the percentage of students in
the course who demonstrated mastery is given.
By default, items are not listed if they have been learned by fewer than 5%
or by more than 95% of the students in the course. For a comprehensive list
(0%-100%), click the link “Display full list.”
Ready to learn
This option also shows a list of specific concepts, organized by general cat-
egories. For each concept, it shows the number of students in the course who
are ready to learn that concept in the Learning Mode (learning) or as of their
most recent assessment (assessment). Clicking on the number of students will
display a list of their names; there also appears a link for sending a message
to all the students in the group so defined (See Secs. 7.12, 7.13). The button
“Open All” displays all students’ names in each group (with links).
What students can do
This option also shows a list of specific concepts, organized by general catego-
ries. For each concept, it shows the number of students in the course who have
recently mastered that concept in the Learning Mode (learning) or as of their
last assessment (assessment). Clicking on the number of students will display
a list of their names; there also appears a link for sending a message to all the
students in the group so defined (See Secs. 7.12, 7.13). The button “Open All”
displays all students’ names in each group (with links).
Focusing instruction. These tools can be used to focus instruction for courses
and groups of students. The “Average” display shows very clearly which specific
concepts and general areas within the syllabus need the most work for the greatest
number of students. Consequently, it can be used to prioritize topics for lectures and
lesson plans. The “Ready to learn” display, on the other hand, makes it possible to
break a large course up into small groups, each focused on the concept or concepts
that it is working on currently in Learning Mode. The “What students can do”
display mode can be used to form groups of students for special discussions and
exercises designed to expand and deepen their understanding of a concept they
have all recently mastered. Where there is not sufficient teaching staff to coach
several groups simultaneously, the instructor may call out small groups during their
use of ALEKS for brief, pointed “chalk talks.”
At the bottom of the Course Report page there are buttons allowing the instructor
to schedule an assessment for all the students in the course or to edit Intermediate
Objectives (See Secs. 7.10, 7.22).
Grouping. It is possible to create arbitrary groups within the course and generate
Report pages for these groups. Simply select the names of the students in the
Selector: hold Shift to select a continuous range, or Ctrl to select a discontinuous
group. Then click the “Report” button.
86 CHAPTER 7. ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE: RESULTS & PROGRESS
Assessments for entire courses may be scheduled using buttons on the Progress or
Report pages for those courses, or on the Edit page under the tab “Advanced.”
7.10. SCHEDULE COURSE ASSESSMENT 87
At the bottom of the Course Assessment page all currently scheduled assessments
are listed. Clicking any of these links brings up the scheduled assessment for mod-
88 CHAPTER 7. ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE: RESULTS & PROGRESS
The tabs “Message,” “Grades,” and “Advanced” provide access to additional fea-
tures affecting scheduled assessments.
Message
Add a special message to accompany the automatic message which students
receive informing them that they are entering a scheduled assessment. If you
prefer that the students not receive a message, cancel the automatic message.
Grades
Assign a grading scheme to this assessment only. The Grades feature uses a
chart with sliders (Fig. 7.9). The grades received by students on scheduled
assessments can be seen under Course Progress using the “Scheduled Assess-
ment” menu (See Sec. 7.7).
The three buttons under the graph determine the use of the evaluation: if
“Disabled,” no one sees it; if “Private,” the instructor sees it but the students
do not; if “Public,” the instructor sees it and each student sees it for their own
work.
7.11. CREATE, EDIT, VIEW QUIZZES 89
The graph has sliders, with labels referring to the intervals they define. Ad-
ditional sliders may be placed by dragging the right-hand or left-hand sliders,
or sliders may be removed by dragging them off to the right or left. The slid-
ers may be set and the labels edited as the instructor desires. To change the
label on a new or existing slider, select the text of the current label, retype as
desired, and then press “Return.”
Advanced
Block automatic assessments for up to 5 days prior to a scheduled assessment
(useful to avoid having some students assessed twice in a row); limit the effect
of a scheduled assessment to the day it is assigned to or leave it in effect until
the next scheduled assessment. If an assessment is limited to the assigned day,
a student logging on to ALEKS on that day (after the start time) will be
assessed, but if the student does not log on that day that student will not be
assessed until the next automatic or scheduled assessment.
Grouping. It is possible to create arbitrary groups within the course and request
assessments for these groups. Simply select the names of the students in the Selector:
hold Shift to select a continuous range, or Ctrl to select a discontinuous group. Then
click the “Progress” or “Report” button, and request the assessment as you normally
would for an entire course.
To create, edit, or view quizzes, select the name of the course for which you wish to
do this and click “Quiz.” You will see a list of students in the course with results
for the most recent quiz. A menu at the top of the list allows you to select previous
quizzes. To see detailed results for any particular student on that quiz, click on the
date of the quiz opposite the student’s name. To see all quiz results for a particular
student, click that student’s name. This list can be resorted on any of the headings
by clicking on that heading. Links at the top of the page enable you to see a
breakdown of quiz results by question and to assign a grading scale.
The Quiz feature in ALEKS allows instructors to create quizzes for their students
using any topics in the ALEKS domain. These quizzes are administered through
ALEKS and scored automatically, with optional use of a grading scale set by the
90 CHAPTER 7. ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE: RESULTS & PROGRESS
instructor. Quizzes may be scheduled for particular days and times, or they may be
made available for the students in a course to take when they are ready (“Home-
work Quiz”). The results of quizzes can be seen through the reporting features
of ALEKS, but do not influence the students’ knowledge states or their guided
learning in ALEKS.
Create New Quiz. To create a new quiz, click on the button to lower right,
“Create New Quiz.” On the page that follows, you will see various options for the
quiz. Enter a name for the quiz in the box to upper left, or leave the name provided
(“Quiz N”). Next, select from the list of topics in the left-hand window either by
dragging topics into the right-hand window, or by highlighting topics and clicking
“Add.” Click “Save” to create the quiz. To set the availability of the quiz, use
the radio buttons at the bottom of the page and the “Scheduling” button. Other
buttons enable you to create a different quiz, edit this one, or delete this one. There
are links at the bottom to other existing quizzes; finally, the tabs at the top can be
used to schedule, send a message to announce the quiz, or set a grading scale.
Tips. Double-click on the name of any topic to see a sample problem. Topics can
be selected in continuous groups using the Shift key or discontinuous groups using
Ctrl; the entire folder is selected by using Ctrl-a.
7.11. CREATE, EDIT, VIEW QUIZZES 91
Grading with quizzes. The grading scale used with quizzes is like the one used
for assessments (See Sec. 7.10). As with assessments, grading is not obligatory; if
no grading scale is set, the students and the instructor will only see the percentage
of questions answered correctly.
Quizzes may also be “hidden” for later availability to students, or they may be
scheduled. A graphic calendar is provided for easy scheduling of quizzes. If the quiz
is scheduled, the instructor will have options for specifying the time of day it is to
begin, the time limit on the quiz, whether students are notified, how many days the
quiz should be in effect (“Window of time to take the quiz”), whether the quiz is
restricted to the college, and prevention of automatic assessments up to five days
before the quiz is scheduled.
Edit Quiz. To edit an existing quiz, click on the button to the lower right, “Edit
Quiz.” The quiz may be modified using the features described above for the creation
of quizzes, or it may be deleted.
Downloading. Information from the Quiz page can be downloaded in two for-
mats. “Spreadsheet Format” is comma-separated values (CSV), which can be im-
ported into a variety of applications but is raw in appearance. “Excel Format” is
in Microsoft Excel format, and has a legible, professional appearance, suitable for
printing.
92 CHAPTER 7. ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE: RESULTS & PROGRESS
Select the student or course to whom you wish to send a message, and click on
the “Compose Message” button. A full-featured editor will appear beneath the
directories window with fields for a subject and a message and a “Send Message”
button (Fig. 7.11). The student or students to whom the message is being sent
will see it at their next login (See Sec. 5.2.10). It is also possible to send messages
directly to ALEKS Corporation.
messages. The tools are like those used by ALEKS itself in the Answer Editor
(See Sec. 4.5). Moreover, students sending you messages in the Message Center can
attach a graphic representation of the problem they are currently working on, to
facilitate posing and answering mathematical questions.
Grouping. It is possible to create arbitrary groups within the course and send
messages to these groups. Simply select the names of the students in the Selector:
hold Shift to select a continuous range, or Ctrl to select a discontinuous group. Then
click the “Compose Message” button.
Click on the “Message” button at the top of the Instructor Module window. You
can receive messages from students in a course only if this has been enabled in the
instructor account (See Sec. 7.15.).
Click on the “Server Stats” button. A table will appear beneath the directories
window (Fig. 7.12). The type of information shown in the table can be changed by
selecting a heading from the menu at the top of the table and clicking the “Compute”
button. The options for display are: Enrollment/Activity, Assessment/Performance,
Enrollment List, Server Use: Page Hits, Server Use: User Hours.
94 CHAPTER 7. ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE: RESULTS & PROGRESS
Select the directory for the college where you wish to create an instructor account
(or the directory “All instructors”) and click on the “New Instructor” button. A
form for the new account will appear beneath the directories window (Fig. 7.13).
Supply the instructor’s first and last names, a title (“Mr.,” “Mrs.,” “Ms.,” etc.), a
Login Name, and a Password. By default, the new account is set for an instructor. If
7.16. EDIT INSTRUCTOR ACCOUNT 95
you are an administrator, you can make another administrator account by checking
“Instructor and Administrator.” The “ID” field is optional and may be left blank.
“Message from student” should be enabled if you wish the account holder to receive
messages from students (See Sec. 7.13). “Status” must be enabled if the instructor is
to have courses assigned (if “Status” is enabled, you will see here how many courses
are assigned to the instructor).
When you are finished filling in the form click on “Save.” This creates the account.
To start over, click “Reset.” To cancel the account, click “Delete File.”
Other settings may be changed for the instructor by using the additional tabs “Mail”
and “Advanced.”
Mail
This tab contains options for entering an email address, forwarding ALEKS
messages to this address, and permitting students to send the instructor mes-
sages through ALEKS (See Sec. 7.13).
Advanced
This tab contains a button for “Cleanup Tools.” These tools permit the in-
structor to unenroll and delete students and to modify database records in
other ways.
NOTE. Deleting a student removes that student’s records permanently from
the ALEKS system.
NOTE. Under the “Cleanup Tools,” “Records” refers to information in the
database concerning student knowledge as shown on assessments and in the
Learning Mode. Clear Records will remove all such information. “Stats” refers
to information in the database concerning the hours students have spent in
ALEKS. Clear Stats will remove all such information.
Select the instructor whose account you wish to edit and click the “Edit” button.
The same form will appear as described in “Create Instructor Account” (Fig. 7.13).
The account may be deleted (“Delete File”) only if there are no courses and no
students enrolled for this instructor (“Advanced”).
96 CHAPTER 7. ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE: RESULTS & PROGRESS
Select the instructor for whom you wish to create a course and click on the “New
Course” button. A form for the new account will appear beneath the directories
window (Fig. 7.14). Provide a name (e.g., “Aleks”) and choose a category. At
this point, you have the option of choosing an instructor other than the one initially
selected (if others are available). This will transfer the course to that instructor.
