ALEKS

Do you have a student that needs the overview and input of a teacher but resists your efforts of instruction? Is math instruction not your strong point? Do you need your child to work on his own? If so, stay tuned. ALEKS Assessment not only is a tool for parents or teachers to assess their students' strengths and weaknesses, but it is a great way to put students in control of their learning. As they spend time in the Learning Mode, concepts are learned, reviewed and then mastered. But no longer are they tied to working on one topic all class period or waiting for someone to instruct them. All they need to do is log into their ALEKS account, choose from an assortment of topics, and work toward mastering the necessary material. ALEKS is not only for K-12 students but has plenty available for higher education students as well. It can be used as your main math program or a supplement.

COURSE CATEGORIES

• K-12 Mathematics
• Higher Education - Math
• Higher Education - Business
• Higher Education - Behavioral Science
• Higher Education - Science

ACE Credit-Recommended ALEKS Courses:

• Beginning Algebra
• Intermediate Algebra
• College Algebra
• Trigonometry
• College Algebra with Trigonometry
• PreCalculus
• Introduction to Statistics
• Business Statistics
• Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
  

A BRIEF TOUR
First things first and that is setting up the student and teacher accounts. You select the appropriate class for each student as well as customize the options for each account. You can change these settings including the class level at any time.

Now your student is all set to take the assessment. This is NOT a test. It is just a measurement of what material the student already knows so he does not have to spend time studying material that is already mastered. One minor annoyance about the test is that you are not shown what problems were missed. Frustrating but definitely not a deal breaker.

Once the student has completed the assessment, he is given a pie chart showing all the topics for the course. It shows how many topics have been mastered and how many remain to be worked through. This is the Learning Mode that the student will work from each day. Each time he logs on he chooses the topic he wants to work on and goes through the problems given. The student is given instant feedback and, in some cases, suggestions for making corrections. ALEKS then determines when the student has mastered the topic. Period assessments will be given to confirm that the material has indeed been mastered. If the topic chosen by the student requires knowledge of another topic not yet mastered, he will not be allowed to work on that new topic. It is recommended that the student works at least 3 hours per week. When the student reenters the program, he is brought back to the same spot he was when he exited.

The teacher account shows how long the student has worked each day and on what topics. You can also view the progress on his pie chart. If needed, worksheets and quizzes can be printed based on the work your student has done in ALEKS. You can prompt ALEKS to schedule extra review for a student. A message system is included so you can communicate with your student electronically. You can also print a state-specific Grade Level Expectations Report for each student. State standards are correlated for all 50 states. ALEKS also emails you a periodic progress report for each student. I have mine set for every week, but you can choose to receive them bi-weekly or monthly.

QuickTables is another module of ALEKS that is very beneficial. It utilizes distributed practice and ALEKS's Memory Stacks Algorithms to assist the student in mastering all the math facts. QuickTables is complementary with all ALEKS subscriptions.

A subscription to ALEKS for an individual student is:

• $19.95 per month
• $99.95 for 6 months
• $179.95 for 12 months
• Family discounts are available.

ALEKS offers a free trial so you can see if it would be a benefit to you. Just click on the ALEKS box in my right sidebar.

SUMMARY

ALEKS has been a hit here. I am not usually a big fan of computer-based learning. But I have been very impressed with ALEKS and it will definitely stay on my math resource list.

Disclosure:This product was provided to our family for free as members of the 2009-2010 Old Schoolhouse Magazine Homeschool Crew. No further compensation was received. Reviews and opinions expressed in this blog are my own.