The “ID” field is optional and ordinarily left blank.
The Course Code for the newly-created Course appears in the upper
right-hand corner of the screen.
When you are finished filling in the form click on “Save.” This creates the account.
To start over, click “Reset.” To cancel the account, click “Delete File.”
Other settings may be changed for the course by using the additional tabs “Status,”
“Assessment,” “Learning,” “Content,” and “Advanced.”
Status
Under “Status” you can close the course for enrollment (by default it is open)
and restrict students’ access to their account (“assessment only” or “denied”—
no access). Also, you can request to be notified by ALEKS (through the
Message Center) when any student in the course assesses at 100% of your
syllabus.
7.17. CREATE COURSE ACCOUNT 97
Assessment
The students’ assessments can be restricted so that either the initial assessment,
or subsequent assessments, or both, can be taken only from the college. For
this setting to be effective, a valid domain name must be entered in the college
account. Instructors wishing to constrain assessments in this way should con-
tact ALEKS Corporation for assistance in determining the domain addresses
used by their college.
Learning
If the “Ask a friend” option is checked, students in the course will be able to
request the name of a classmate for help with a topic that is causing difficulty.
“Novice” means the system will choose a classmate who has mastered the
concept very recently. “Expert” means that the system will choose a classmate
who mastered the concept earlier than others in the group. The instructor may
pick any point on the continuum between “novice” and “expert.”
This tab also contains options for the use of the ALEKS Worksheet (See
Sec. 5.6). The instructor may enable or disable the worksheet, choose between
16 review questions or 12 review plus 4 extra credit, remind students to print
a worksheet when exiting ALEKS, and have answer sheets sent through the
Message Center each time a student downloads a new worksheet.
Other options here concern the availability of the calculator and of the “Time
to Completion” data to students on their Report page (See Secs. 5.2.4, 7.5,
7.7).
Content
Clicking the “Content” tab gives access to the ALEKS Content Editor (See
Sec. 7.23). This feature lets the instructor quickly and easily modify the content
for a course. If the instructor clicks in the checkbox for any content area, that
content area is removed from the curriculum of the course; it will also not
appear in assessments. To see exactly which items are contained in this content
area, click on the title of the content area.
Advanced
Under “Advanced” it is possible to find a range of course management features.
“Cleanup Tools” permit the instructor to unenroll and delete students and
to modify database records in other ways. The “Course Syllabus” button is
equivalent to the “Select Course Syllabus” button (See Sec. 7.19). “Assign
Learning Rates” opens the Learning Rates feature (See Sec. 7.24). “Edit Int.
Objectives” gives access to the Intermediate Objectives feature (See Sec. 7.22).
“Schedule Assessment” permits the instructor to schedule an assessment for
the course (See Sec. 7.10.).
NOTE. Under the “Cleanup Tools,” “Records” refers to information in the
database concerning student knowledge as shown on assessments and in the
Learning Mode. Clear Records will remove all such information. “Stats” refers
to information in the database concerning the hours students have spent in
ALEKS. Clear Stats will remove all such information.
98 CHAPTER 7. ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE: RESULTS & PROGRESS
Select the course you wish to edit and click on the “Edit” button. The same form
will appear as described in “Create Course Account” (Fig. 7.14). The account may
be deleted (“Delete File”) only if there are no students currently enrolled in the
course (“Unenroll Students”).
The Course Code for the Course being edited appears in the upper right-
hand corner of the screen.
Select the course for which you wish to choose the course syllabus and click on the
“Select Course Syllabus” button. A form will appear beneath the directories window
containing menus for all syllabi needed for the given course (Fig. 7.15). You may
also have the option of choosing a McGraw-Hill/HSSL textbook to be used with
ALEKS. When you are finished filling in the form click on “Save.” To start over
or restore defaults, click on “Reset.”
NOTE. The “course syllabus” is a set of topics or items used as a goal for mastery
by the students in a given course (See Chapter 8.). In college courses one syllabus is
usually set for the course. “Standards” are collections of syllabi covering a range of
levels. ALEKS always contains ready-made standards set to appropriate defaults.
7.20. ENROLL AND UNENROLL STUDENTS 99
Thus, in most cases the college instructor need not select the course syllabus.
Select the course for which you wish to enroll or unenroll students and click on
“Enroll in Course.” A display will appear beneath the directories window showing
the names of all students who may be enrolled. The students currently enrolled in
this course appear with their names highlighted in gray; those enrolled in some other
course are highlighted in yellow. The names of students can be highlighted (enrolled)
or dehighlighted (unenrolled) by clicking on them. When all desired changes have
been made, click on the “Save” button.
Drag and drop. Students may be moved between courses more easily by dragging
and dropping their names. Simply select the names of students to be moved in the
right-hand side of the directories window and drag them to the target folder on
the left. The entire course can be selected by using Ctrl-A; a continuous range by
holding Shift and clicking; or a discontinuous group by holding Ctrl and clicking.
You will see the target folder become highlighted when the student or students are
ready to “drop.”
100 CHAPTER 7. ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE: RESULTS & PROGRESS
To edit a student account, select the name of the student and click on the “Edit”
button. A form will appear beneath the directories window containing the student’s
account information: name, login name, ID, email, and current enrollment status
(Fig. 7.16). The student’s Password is not shown in a readable form, but it can be
changed to provide a student with a new Password when one has been forgotten.
Corrections or changes may also be made to the student’s name, login name, ID,
and email. The student’s ID and email are optional, though it may be useful to
have these on record.
Account Information. The begin and expiration dates of the student’s current
account are also shown on this page. Similar information is available to the student
on the Options page (See Sec. 5.2.2).
The Intermediate Objectives feature was created to address the needs of instructors
using ALEKS in conjunction with a planned sequence of topics for classroom in-
struction (Fig. 7.17). It enables instructors to prioritize certain groups of topics for
specified segments of time, when these topics will be at the focus of class discussion.
When intermediate objectives have been set, students will be directed to work on
these objectives as soon as they are available in the domain and guided through
their prerequisites in the most direct way possible.
To create or edit intermediate objectives, select the name of the course for which
you would like to set or modify objectives and click “Edit.” On the Edit page, click
the tab marked “Advanced.” On the page that follows, click “Edit Int. Objectives.”
The page that follows shows you a list of any intermediate objectives currently
102 CHAPTER 7. ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE: RESULTS & PROGRESS
set for your course (or a note that none is currently set) and buttons for adding
and copying intermediate objectives. The dates for existing intermediate objectives
can be changed by using menus in the list and clicking “Update.” If you wish to
copy one or more intermediate objectives that have been set for another course or
section, click “Copy Int. Objectives.” Also, you can choose to prevent automatic
assessments for students in this course for up to five items before fulfillment of your
intermediate objectives. To create a new set of intermediate objectives, click “Add
Int. Objectives,” or click an existing set of intermediate objectives in the list to edit
them.
Here you will see a vertically divided window. This window displays the topics
available to be selected for the set of intermediate objectives. To view a single,
scrolling list of topics, click on “Open All,” then on the tiny “X” in the upper right-
hand corner of the window. Select and unselect items for inclusion by clicking on
and off the little checkmarks in the boxes that precede them.
The name of a set of objectives appears at the top of the list of topics. Click on
this name to edit it. When you have picked a name, selected topics, and set a date,
click “Save” to enter the objectives into the system for this course.
When a set of objectives is in effect, both instructor and student will receive infor-
mation about progress toward their fulfillment. The instructor will see notations
on the Course Progress page indicating which students have fulfilled the current
objectives, and which are close to doing so. The student will see dotted lines on
their piechart showing how far each slice will need to be filled in to achieve the
current objectives. The instructor will see the same dotted lines when they view the
piecharts for the class and for individual students.
When a student uses MyPie to choose a topic for work in the Learning Mode, the
7.22. INTERMEDIATE OBJECTIVES 103
names of all items that student is “Ready to Learn” will pop out, just as they usually
do. Some of the items, however, may appear in gray rather than blue; these items
are not available to the student (clicking on them has no effect) even though the
student is ready to learn them, because they do not belong to the shortest possible
path leading the student to fulfillment of the current objectives set by the instructor.
They may become available to the student after the current objectives have been
achieved.
104 CHAPTER 7. ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE: RESULTS & PROGRESS
The ALEKS Content Editor is a quick and easy way to modify the content of a
course (Fig. 7.18). Select the name of the course and click “Edit,” then click on the
tab for “Content.” You will see a list of content areas, each preceded by a checkbox.
To see what is contained in any of these areas, click on its title. To remove the area
from the course, click on the checkbox to place an “x” in the box. This indicates
that the area has been removed from the course content; it will also not appear in
assessments. Then click “Save” to put your changes into effect, or “Reset” to undo
them.
NOTE. The Content Editor is far more convenient, though somewhat less powerful,
than the Syllabus Editor (See Sec. 8.4). Keep in mind that while a syllabus created
or modified by the Syllabus Editor can be used by any number of courses within the
college, the Content Editor acts on only one course at a time.
The purpose of the Assign Learning Rates feature in ALEKS is to provide instruc-
tors with a highly flexible tool for interpreting and evaluating the work of students
in ALEKS. One possible use of the information provided by this feature is as a
7.24. ASSIGN LEARNING RATES 105
component in the grading system used for a course, or in some other method of
motivation or reinforcement for student success.
In the Advanced Instructor Module, select the name of the course for which you
wish to assign learning rates and click the “Progress” button. At the top of the
Course Progress page you will see a link marked “Assign Learning Rates.” Clicking
on this link produces a page with four rectangular graphs (Fig. 7.19). Each of the
graphs refers to a particular way of evaluating a student’s work: by the percentage of
course objectives that they have mastered (Grading), by the total number of hours
spent on ALEKS (Time on Task), by the average number of items gained per hour
(Hourly Progress), and by the average number of items gained per week (Weekly
Progress). The vertical bars appearing in the graphs indicate the distribution of
students relative to the given scales. Any combination of these scales may be used.
The three buttons to the right of each graph determine the use of the evaluation:
if “Disabled,” no one sees it; if “Private,” the instructor sees it but the students do
not; if “Public,” the instructor sees it and each student sees it for their own work.
Each graph has sliders, with labels referring to the intervals they define. Additional
sliders may be placed by dragging the right-hand or left-hand sliders, or sliders
may be removed by dragging them off to the right or left. The sliders may be set
106 CHAPTER 7. ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE: RESULTS & PROGRESS
and the labels edited as the instructor desires. To change the label on a new or
existing slider, select the text of the current label, retype as desired, and then press
“Return.”
The function of the sliders is as follows: a student’s evaluation on a given scale is the
label of the interval within which that student is currently located. For example,
if one slider is set to 80 on the “Grading” graph and another slider to 90, with the
interval between them labeled “B,” a student who has mastered 82% of the course
goals will have the evaluation “B.” To take another example, if a slider under “Time
on Task” has been set to 10 hours and another to 20 hours, with the label for their
interval set to “Enough,” a student who has spent 11 hours on ALEKS will receive
the evaluation “Enough.” When the desired settings have been made, click “Save.”
Now the labels set to “Private” will appear in the Progress page.
If any of these charts are set to “Public” the students will see their ratings according
to those charts when they log on to ALEKS. Explain carefully to the students what
the meaning is of the notations that they will see, and how they relate to the overall
goals for the course. Some charts, such as Weekly Progress, may be more useful
to the instructor than to the students, as an aid to monitoring students’ work and
learning. These should be set to “Private.”
Variable Scale. By default, the segments into which values are divided in the
“score” graph are at 5-unit intervals. This can be reset to 2 units for greater preci-
sion, using a link in the lower right-hand part of the page.
Chapter 8
By default, the Advanced Instructor Module displays “Results & Progress,” as de-
scribed in the preceding sections (See Chapter 7). A second mode, “Standards &
Syllabi,” can be chosen from the menu at the top of the Advanced Instructor Mod-
ule window (Fig. 8.1). This mode enables the instructor to explore the system of
standards and syllabi currently available in their ALEKS database. Administrators
with a sufficiently high level of user privilege may also copy syllabi and standards,
and modify them to suit the needs of a college.
The “syllabus” is a set of concepts taken from the sum total of concepts defining
mastery of a domain that has been set as the curricular goal for a particular level of
study. That is to say, mastery of this set of concepts is equivalent to completion of
the curriculum for that level, and all reports generated by the system for students
and courses using the syllabus are framed in terms of this syllabus. A “standard”
is a collection of syllabi covering a range of levels, such as might be published by a
government educational authority.
NOTE. The syllabi selected for use by particular courses in ALEKS do not affect
the system’s assessment, which is always conducted over the entire domain.
107
108 CHAPTER 8. ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE: STANDARDS & SYLLABI
Figure 8.1: The Standards & Syllabi Directory (Advanced Instructor Module)
In order to understand and use this part of the Advanced Instructor Module effec-
tively, it is necessary to grasp three key concepts. Additional information can be
found in the discussion of Knowledge Space theory (See Chapter 10).
Item
An item is a fundamental unit of knowledge or ability recognized by the system.
An example of an item in Behavioral Science Statistics is “Frequency Bar
Graphs and Polygons.” Every subject covered by ALEKS corresponds to
a set of items, each of which can be tested and taught by the system. Mastery
of the subject means mastery of each of the items making up the subject.
Syllabus
A syllabus is a subset of the set of items belonging to a subject that has
been defined as the goal for a particular course. For example, a syllabus for
Behavioral Science Statistics is a set of items that students completing the
course are expected to master. All assessment reports by the ALEKS system
are based on some syllabus selected by instructors or administrators for use by
those students. The ALEKS Syllabus Editor is provided to permit instructors
8.2. NAVIGATION AND USE 109
Under “Standards & Syllabi,” users of the Advanced Instructor Module can navigate
through a hierarchical listing of the standards currently available and the syllabi
contained by them. Standards and syllabi can be copied. Users with appropriate
levels of privilege can enter the Syllabus Editor to create new syllabi based on
existing ones, possibly leading to the creation of new standards.
Access to directories under “Standards & Syllabi” is the same for all levels of user
privilege, instructor and above. Any user of the Advanced Instructor Module may
navigate through all directories and make copies of all available standards and syl-
labi. Users, however, may change only those standards and directories which they
have themselves created (by copying existing ones), or those created by users within
their authority. This means, for a root administrator, any administrator or instruc-
tor under their administration; for a college administrator, it means any instructor
in the college. A user not within the authority of another given user has independent
authority. Standards and syllabi created by a user with independent authority may
not be changed. The privilege level of a particular user also determines where the
new standards and syllabi created by that user will be placed.
On choosing “Standards & Syllabi,” the user begins with a master directory
entitled “All Standards,” containing a list of all the standards available for that
system (Fig. 8.1).
On opening any of the listed standards, the user is presented with a list of the
levels covered by that standard.
On opening any of the levels listed for the given standard, the user will see a
list of the subjects covered for that level. At a minimum, there will be an
element entitled “Basic.” Each element in this list corresponds to a syllabus
available within the system.
110 CHAPTER 8. ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE: STANDARDS & SYLLABI
8.3 Buttons
The following buttons appear next to and beneath the navigation display in “Stand-
ards & Syllabi” (Fig. 8.1). The buttons are always visible; which buttons are active
at any given moment depends on what is selected in the navigation display.
Edit Standard
The selected standard must have been created (copied from another standard)
by the current user or by one within the authority of the current user. The basic
standards included with ALEKS and syllabi created by users with independent
authority cannot be changed, but they can be copied and the copies changed.
A standard is defined by designating its name, source (authority), and an
optional ID number. The “Enabled” button must be selected if the standard
is intended for use.
Edit Syllabus
This will open the selected syllabus for modification in the Syllabus Editor
(See Sec. 8.4). The selected syllabus must have been created (copied from
another syllabus) by the current user or by one within the authority of the
current user. Syllabi belonging to the basic standards included with ALEKS
and syllabi created by users with independent authority cannot be changed,
but they can be copied and the copies changed.
Copy/New Standard
If a standard is selected, this will make a copy of that standard, usually for
the purpose of establishing a new one based on it. If no standard is selected,
it creates a new, empty one.
Copy/New Syllabus
If a syllabus is selected, this will make a copy of that syllabus, usually for the
purpose of establishing a new one. If no syllabus is selected, it creates a new,
empty one. If a new standard has been created, the new syllabus will be placed
here.
Drag and drop. The syllabi may be copied between folders by dragging and
dropping them. Simply select the names of syllabi to be copied in the right-
hand side of the directories window and drag them to the target folder on the
left. You will see the target folder become highlighted when the syllabus is
ready to “drop.”
In order to make changes to syllabi that have been copied, users must select the new
syllabus and click on the “Edit Syllabus” button (or double-click on the icon for
8.4. SYLLABUS EDITOR 111
that syllabus). This gives access to the ALEKS Syllabus Editor for that syllabus.
Although the Syllabus Editor is always entered under the heading “Standards &
Syllabi,” it has its own, distinctive interface appearing beneath the “Standards &
Syllabi” directory.
The Syllabus Editor displays items for the given subject, organized in folders by
general topic. To see items you must open all folders in which they are contained.
Items are labeled by name and topic, and indicate whether or not they belong to the
current syllabus by a checkmark (Fig. 8.2). If a new syllabus is created by copying
another syllabus, precisely the same items are selected in it as in the original. If the
syllabus is created from scratch, no items in it are selected.
NOTE. If a folder is marked with a large checkmark, this means that all items in
that folder currently belong to the syllabus. A small checkmark means that some
of the items in that folder belong to the syllabus. No checkmark means no items in
that folder belong to the syllabus.
Clicking on the tiny “x” in the upper right-hand corner of the directory window
creates a single window and makes it possible to view all the items at once (click on
“Open All”).
112 CHAPTER 8. ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE: STANDARDS & SYLLABI
8.4.1 Fields
The following fields appear above and below the editor display, and should be filled
in as needed in creating or editing a syllabus.
Standard
The standard to which this syllabus belongs.
Status
Should be set to “enabled” if the syllabus is to be available for use.
Parser
The name of the person creating or modifying the syllabus (and so responsible
for selection of items). To parse in this sense means to establish functional
relationships between all elements of a sequence; the parser is making all items
for the subject either members or nonmembers of the syllabus.
ID
Optional identification number.
8.4.2 Buttons
Open All
Shows all folders in the editor display. This gives a complete picture of the
topical structure of the subject matter.
Undo
Undoes the most recent editing action (the addition or removal of an item).
To define a syllabus, the instructor must first ascertain which of the items in the
complete list of items making up the subject matter are to belong to this syllabus.
This should be a thoughtful decision, usually made within an appropriate institu-
tional framework. If a particular source is used for defining a syllabus, the source
should be recorded in the standard containing the new syllabus, and should be doc-
umented externally as justification for the decision to adopt the given syllabus. If
the course is part of a sequence, the syllabi for the other courses in this sequence
will normally be defined together with it as part of a single progression.
Once the list of items to be included has been established, the instructor responsible
for editing the syllabus examines each of the displayed items. There should be a
8.4. SYLLABUS EDITOR 113
checkmark before each item to be included, and no checkmark before items that
are not to be included. A checkmark is added or removed by clicking once on the
checkbox. Following this, click on the “Save” button to record the syllabus.
NOTE. ALEKS always maintains the coherence of its syllabi; any ALEKS syl-
labus must contain all of the items within the domain needed to learn the items it
contains. If an item being added to the syllabus has prerequisite items not belong-
ing to the syllabus, these will be automatically added as well; conversely, if an item
being removed from the syllabus is a prerequisite item for some items presently in
the syllabus, these will also be removed. The Syllabus Editor warns when this is
occurring.
114 CHAPTER 8. ADVANCED INSTRUCTOR MODULE: STANDARDS & SYLLABI
Chapter 9
ALEKS is based on the realization that students learn statistics 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 Course Progress
page 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.
115
116 CHAPTER 9. TEACHING WITH ALEKS
will be greatly expanded, as will the freedom to teach a broader and richer statistics
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.
Not every way of using ALEKS involves supervised classroom sessions. When this
is sensible, however, it provides a new dimension to the students’ learning.
It is important, especially in the early stages of an ALEKS course, that the in-
structor 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. 9.3.).
Students will be assessed at the beginning of their use of ALEKS (following Reg-
istration 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 vari-
ous times and locations. Once the students realize that the purpose of the ALEKS
9.3. PLANNING THE ALEKS COURSE 117
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 assess-
ment 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. 9.11). 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. 9.15).
At the same time, it is extremely important to make ALEKS an integral part of the
course requirements and grading scheme. There is no other single factor which in-
fluences the success of students using ALEKS so much as the time that they spend
on the system, along with the regularity of their use. This means that the students
must be required to spend a suitable amount of time in ALEKS on a weekly basis,
say 2-4 hours, that they must be informed of this at the very beginning of the course,
and that the instructor must monitor their fulfillment of this obligation. Moreover,
the amount of time required must be carefully determined to be reasonable, and in
balance with other requirements for the course. The instructor should not simply
118 CHAPTER 9. TEACHING WITH ALEKS
Obviously these are only suggestions, and experienced instructors may well choose
approaches that will be more effective with their own students. The underlying idea
is that there must be clear, formal support for the use of ALEKS, however that
support is best implemented in a particular setting.
Many instructors have found that in order for the ALEKS requirement to be mean-
ingful, it may beneficially be made part of the grading system or system of rewards
for the course. The simplest approach is to provide a certain number of points to-
ward the final grade for each week that the student fulfills their required hours. It
is advisable to reward each week, so that the student does not fall into the expec-
tation that all of the required hours can be done at the end; consistency should be
rewarded, along with total hours. If a student falls short of the specified hours dur-
ing a particular week, that week is not rewarded, but neither is the “deficit” carried
forward; the next week begins with a clean slate (the primary concern is regular use
of the system; for this reason a surplus is also not carried forward). Proportional
rewards are also possible; each hour spent has a point value, up to the required
minimum.
In order to effectively monitor the students’ use, the instructor should check the
hours on the “Learning progress since latest assessment” page (under “Reporting”).
This page can be printed out every week for record-keeping. In very rare cases, stu-
dents will try to fool ALEKS by logging on to their accounts and doing something
else; this can be detected by noticing that the number of items gained per hour is
far too low (or null). ALEKS will log the student off if there is no activity after
a certain amount of time. Instructors can obtain a precise record of a student’s
actual work in ALEKS by viewing the student’s Report (“Reporting”/“Report for
a single student in this course (pie chart)”), under “Learning Log.”
The students’ achievement in ALEKS (as opposed to their use of the system) may
also be used as a component in their final grade. For information on how to do this
please see Sec. 9.15.
9.4. PREPARING YOUR STUDENTS 119
Computer Skills
Some students who have had little experience with computers may need assist-
ance with the use of the mouse and, in particular, with “scrolling” the window
of a web browser. We highly recommend that you demonstrate these skills to
the students before beginning their use of ALEKS. If possible, additional staff
should be on hand for the first session to assist the students as necessary.
Difficulty of Assessment Questions
The ALEKS assessment is always comprehensive in order to achieve the high-
est degree of accuracy and reliability. In the course of the assessment, some
questions may be too easy or too difficult for some students. The students
should be told to click the “I don’t know” button if a question is completely
unfamiliar to them, but otherwise that they should do their best to answer.
As the assessment proceeds, the questions will focus more and more closely on
the outer limits of the student’s actual knowledge. In Learning Mode (follow-
ing assessment), students will be provided only material that they are ideally
prepared to learn.
Length of Assessments
The number of questions asked in an ALEKS assessment varies. Normally an
assessment in Behavioral Science Statistics requires between 20 and 30 ques-
tions. Occasionally, the number of questions asked may be greater than this.
No Help in Assessments
Explain to the students that they will need to use paper and pencil for an-
swering assessment questions, but that no help or collaboration whatsoever is
permitted during assessment. If the teacher or anyone else helps the student
during assessment, even to the extent of explaining or rephrasing a question,
assessment results may be inaccurate and the student’s learning in ALEKS
may initially be hindered. Be sure they understand that the purpose of the
initial assessment is to give ALEKS a precise, detailed understanding of what
a student knows, so as to render learning very efficient by focusing on what the
student is ready to learn. It is not a “test” that one can pass or fail. They will
not receive a grade on an ALEKS assessment.
The features of the Instructor Module make it possible to prepare students for spe-
cific topics that they are going to work on, and to reinforce and expand on knowledge
that students have recently acquired. This involves either guiding lectures or focused
instruction to small groups of students based on data obtained from ALEKS. From
the instructor’s viewpoint, these are powerful features of ALEKS, and their use
constitutes a proactive integration of ALEKS with the course structure.
120 CHAPTER 9. TEACHING WITH ALEKS
The two kinds of “teaching opportunities” cued by ALEKS come from two types of
information maintained by the system for students over the entire time that they use
it: the set of items a student is “ready to learn” (or “outer fringe” of the student’s
knowledge state), and the set of items most recently learned (“what students can
do,” the “highest” topics in the student’s knowledge state, called the “inner fringe”)
(See Sec. 10.2.4). The items “ready to learn” are the topics a student may normally
choose to work on in ALEKS; the items recently learned (“what a student can
do”) are considered the least secure and most likely to need review or reinforcement.
(These items may be made available for review by clicking “Review”; if a student has
difficulty in the Learning Mode, this “inner fringe” will be substituted for the “outer
fringe” or topics “ready to learn.”) When the students are logged on to ALEKS
these two kinds of information are used automatically to guide and manage their
learning. The instructor, however, can also view the inner and outer fringes in a
convenient format to plan focused instruction that will parallel, supplement, and
enhance the individual work that their students are doing in ALEKS.
To find this information for a course, the instructor should enter the Instructor Mod-
ule and click “Reporting,” the name of the course, then “Average report (piechart).”
The piechart in Average report represents the average student in the given course,
and displays the weaknesses and strengths of the course as a whole. To see the outer
and inner fringes of the group we need to use options from the “Display mode” menu:
“Ready to learn,” and “What students can do.”
Suppose we choose the option “Ready to learn (learning)” from the menu “Display
Mode.” This will summarize the topics that all of the students in the course are
currently ready to learn; the parenthesis “(learning)” indicates that the information
is based on their most recent work in the Learning Mode, and so completely current.
For each topic the number of students ready to learn that topic appears to the right
(e.g., “12 students”); clicking on that phrase displays the students’ names, whereas
clicking on “Show All” displays all the students’ names for all of the topics. For
each topic-list, there is a link to send a message to precisely those students. The
purpose of this analysis is that the instructor may pick one or more topics from the
list and schedule small-group sessions preparing the named students to learn them
more effectively.
Now suppose we choose “What students can do (learning)” from the menu “Display
Mode.” Another list of topics will be produced; the students listed for these topics,
however, are those who have recently worked on and, at least tentatively, learned
the topics. Thus, the instructor can schedule focused sessions with these groups
of students to reinforce or expand on material that may be presumed fresh in the
students’ minds, on which they are likely to have the most questions and ideas.
This gives the instructor the possibility of always teaching to students who are
ideally prepared. It suggests a mode of teaching to the moment of opportunity, if
you will (“kairotic” teaching, for fans of ancient Greek), and generalizes individual
9.5. FOCUSED INSTRUCTION WITH ALEKS 121
learning to small groups of learners at specific times; obviously, the data obtained
for this purpose from ALEKS on one day will be of considerably less value if used
a week later.
It may be useful to look at some examples illustrating how these features may be
used. If you have not used the ALEKS Instructor Module extensively, don’t be
troubled if some of this seems difficult. It will make more sense as you have more
experience using ALEKS as a teaching tool.
Example 1: Basic
On a Friday evening, the instructor sits down to plan lessons for the following
week. He or she logs onto ALEKS, selects the name of a course in Behavioral
Science Statistics, and clicks “Report.” A piechart appears showing the aver-
age profile of mastery in the course. The “slice” of the piechart for Random
Variables is full to about 90 percent; the slices for Inferential Statistics, Dis-
tributions, and Descriptive Statistics are filled much less, ranging between 20
and 40 percent. This indicates that lessons for the week may focus profitably
on Inferential Statistics, Distributions, and Descriptive Statistics.
Example 2: Intermediate
On a weekend afternoon, the instructor logs on to ALEKS, clicks “Reporting,”
then the name of a course in Behavioral Science Statistics, and then “Average
report (pie chart).” After a look at the piechart, the instructor selects “Ready
to learn (learning)” from the “Display Mode” menu, and clicks “Graph.” When
the list of topics appears, the instructor scans this list for items of particular
difficulty. There it is! “Confidence Interval for the Population Mean” has 16
students currently able to choose this topic from their piecharts. The instructor
notes this topic down for class discussion early in the week. With the bene-
fit of some timely preparation, the students can be expected to master this
troublesome topic with little or no difficulty.
Example 3: Advanced
On a Monday morning, the instructor logs on to his or her ALEKS account,
clicks “Reporting,” then the name of a course in Behavioral Science Statistics,
and then “Average report (pie chart).” Following this the instructor switches,
first, to the option for “Ready to learn (learning)” and clicks the ALEKS
Print button. Even if “Open All” was not clicked the page will be displayed
with all lists of students’ names displayed. Then, the instructor switches to
the option for “What students can do (learning),” and, again, clicks the Print
button. With these two printouts in hand, the instructor is ready to begin
planning. At this point, a great deal depends on the experience and expertise
of the instructor, if the information is to be used to best advantage. Suppose
that there is only time in the week’s schedule for two small-group sessions.
(The ALEKS class has only one hour in the lab, and ten minutes are set
aside to speak with each small group; the remaining 40 minutes are for helping
122 CHAPTER 9. TEACHING WITH ALEKS
students in the lab.) The instructor will look over the topics with two questions
in mind: which topics have the greatest numbers of students, and which are
pedagogically most worth discussing.
For example, looking at the list of topics “Ready to learn,” the instructor sees
“Ordering Scatter Diagrams by Increasing Correlation.” The instructor knows
from experience that students have difficulty with the concept, and that they
are more successful with it if they have had a chance to review. This topic has
12 students out of 30 in the class, so it has critical mass. The instructor uses
the message feature to send a note to these students, asking them to meet in
the front of the room at the beginning of the lab; the students will receive this
note the next time they log on to ALEKS, no later than the beginning of that
lab.
There are numerous ways in which ALEKS can be and is used in concrete educa-
tional situations.
Regardless of which approach is used, you can derive more benefit from ALEKS
though monitoring the students’ use of ALEKS and communicating with them,
whether in direct contact, by email, or by messages through the ALEKS system.
As discussed above, we recommend that a certain number of hours in ALEKS each
week be required (See Sec. 9.2); this should be made clear from the start as part
of the published course syllabus and rewarded appropriately through the grading
scheme. Students’ progress in ALEKS should be recognized and reinforced early on
by informal, personal praise; conversely, students who do not seem to make adequate
progress should be contacted promptly, the cause of their difficulty determined and
remedied.
The following sections of this chapter provide more information on these issues
affecting the classroom use and integration of ALEKS.
The instructor can also use the bar graphs to see how close each student is to mastery
of the subject matter on the Course Progress page. It should be kept in mind that
the bar graphs displayed on this page show only the students’ achievement as of
their last assessment (in blue) and any progress made in the Learning Mode since
that assessment (in green). For a more panoramic view of the progress made by a
group, select “Overall progress in assessment.” This displays the difference between
124 CHAPTER 9. TEACHING WITH ALEKS
the students’ knowledge as of their first assessment and that demonstrated on their
most recent assessment.
To see each of the assessments for a given student, with that student’s progress
subsequent to each assessment in the Learning Mode, the instructor should view
the page “Progress report for a single student in this course” for the student.
On the page “Progress report for a single student in this course” there is a line for
each assessment taken by a particular student, with bar graphs showing mastery as
of that assessment and subsequent progress made in the Learning Mode. The initial
assessment is shown in the bottom line, with later assessments “stacked” upward.
By following progression from earlier to later assessments, the instructor can see
very clearly how a student is progressing toward mastery of the subject matter.
NOTE. In cases where a student moves backward in his or her mastery, the in-
structor should make individual contact with the student. This student may be
experiencing a personal problem, there may have been third-party help on an initial
assessment, or there may be other external factors affecting the situation.
For example, when a student completes the subject matter for a course whose syl-
labus corresponds to Basic Math, the instructor should unenroll that student from
Basic Math in ALEKS and reenroll the student in a new course whose topic is set
to Algebra. If no such course exists, it should be created so that the student is not
prevented from making further progress.
It is possible to define courses within the ALEKS system in such a way that they
include all subjects that the students are likely to begin learning before the end of
the actual school course (e.g., Basic Math & Algebra). This has the advantage that
no students need to be moved from one ALEKS “course” to another. On the other
hand, the experience of completing a subject and being “graduated” to another
one is rewarding for the student. We recommend maximizing the opportunities for
highlighting achievement in this way.
Following the initial assessment (which should be taken under the instructor’s su-
pervision), the ALEKS system will automatically schedule any other assessments
needed for correctly informing and guiding a student’s progress. The instructor,
however, can order an individual or group assessment at any time. It is a good
practice for the instructor to schedule supervised assessments at regular intervals
(midterm and end of the course), as “snapshots” of overall course achievement. As-
sessments may be ordered more frequently if the instructor feels that there has been
third-party help on some automatic assessments, producing invalid results.
Each ALEKS subject, such as Behavioral Science Statistics, has a knowledge struc-
ture associated with it. The knowledge structure for Behavioral Science Statistics,
for example, is covered by about 150 ALEKS items (or problem types). A knowl-
edge state is a subset of items which may correspond to the knowledge of an actual
student (i.e., there may be a student who has mastered exactly those items, and
no others). A knowledge structure is the family of all the knowledge states that we
may encounter for a given subject. In the case of Behavioral Science Statistics, the
knowledge structure contains about 75,000 knowledge states.
The structure is also crucial in the ALEKS Learning Mode. Using the structure of
Behavioral Science Statistics, for example, the system knows precisely which items
are in the inner fringe and outer fringe of each of the over 75,000 knowledge states
in ALEKS for Behavioral Science Statistics. The items in the outer fringe of a
student’s knowledge state are those items that the student is the most ready to
learn next. (From a technical standpoint an item is in the outer fringe of a state
if adding that item to the state results in a feasible knowledge state.) These items
are presented to the student in MyPie when the student moves the mouse pointer
over the ALEKS piechart. Similarly, an item in the inner fringe of a student’s state
is an item either recently learned or one whose mastery by the student might be
shaky. (Technically, an item is in the inner fringe of a state if removing that item
from the state results in another feasible knowledge state.) They are presented to
the student when the student is having difficulty in the ALEKS Learning Mode
and during ALEKS review.
Instructors do not need to create or modify the syllabus in order to use ALEKS.
Every subject has a comprehensive default, which will be in effect without any
actions on the instructor’s part.
In some cases it may be desirable to modify the syllabus used for a particular group
of students. Extensive creation and modification of Standards and Syllabi is possible
in the ALEKS Advanced Instructor Module (See Chapter 8). Please keep in mind
the following points regarding the use of syllabi in ALEKS:
ALEKS also provides a facility for creating multiple sets of syllabi within a single
course (See Sec. 7.22). The Intermediate Objectives feature makes it possible to
prioritize particular sets of items for particular periods of time, by constraining
the choices available to the students. When Intermediate Objectives have been set,
students will be guided to these items by the shortest possible path. Items that they
are ready to learn, but are not on the shortest path to the Intermediate Objectives,
with be “grayed out”; they will appear in the students’ piecharts, but the students
will not be able to choose them.
ALEKS allows instructors to flexibly evaluate and interpret student learning. There
are four criteria, which can be used in any combination: percentage of course goals
mastered, total hours spent in ALEKS, average items gained per hour of use, and
average number of items gained per week of use. Each can be set to “Private,” so
that only the instructor sees the evaluations, to “Public,” so that the instructor sees
the evaluations for all students, and each student sees their own, or to “Disabled,”
so that no one sees them.
For detailed instructions on the use of the learning rates feature, see Section 7.24.
128 CHAPTER 9. TEACHING WITH ALEKS
The same proviso applies to the other kinds of evaluations available through ALEKS.
The value of using these evaluations in the “Public” mode may be greatly enhanced
if the instructor decides to set a new scale every week, or at other appropriate in-
tervals. This might mean, for example, that A is set to 20 percent for the first
week, to 25 percent for the second week, and so forth, with the other evaluations set
accordingly. Such a procedure requires more work by the instructor, but it certainly
gives the students a more meaningful frame of reference for their progress.
Some of the kinds of evaluations in ALEKS may be more useful for the instructor
alone than for the students. Such evaluations should be set to “Private.” The
evaluation based on average items gained per week, for example, might be set to
some minimum value like 3 (in a Behavioral Science Statistics class requiring 3
hours of work in ALEKS per week). Now, the instructor would not want to send
the message to the students that 3 items gained per week is “Enough,” since many
students in the course may be capable of much more. Conversely, a student whose
progress falls below this rate might not be helped by the stern notation in their
account that their progress is “Not enough”; the reasons for slow progress may be
varied. At the same time, a student making slower progress than this should be
brought to the instructor’s attention for intervention of some kind. If the evaluation
is set to “Private,” the instructor will see the flag “Not enough” appearing next to
the names of students whose progress is slower than this, on the Course Progress
page, alerting them to the need for special attention.
Chapter 10
10.1 History
Knowledge Space Theory has been under development since 1983 by Professor Jean-
Claude Falmagne, who is the Chairman and founder of ALEKS Corporation, and
other scientists (especially, Jean-Paul Doignon from Belgium) in the United States
and Europe.
ALEKS is the first computer system to embody Knowledge Space Theory for as-
sessment and teaching.
10.2 Theory
An exposition of Knowledge Space Theory is not intended here, nor is one necessary
for the purposes of this manual. Knowledge Space Theory is expressed in a math-
ematical discipline often referred to as “Combinatorics.” The Bibliography contains
a number of references for those interested in further details (See Sec. 10.3). What
follows here is a brief, intuitive summary introducing certain fundamental terms
employed in discussions of ALEKS.
129
130 CHAPTER 10. KNOWLEDGE SPACES AND THE THEORY BEHIND ALEKS
standing for items (Fig. 10.1). One of the items, which might be entitled “Word
Problem with Percentages,” is indicated by a line. The problem in the rectangle is
an instance of that item.
Determining the set of items that make up the domain is the first step in constructing
a “knowledge structure” for that domain. This is done by research in instructional
materials and standards and very systematic, painstaking consultation with instruc-
tors. Substantial agreement is achieved among expert pedagogues on the choice and
definition of items. The set of items finally arrived at and forming the domain must
be comprehensive, that is, it must cover all the concepts that are essential in the
particular academic discipline.
10.2. THEORY 131
The knowledge state of a student is represented by the set of items in the domain
that he or she is capable of solving under ideal conditions (Fig. 10.2). This means
that the student is not working under time pressure, is not impaired by emotional
turmoil of any kind, etc. In reality, careless errors may arise. Also, the correct
response to a question may occasionally be guessed by a subject lacking any real
understanding of the question asked. (This will occur very rarely when using the
ALEKS system, because multiple choice answers are not used.) In general, an
individual’s knowledge state is thus not directly observable, and has to be inferred
from the responses to the questions.
It should be intuitively obvious that not all possible subsets of the domain are
feasible knowledge states. For instance, every student having mastered “long di-
vision” would also have mastered “addition of decimal numbers.” Thus, there is
no knowledge state containing the “long division” item that does not also contain
the “addition of decimal numbers” item. The collection of all feasible knowledge
states is referred to as the knowledge structure. In the current implementation of
132 CHAPTER 10. KNOWLEDGE SPACES AND THE THEORY BEHIND ALEKS
ALEKS for Behavioral Science Statistics, the number of feasible knowledge states is
approximately 50,000. Thus, the knowledge structure for Behavioral Science Statis-
tics contains approximately 50,000 knowledge states. In order to assess a student
in Behavioral Science Statistics, ALEKS must find out by efficient questioning
which of these 50,000 states the student is in. This large number of states means
that there are many possible ways of acquiring knowledge, i.e., many learning paths
(Fig. 10.3). In the ALEKS knowledge structure there are literally billions of such
learning paths. A “knowledge space” is a particular kind of knowledge structure.
As in many real-life applications, “noise” and errors of various sorts often creep in,
which require the elaboration of a probabilistic theory. The ALEKS System is based
on such a probabilistic theory, which makes it capable of recovering elegantly from
any misconceptions. For instance, ALEKS is capable of deciding that a student
has mastered an item, even though the student has actually made an error when
presented with a problem instantiating this item. This is not mysterious: a sensible
examiner in an oral exam, observing an error to a question about addition would
nevertheless conclude that the student has mastered addition, for example, if that
student had given evidence of skillful manipulation of fractions.
10.2. THEORY 133
An item that has not yet been mastered by a student may not be immediately
learnable by that student. Learning one or more prerequisite items may be necessary.
Consider a student in a particular knowledge state K. The set of all items that may
be learned immediately by a student in that state K is called the outer fringe of the
state K. More precisely, an item is in the outer fringe of the state K if the addition of
that item to the state K forms a new, feasible knowledge state (Fig. 10.4). Typically,
the outer fringe of a knowledge state will contain between one and a few items.
Similarly, an item is in the inner fringe of a state K if there is some other knowledge
state to which that item may be added to form state K (Fig. 10.5). The inner fringe
of a state K is thus defined as the set of all items which may have been the last one
learned.
These two concepts of inner and outer fringes are used in powerful ways in the
Learning Mode of the ALEKS system. For example, the system always offers a
student problems to solve that are based on items in the outer fringe of his or her
state. If ALEKS judges that a student is experiencing difficulties in learning some
new item, ALEKS typically reviews the mastery of items in the inner fringe of the
student’s state that are also related to the new item to be learned.
134 CHAPTER 10. KNOWLEDGE SPACES AND THE THEORY BEHIND ALEKS
10.2.5 Assessment
How can ALEKS uncover, by efficient questioning, the particular knowledge state
of a student? While the details of ALEKS’s method for achieving such a goal
are technical, the guiding intuition is commonsensical. At every moment of an
assessment, ALEKS chooses a question to be “as informative as possible.” In our
context, this means a question which the student has, in the system’s estimate,
about a 50 percent chance of getting right. The student’s response (correct or false)
determines a change in all the likelihood values: for instance, if the question involved
a manipulation of fractions, and the student’s response was correct, then all the
knowledge states containing this item would have their likelihood values increased.
The specific way the questions are chosen and the likelihood values altered makes it
possible for ALEKS to pinpoint the student’s state quite accurately in a relatively
short time. In Behavioral Science Statistics, for example, approximately 20–30
questions often suffice.
Finally, it should be noted that the assessment report given to students, instructors,
and administrators is a very precise summary of the student’s knowledge state. If the
structure is known, the outer fringe and inner fringe together completely define the
student’s knowledge state. Internally, the system registers the student’s knowledge
or non-knowledge of each item in the domain.
Albert, D., editor. (1994). Knowledge Structures. Springer Verlag, New York, 1994.
Albert, D. & Lukas, J., editors. (1999). Knowledge Spaces: Theories, Empirical
Research, Applications. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ, 1999.
Brandt, S., Albert, D., & Hockemeyer, C. (1999). Surmise relations between tests
- preliminary results of the mathematical modelling. Electronic Notes in Discrete
Mathematics, 2, 1999.
Degreef, E., Doignon J.-P., Ducamp A., & Falmagne J.-C. (1986). Languages for the
assessment of knowledge. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 30, 243-256, 1986.
Doignon, J.-P. & Falmagne, J.-C. (1985). Spaces for the assessment of knowledge.
International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 23, 175-196, 1985.
Doignon, J.-P. & Falmagne, J.-C. (1987). Knowledge assessment: A set theoretical
framework. In B. Ganter, R. Wille, & K.E. Wolfe, editors, Beiträge zur Begriffs-
136 CHAPTER 10. KNOWLEDGE SPACES AND THE THEORY BEHIND ALEKS
Doignon, J.-P. & Falmagne, J.-C. (1997). Well-graded families of relations. Discrete
Mathematics, 173, 35-44, 1997.
Doignon, J.-P. & Falmagne, J.-C. (1999) Knowledge Spaces. Springer-Verlag, 1999.
Doignon, J.-P. & Falmagne, J.-C., editors. (1991). Mathematical Psychology: Cur-
rent Developments. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1991.
Dowling, C.E. (1993). Applying the basis of knowledge space for controlling the
questioning of an expert. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 37, 21-48, 1993.
Dowling, C., Hockemeyer, C., & Ludwig, A. (1996). Adaptive assessment and train-
ing using the neighbourhood of knowledge states. In Claude Frasson, Gilles Gau-
thier, & Alan Lesgold, editors, Intelligent Tutoring Systems, volume 1086 of Lecture
Notes in Computer Science, pp. 578-586, Berlin, 1996. Springer Verlag.
Dowling, C., Roberts, F., & Theuns, P., editors. (1998). Recent Progress in Math-
ematical Psychology. Scientific Psychology Series. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
Ltd., Hillsdale, USA, 1998.
Düntsch, I. & Gediga, G. (1995). Skills and knowledge structures. British Journal
10.3. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 137
Falmagne, J.-C. (1989). A latent trait theory via stochastic learning theory for a
knowledge space. Psychometrika, 54, 283-303, 1989.
Falmagne, J.-C. & Doignon, J.-P. (1988). A class of stochastic procedures for the as-
sessment of knowledge. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology,
41, 1-23, 1988.
Falmagne, J.-C. & Doignon, J.-P. (1988). A markovian procedure for assessing the
state of a system. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 32, 232-258, 1988.
Falmagne, J.-C. & Doignon, J.-P. (1993). A stochastic theory for system failure
assessment. In B. Bouchon-Meunier, L. Valverde, & R.R. Yager, editors, Uncertainty
in Intelligent Systems, pp. 431-440. North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1993.
Falmagne, J.-C. & Doignon, J.-P. (1997). Stochastic evolution of rationality. Theory
and Decision, 43, 107-138, 1997.
Falmagne, J.-C. & Doignon, J.-P. (1998). Meshing knowledge structures. In Dowl-
ing, C., Roberts, F., & Theuns, P., editors, Recent Progress in Mathematical Psy-
chology, Scientific Psychology Series, pp. 143-153. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
Ltd., Hillsdale, USA, 1998.
Falmagne, J.-C., Koppen, M., Villano, M., Doignon, J.-P. & Johannesen, L. (1990).
Introduction to knowledge spaces: How to build, test and search them. Psychological
138 CHAPTER 10. KNOWLEDGE SPACES AND THE THEORY BEHIND ALEKS
Hockemeyer, C. (1997). Using the basis of a knowledge space for determining the
fringe of a knowledge state. Journal of Mathematical psychology, 41, 275-279, 1997.
Hockemeyer, C., Albert, D., & Brandt, S. (1998). Surmise relations between courses.
Journal of Mathematical psychology, 42, 508, 1998. Abstract of a talk presented at
the 29th EMPG meeting, Keele, UK, September 1998.
Kambouri, M., Koppen, M., Villano, M. & Falmagne, J.-C. (1991). Knowledge
assessment: Tapping human expertise. Irvine Research Unit in Mathematical Be-
havioral Sciences. University of California, 1991.
Kambouri, M., Koppen, M., Villano, M., & Falmagne, J.-C. (1994). Knowledge
assessment: tapping human expertise by the QUERY routine. International Journal
of Human-Computer-Studies, 40, 119-151, 1994.
Koppen, M. & Doignon, J.-P. (1990). How to build a knowledge space by querying
an expert. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 34, 311-331, 1990.
Lukas, J. & Albert, D. (1993). Knowledge assessment based on skill assignment and
psychological task analysis. In Strube, G. and Wender, K., editors, The Cognitive
Psychology of Knowledge, volume 101 of Advances in Psychology, pp. 139-160.
North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1993.
Rusch, A. & Wille, R. (1996). Knowledge spaces and formal concept analysis. In
Hans-Hermann Bock and Wolfgang Polasek, editors, Data Analysis and Information
Systems, Studies in Classification, Data Analysis, & Knowledge Organization, pp.
427-436, Berlin, Germany, 1996. Springer-Verlag.
10.3. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 139
Schrepp, M. & Held, T. (1995). A simulation study concerning the effect of errors on
the establishment of knowledge spaces by querying experts. Journal of Mathematical
psychology, 39, 376-382, 1995.
Strube, G. & Wender, K., editors. (1993). The Cognitive Psychology of Knowledge,
volume 101 of Advances in Psychology. Elsevier, 1993.
Suck, R. (1998). Ordering orders. Mathematical Social Sciences, 36, 91-104, 1998.
Suck, R. (1998). The basis of a knowledge space and a generalized interval order.
Electronic Notes in Discrete Mathematics, 2, 1999. Abstract of a Talk presented at
the OSDA98, Amherst, MA, September 1998.
Taagepera, M., Potter, F., Miller, G., & Lakshminarayan, K. (1997). Mapping
students thinking patterns by the use of knowledge space theory. International
Journal of Science Education, 19, 283-302, 1997.
Villano, M., Falmagne, J.-C., Johannsen, L., & Doignon, J.-P. (1987). Stochastic
procedures for assessing an individual’s state of knowledge. In Proceedings of the
International Conference on Computer-assisted Learning in Post-Secondary Educa-
tion, Calgary 1987, pp. 369-371, Calgary, 1987. University of Calgary Press.
140 CHAPTER 10. KNOWLEDGE SPACES AND THE THEORY BEHIND ALEKS
11.1 General
What is ALEKS?
ALEKS is the new way to learn a variety of subjects, from Math to Statistics to
Accounting on the World Wide Web. By knowing exactly which math concepts
the student has mastered, which are shaky, and which are new but within reach,
ALEKS enables the student to work on those concepts the student is most ready
to learn. ALEKS is a full-time automated tutor, including explanations, practice
and feedback. ALEKS closely interacts with the student, continuously updating
its precise map of the student’s knowledge state. ALEKS combines the advantages
of one-on-one instruction and evaluation with the convenience of being on-call, on
your computer, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The cost of ALEKS is a small
fraction of the cost of a human tutor.
What makes ALEKS different?
A great many important differences exist between ALEKS and other kinds of
“educational software,” including its finely individualized instructional features,
easy access over the World Wide Web, its rigorous and comprehensive educational
content, and its course-management module for instructors and administrators. A
critical difference is the capacity of ALEKS for efficient, precise, comprehensive,
and qualitative assessment. This not only makes it a valuable tool for monitoring
educational progress, but also enables it to provide students with the material they
are most able to learn at a particular time. This means that the students are given
neither material that they have already mastered nor material that they are not
well suited to work on yet because some prerequisites have yet to be learned.
ALEKS is a self-contained learning environment, with complete sets of practice
and explanatory units needed for the subjects that it covers. The units may also
be referenced or linked to textbooks for extended treatment of mathematical con-
cepts. There is an online student dictionary for any subject accessed by clicking
on underlined terms (hypertext links), and a diagnostic feedback facility that, in
141
142 CHAPTER 11. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
many cases, is able to explain the nature of misunderstandings and errors made
by students.
For instructors, ALEKS offers a complete administrative and monitoring facil-
ity through which individual and group progress can be checked, standards can
be established, enrollment managed, and messages exchanged. ALEKS can be
configured for use with diverse educational standards.
ALEKS is not a game or “edutainment.” It is an automated educational tool
with robust, carefully-designed features for both learners and educators.
What are the parts or “modules” of ALEKS?
The principal “modules” of ALEKS are the Assessment Mode, in which stu-
dent knowledge is rigorously assessed, the Learning Mode, where students work
on mastering specific concepts, the Instructor Module, in which instructors and
administrators are able to monitor student progress and carry out administrative
functions, and the Administrator Module, which permits management and moni-
toring of an arbitrary number of separate institutions, such as those making up a
multi-campus community college system. There is also a Tutorial (which students
take once when first registering with the system), online help, a subject Diction-
ary, graphic display of assessment results and learning progress, and many other
features.
Why is ALEKS on the Internet?
ALEKS is available on the Internet so that a student who has registered with the
system can use it from any suitable computer, in a college, at home, or anywhere
else. Very little technical preparation must be done to use the system. All you need
is a self-installing, self-maintaining “plugin” obtained directly from the ALEKS
website for Behavioral Science Statistics. No disks, CD’s, peripherals, or backup
facilities are required. All data is kept on the ALEKS Corporation server.
11.2 Technical
PC Macintosh
Operating System Windows 95/98/2000/ME/XP/NT4.0+ MacOS 7.6.1+
Pentium 133+ MHz (166+ preferred),
Processor
Pentium II+
RAM Memory 32+ MB 32+ MB
Browser Netscape 4.5-4.8, 6.0+, Explorer 4.0+ Netscape 4.5-4.8
(6.0+, Explorer
5.2+ OS X only)
Modem Speed 28+ kbps 28+ kbps
11.3. THEORY 143
Your browser should be configured with Java enabled. Both Netscape and Internet
Explorer usually ship with Java. You can also install Sun Microsystems’ Java
VM, version 1.4.1+, which can be obtained from Sun.
Note that any of the kinds of direct connection (cable, ISDN, DSL) that are typical
in computer labs are adequate for use with ALEKS. If your computer lab has secu-
rity safeguards in place, you will need the cooperation of your LAN administrator,
system administrator, or lab technician to install the ALEKS plugin.
If you have America Online 4.0 you will have to upgrade to America Online 5.0 or
higher in order to use ALEKS. You can upgrade from AOL.
Where can I get more information on ALEKS? How can I try out the
system?
The ALEKS website for Behavioral Science Statistics provides complete informa-
tion on the ALEKS system, including a Quick Tour, Guest registration, licensing,
history and theory, and technical support.
http://www.behsci.aleks.com
11.3 Theory
What is the theory behind ALEKS?
[Chapter 10] [Sec. 10.3] ALEKS is based on a field of Cognitive Science (Math-
ematical Psychology) called “Knowledge Spaces.” The purpose of research in
Knowledge Spaces is to model human knowledge in any subject, using math-
ematical tools such as Set Theory, Combinatorics, and Markovian Processes, so
as to make possible fast and accurate assessment through interactive computer
applications. There are numerous scientific publications in the field of Knowledge
Spaces dating back to the early 1980’s. A recent, authoritative treatment (with
Bibliography) is Doignon & Falmagne, Knowledge Spaces (Springer-Verlag, 1999).
What is an “item”?
[Sec. 10.2.1] In Knowledge Space theory, an “item” is a concept or skill to be
learned, the mastery of which is captured by a “problem type” serving as the basis
for specific assessment and practice problems. Thus the item “addition of two-digit
numbers without carry” might produce the problem (instance) “What is 25 plus
11?”
What is a “domain”?
[Sec. 10.2.1] In Knowledge Space theory, a “domain” is the set of all items making
up a particular subject matter, such as Behavioral Science Statistics. A learner
is considered to have mastered the domain when that learner can solve problems
corresponding to all the items in the domain.
What is a “knowledge state”?
[Sec. 10.2.2] In Knowledge Space theory, a “knowledge state” is the set of items
belonging to a domain that a learner has mastered at some point in time. We speak
144 CHAPTER 11. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is the relationship between the Assessment Mode and the Learning
Mode in ALEKS?
The Assessment and Learning Modes work together in a cyclical fashion, beginning
with the initial assessment. A student is assessed, and the results of the assessment
serve as a basis for the student’s entry into the Learning Mode (the student works
on concepts that the assessment showed that student most “ready to learn”). After
a certain time in the Learning Mode, during which the results of the previous
assessment are tentatively updated according to whether the student masters or
fails to master new concepts, the student is reassessed and the cycle begins again.
In this sense, ALEKS is an interactive learning system guided and powered by
ongoing diagnostic assessment.
Support
http://www.behsci.aleks.com
behsci-support@aleks.com
by telephone:
or by fax:
(714) 245-7190
In reporting problems and seeking support, please make a photocopy of the form
provided and gather complete information as a preliminary to contacting us (See
Sec. 12.1). This will help us to resolve any difficulties as quickly and completely as
possible. Instructors should have their students fill out these forms for problems that
occur in accessing ALEKS from home. In many cases the information provided by
students should enable instructors or supervisors to resolve the problems themselves.
149
150 CHAPTER 12. SUPPORT
If this is not possible, the instructor should contact ALEKS Corporation with all
relevant information.
NOTE. We ask that students using ALEKS not contact us directly, but approach
their instructors first. It is hoped that the information in this Instructor’s Manual
will enable instructors to answer many of their students’ questions.
We also welcome any and all comments and feedback on ALEKS. Here is our
mailing address:
ALEKS Corporation
Higher Education Customer Support
400 North Tustin Avenue, Suite 300
Santa Ana, CA 92705
12.1. FORM FOR REPORTING PROBLEMS 151
A.1 Preface
Welcome to ALEKS! You are about to discover one of the most powerful educa-
tional tools available for learning Behavioral Science Statistics. Combining advanced
learning technology with the flexibility of the World Wide Web, the ALEKS sys-
tem provides a “smart” interactive tutoring system with unmatched features and
capabilities. Richly supplied with illustrations and reference materials, ALEKS
constantly challenges you and supplies extensive feedback on what you have accom-
plished. ALEKS will always help you select the ideal topic to work on now. That
way you learn concepts in the order that’s best for you. ALEKS provides individ-
ualized, one-on-one instruction that fits your schedule. It is available wherever you
access the Web.
ALEKS was developed with support from the National Science Foundation. It
is based on a field of Mathematical Cognitive Science called “Knowledge Spaces.”
The purpose of research in Knowledge Spaces is to model human knowledge of any
subject for quick and precise assessment by interactive computer programs.
The ALEKS system is self-explanatory and includes online instructions and feed-
back. This booklet contains basic information to help you begin using ALEKS. In-
structors using ALEKS with their courses are provided with an Instructor’s Manual
containing complete information on the system’s operation. They should be able to
answer any questions beyond those dealt with in these pages.
NOTE. ALEKS is designed for use without help from a manual. Your
instructor will assist you in registering with the system and beginning
to use it. If questions arise, or if you want to learn more about ALEKS,
use this Guide. It is intended as a convenient and concise reference.
153
154 APPENDIX A. ALEKS STUDENT USER’S GUIDE
try the system as a guest.) Two or more persons cannot use the same
ALEKS account. The system will regard them as a single person and
give incorrect guidance.
PC Requirements
You can use ALEKS on any PC with a Pentium or equivalent (AMD, etc.)
processor of 133 MHz or more (166+ MHz preferred) or any Pentium II, III, or
later processor. At least 32 MB of RAM are required. Your operating system
must be Windows 95 / 98 / 2000 / ME / XP / NT4.0 or higher.
The following popular web browsers are compatible with ALEKS on PCs:
Netscape Communicator 4.5-4.8, 6.0 or higher, Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher.
Macintosh Requirements
ALEKS can be used on a PowerMac or iMac with at least 32 MB of RAM. If
your operating system is MacOS 7.6.1 or higher, you can use Netscape Com-
municator 4.5-4.8. If your operating system is MacOS X or higher, you can
also use Netscape Communicator 6.0 or higher and Internet Explorer 5.2 or
higher.
Internet Access
ALEKS is used over the World Wide Web. You must have an Internet connec-
tion by dialup modem (at least 28k) or any other kind of access to the Internet
(cable, ISDN, DSL, etc.).
America Online Subscribers
If you have America Online 4.0 you will have to upgrade to America Online
5.0 or higher in order to use ALEKS. You can upgrade from AOL.
Before You Begin. In order to register as an ALEKS user you need the
Access Code inside the back cover of this booklet. You also need a Course Code
provided by your instructor. When you register with the ALEKS system your
name is entered into the database and records of your progress are kept. If the
ALEKS plugin has not been installed on the computer being used for registration,
it will be installed automatically as part of this procedure.
http://www.behsci.aleks.com
A.3. REGISTRATION & INSTALLATION 155
NOTE. If you are typing this URL by hand, pay careful attention to the spelling
“aleks.” Also, the other ALEKS websites you might find using a search engine will
not work for you. You will be able to register only at the address given above.
For your convenience, add a “Bookmark” or “Favorite” at this location. This is the
site where you will log in to your account.
Step 3. You will see instructions for students and instructors registering with
ALEKS. Click on “Register” where it says “For Students” (on the left-hand side).
NOTE. If you do not have a current plugin, one will be installed. Do not interrupt
this process until a message appears saying that the installation is complete. Then
you will need to quit your Web browser (“Exit,” “Close,” or “Quit” under the “File”
menu) and open your Web browser again. Then go back to the ALEKS website
for Behavioral Science Statistics (use your Bookmark/Favorite). Return to Step 1,
above, to begin registration.
Step 4. At the beginning of registration you will be asked for your Course Code.
The Course Code is supplied by your instructor. Enter this in the spaces provided
156 APPENDIX A. ALEKS STUDENT USER’S GUIDE
Step 5. To continue your registration you will be asked for your Access Code.
It is on a sticker inside the back cover of this booklet. Enter the Access Code in
the spaces provided and click on “Next” (Fig. A.3). Answer the questions to
complete your registration. Among other questions, you will be asked to enter your
email address. Supplying this information enables your site administrator to help
you with problems more quickly. You will also be able to enter your Student ID
number. (Both email and Student ID are optional information.)
Step 6. At the end of registration you will be given a Login Name and Password.
Write these down and keep them in a safe place. You will need them to return to
the system (See Sec. A.6). Your Login Name is not the same as your name. It
usually consists of the first letter of your first name plus your whole last name run
together, with no spaces or punctuation. Thus “Jane Smith” may have the Login
Name “jsmith”; if there is more than one “Smith” in the database whose first name
begins with “J,” a numeral will be appended, as “jsmith2.” You can change your
password at any time (See Sec. A.5.5).
NOTE. Your Login Name and Password can be typed with upper- or lower-case
letters. Neither may contain spaces or punctuation. If you forget your password
but you did enter your email address in ALEKS, click on the link underneath the
Password field on the ALEKS home page (“Did you forget your password?”).
A.4. TUTORIAL 157
A.4 Tutorial
The ALEKS system does not use multiple-choice questions. All answers are math-
ematical or statistical expressions and constructions. After registration, the ALEKS
Tutorial will teach you to use the simple tools needed for your course (Fig. A.4).
There is plenty of feedback to help you complete it successfully.
NOTE. The Tutorial is not intended to teach behavioral science statistics. It just
trains you to use the ALEKS input tool (called the “Answer Editor”). The correct
input is always shown, and you simply enter what you see. Online help is also
available while you are using ALEKS by clicking the “Help” button, which gives
you access to the sections of the Tutorial (See Sec. A.5.5).
A.5.1 Assessments
NOTE. Your instructor may require that the first assessment be taken under su-
pervision. Don’t try to begin your initial assessment at home until you
158 APPENDIX A. ALEKS STUDENT USER’S GUIDE
find out where your instructor wants you to take it. Additional assessments
may be scheduled for you by the instructor. These may or may not need to be
supervised, depending on the instructor’s preference. The ALEKS system also
prompts “automatic” assessments when you have spent a certain amount of time on
the system or have made a certain amount of progress.
A.5.2 Results
NOTE. You may see more than one piechart displayed following an assessment
when you are progressing through a series of courses or units. (Your knowledge in
the previous and/or subsequent units is also displayed.)
A.5. ASSESSMENTS AND LEARNING 159
Following the presentation of assessment results, the system will display a combined
piechart (“MyPie”). This piechart shows the entire syllabus through the end of your
current course (Fig. A.5). By placing the mouse pointer over slices of the pie, you
can see which concepts you are now most ready to learn. Not all slices will contain
concepts at any given time. They may have been mastered already, or work may
need to be done in other slices before they become available. The concept you click
on becomes your entry into the Learning Mode. The system will help you in seeking
to master that concept and “add it to your pie.”
In the Learning Mode, you are given practice problems based on the chosen topic.
You also get explanations of how to solve this kind of problem and you get access
to a dictionary of concepts. Underlined terms are links to the dictionary. Click
on any term to get a complete definition. The system will require a number of
correct answers before it assumes that you have mastered the concept. Then it
“adds it to your pie.” At this point a revised piechart will be shown reflecting your
new knowledge. You will be able to choose a new concept to begin. If you make
mistakes, more correct answers may be required. If you tire of this topic and wish
to choose another, click on “MyPie” near the top of the window. This will make
you exit the topic and you will get the piechart for a new choice. If you make
160 APPENDIX A. ALEKS STUDENT USER’S GUIDE
repeated errors on a given concept, the system will conclude that the concept was
not mastered. It will offer you a new choice of more basic concepts.
NOTE. Let ALEKS do its job! It is normal to have trouble mastering new concepts
the first time around. When this happens, the system responds by revising its view
of your knowledge and offers new choices. Keep in mind that the system does not
“drill” you on concepts it believes you already know. The concepts presented as
most “ready to learn” are always those just at the edge of your current knowledge.
These are the topics you are completely prepared to learn.
All buttons described below are available in the Learning Mode. In the Assessment
Mode, only the “Options,” “Exit,” and “Help” buttons are active.
Options
If you want to change your Password, click on the “Options” button. This
page also shows the total number of hours you have spent using ALEKS.
Report
Any time you wish to look at your assessment reports, click on “Report.”
Choose any date from the menu and click “Graph.”
Dictionary
To search the online dictionary, click “Dictionary.”
Review
To review past material, use the “Review” button.
Worksheet
To print out an individualized homework sheet based on your most recent work
in ALEKS, use the “Worksheet” button.
Quiz
To see the results of quizzes you have taken in ALEKS or to begin a quiz
assigned to you by your instructor, use the “Quiz” button.
Messages
Your instructor can send you messages via ALEKS. You see new messages
when you log on. You can also check for messages by clicking on the “Message”
button. Your instructor can choose to let you reply to messages as well.
Help
For online help with the use of the Answer Editor, click “Help.”
MyPie
Clicking “MyPie” gives you a piechart summarizing your current mastery. You
can use this piechart to choose a new concept.
A.6. LOGGING ON TO YOUR ACCOUNT 161
Step 1. You always log on from the ALEKS website for Behavioral Science Statis-
tics:
http://www.behsci.aleks.com
Use the “Bookmark” or “Favorite” for this site if you made one (See Sec. A.3).
Remember that you may find other ALEKS websites via a search engine, but this
is the only one with your account.
Step 2. On the login page enter the Login Name and Password provided at the
time of registration (See Sec. A.3, Step 5). Be sure to type these correctly, without
any spaces or punctuation.
Step 3. If you enter your Login Name and Password correctly, your browser will
begin accessing the plugin to start ALEKS. This takes a few seconds. You will
then come to the place you left off in your previous ALEKS session.
NOTE. If you forget your Login Name or Password, use the link on the ALEKS
home page marked “Did you forget your password?” If you entered an email address
at registration time and you remember your Login Name, your password will be sent
to you by email. Otherwise, contact your instructor. It is a good idea to change
your Password to one you will remember easily but is difficult for others to guess
(See Sec. A.5.5).
Before You Begin. Installing ALEKS means installing the ALEKS plugin. This
is the software used by your web browser to access and run ALEKS. You can access
your ALEKS account from any computer that meets the technical requirements
and has had the ALEKS plugin installed. You cannot use ALEKS without the
ALEKS plugin that is installed over the World Wide Web.
http://www.behsci.aleks.com
Step 2. Use your Login Name and Password to log in (See Sec. A.3, Step 5).
Step 3. When you log on to ALEKS, the system will automatically check to see if
your system is compatible and if you have the most recent version of the ALEKS
162 APPENDIX A. ALEKS STUDENT USER’S GUIDE
plugin. If you do not have a current plugin, it will download the plugin and ask your
permission to install. After you grant permission, it will install the (new) plugin.
Do not interrupt the installation process until a message appears stating that the
installation is complete and asks you to restart your browser. You will need to quit
your Web browser (“Exit,” “Close,” or “Quit” under the “File” menu), open your
Web browser again, and go back to the ALEKS website for Behavioral Science
Statistics (use your Bookmark/Favorite).
Supplementary Materials
You should have pencil and paper ready for all assessments and for use in the Learning Mode.
Basic calculators should be used only when you are instructed to do so. (A basic calculator
with some statistical functions is part of ALEKS.)
Assessments
You should not ask for, nor receive any help during assessments. Not even explanations or
rephrasing of problems are permitted. If you receive help, the system will get a wrong idea
of what you are most ready to learn, and this will hold up your progress. If you think you
don’t know the answer, click “I don’t know.” (Don’t guess!)
Learning Mode
You should learn to use the special features of the Learning Mode, especially the explanations
and the statistical dictionary. A button marked “Ask a Friend” may also appear from time
to time. Clicking on this button will prompt the system to suggest the name of a classmate
who has mastered the concept.
Regular Use
Nothing is more important to your progress than regular use of the system. Three hours per
week is a recommended minimum. Put ALEKS into your weekly schedule and stick to it!
the assessment, you are not told if your answer is right or wrong. In the Learning Mode,
however, you are always told if you make a mistake, and often what that mistake was. The
assessment is not a test. Its main purpose is to determine what you are most ready to learn
and help you make the best progress possible toward mastery.
Why is it that I mastered all the concepts in the Learning Mode, but my assessment
says I still have concepts to learn?
In the Learning Mode you are always working on one concept at a time, whereas assessments
are cumulative and evaluate you on everything in the given subject matter. It may be more
difficult to show mastery of concepts you have recently worked on, when you are being quizzed
on many different topics at the same time. For this reason, your assessment results may not
exactly match what you had mastered in the Learning Mode. This is normal and simply
means that you should keep working in the system. (Sometimes the opposite also occurs.
That is, progress in the assessment turns out to be faster than in the Learning Mode.)
Why doesn’t my piechart show any concepts from a category if I haven’t filled in that
category yet?
[Sec. A.5.3] You are completely “ready to learn” a set of concepts or skills when you have
mastered all the prerequisite concepts or skills that they demand. To take an elementary
example, in order to learn “addition of two-digit numbers with carry” you might have to first
learn “addition of two-digit numbers without carry” and nothing else. Your piechart will not
offer you concepts to work on if you are not ideally ready to begin learning them, that is,
they have prerequisites you have not yet mastered. For this reason, your piechart may show
that you have only mastered 8 out of 10 concepts for a particular slice of the pie (a particular
part of the curriculum), but the piechart says you have no concepts available from that slice
to work on. This means that the concepts you have left to master have prerequisites in other
areas of the curriculum that you must master first. Keep working in the other slices, and
eventually the concepts in that slice will become “available.”
What happens if I don’t learn a concept (or get tired of working on a concept)?
[Sec. A.5.4] You must answer what the system judges to be an appropriate number of
Practice problems correctly to add a concept to your pie. If you make mistakes, you must
answer more. ALEKS will always tell you when you have mastered the concept. You cannot
make this decision for yourself. If you wish to stop working on a concept and choose another
one, you can click on “MyPie.” It is usually better to do your best to master the concept you
are working on, unless the system tells you to switch. If you are clearly not making progress,
ALEKS will suggest that you choose something else to work on.
Why is ALEKS giving me things we haven’t done in the course or that are too hard?
[Sec. A.5.4] The most common reason that problems seem too difficult is that you received
some help in the assessment, and ALEKS has an incorrect estimate of your actual knowledge.
The problem, however, corrects itself as soon as you stop getting help. When you fail to master
several concepts, ALEKS will quickly bring you back to a more comfortable place.
Remember that ALEKS is designed to give you material that you are ideally prepared
to learn. It will not “drill” what has already been mastered, except in the sense that old
knowledge is continually being exercised in the acquisition of new knowledge. ALEKS has
no idea what you have done or are doing in class from one week to the next. In ALEKS you
A.9. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 165
follow an individualized path through the curriculum that is produced by your own learning
and your own choices.
What do I do if it’s taking too long for a new page to load (or if the program freezes)?
[Sec. A.10] It shouldn’t take more than a few seconds for ALEKS to respond when you
click on any button. If you experience delay, freezing, or crashing, your first step is to click
on the small “A” button at upper right. If this doesn’t work, click your browser’s “Reload”
or “Refresh” button. If this doesn’t work, close your browser and restart it. In extreme cases
use Ctrl-Alt-Delete (Cmd-Opt-Esc on Macintosh). You will come back to the exact place you
left off after you log back on.
A.10 Troubleshooting
1. click on the small “A” in the upper right-hand corner of the ALEKS window;
2. click on your browser’s “Reload” (or “Refresh”) button;
3. close the browser and log on again (the system will bring you back to where you left off);
if you cannot close the browser use Ctrl-Alt-Delete (PC) or Cmd-Opt-Esc (Macintosh)
and end the task (or reboot, if all else fails).
Open applications other than the web browser that you are using to access ALEKS are
another cause of slowness. Closing these applications may correct the problem.
If slowness persists, it is most likely due to a problem in the local network. Bring this to the
attention of your instructor.
Lengthy Assessment
It is impossible to know how many questions will be asked in an assessment. The number
of questions asked does not reflect your knowledge of the subject matter. It may reflect the
consistency of your effort or concentration.
Reduction of Piechart
You may observe a loss of concepts in your piechart either in the Learning Mode or following
an assessment. This is not a malfunction in the system, but results from errors made by you
on material you had previously seemed to master. Don’t worry: that is the way the system
works. In particular, it is not unusual to have a “bad” assessment, one that, for external
reasons (bad mood, distractions, etc.), does not reflect your actual knowledge. ALEKS will
quickly bring you back to where you belong.
to learn. When the system gives problems that are too hard, the reason is often that you
received help or guidance during the assessment or in the Learning Mode. This situation will
soon correct itself if you have difficulty with the proposed concepts. The system will revise
its estimate of your knowledge and offer concepts that you are more ready to learn.
Printing Problems
To print ALEKS output (for instance, an Assessment Report) you must press the ALEKS
“Print” button (on the ALEKS menu bar). This opens a new browser window containing
the contents of the previous window in the form of a “Print Preview.” When this page has
been printed it should be closed to return to the normal ALEKS interface.
170 APPENDIX A. ALEKS STUDENT USER’S GUIDE
Appendix B
Syllabi
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
PROBABILITY
171
172 APPENDIX B. SYLLABI
RANDOM VARIABLES
DISTRIBUTIONS
INFERENTIAL STATISTICS
175
176 INDEX
outer fringes, in Knowledge Space Theory 133 Ready to learn, Course Report 62, 85
parentheses, in Answer Editor 23 ready to learn items, significance of 32
Password, changing (UG) 160 region tool 28
Password for instructors 11 registration in ALEKS 14
Password, obtaining (UG) 156 registration in ALEKS (UG) 154
PC requirements 9 regularity of ALEKS use (UG) 162
PC requirements (UG) 154 repeating decimals, entering 24
pencil tool 28 Report button, Advanced Instructor Module
percentages, entering 24 79, 84
piechart, interpretation of (UG) 158 Report button 37
piechart, reduced 168 Reporting, in Instructor Module 56
piecharts, multiple 32 report style for Course Progress, Advanced In-
plugin, downloading and installing 10 structor Module 81
plugin, downloading and installing (UG) 161 Report Tutorial 16
practice page in Learning Mode 42 Request Assessment button 86
preparation for instructors 9 Results & Progress, Advanced Instructor Module
Print button 37 73
printing, problems 169 review 45
printing, procedure for 37 Review button 38
problems, form for describing 151 review, extensive 45
problems, too difficult 168 reviewing past material (UG) 160
Progress button 77, 80 Schedule Assessment button 86
Progress in learning mode, Course Progress Scheduled assessment, Course Report 61
58, 81 scheduled assessment menu 82
Progress over last 3 months, Course Progress scheduled assessments, grading with, Advanced
81 Instructor Module 88
Progress over last 6 months, Course Progress scheduled assessments, grading with, Instruc-
81 tor Module 67
Progress over last month, Course Progress 81 scheduled assessments, limiting, Advanced In-
quick start 5 structor Module 89
Quiz button, Advanced Instructor Module 89 scheduled assessments, limiting, Instructor Module
Quiz button 38 67
quiz, course results 63 scheduled assessments, message with, Advanced
quiz, creating 68, 90 Instructor Module 88
quiz, deleting 69, 91 statistics lab, supervised 122
quiz, editing 69, 91 statistics lab, in structured course 122
quiz, individual results 65 Selector (Advanced Instructor Module) 75
quiz (UG) 160 self-paced learning with ALEKS 122
quizzes, availability of, Instructor Module 69, Server Stats button 93
91 server usage 93
quizzes, grading with, Instructor Module 69, session control 36
90 set notation, entering 26
quizzes, viewing 89 setup guide for instructors 9
Readiness piechart 32 slowness, how to fix 168
180 INDEX