Happily Homeschooling

ALEKS Math Review

23:06, Dec. 17, 2008 .. Posted in Reviews .. 1 comments .. Link

ALEKS is a “web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system”. This Artificial Intelligence “targets gaps in student knowledge” in order to accurately and adequately provide the right lessons needed for each student. ALEKS is short for Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces. It is a complete math curriculum for grades 3-12 that offers one-on-one instruction 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It is 100% online so there is no textbook needed. Worksheets can be printed out if desired. It is accessible via PC and Mac computers.

HOW IT WORKS -

Through an initial personalized interactive assessment, the system determines each child’s abilities and needs and creates a “program” just for that child. Once the initial assessment is done, a pie chart is created that represents the different areas of the course. The slices are in color and a darker color fills the slice as the child masters that section. You can roll over each slice with the mouse to open it. Once open, recommendations for specific concepts in that section are listed that the child can choose to work on. This pie allows the student to monitor his accomplishments and areas that need to be worked on.

For the parents, there is a master account that can be reviewed that shows each child’s progress including what has been mastered, what is being worked on, and what is coming. The parent has the ability to change student info, request new assessment, view a learning log, and send messages. The parent is also emailed weekly progress reports

Each student can pick which area he wants to work on, review what he has done, print worksheets, learn a new lesson, review old lessons, and so much more.

This program appears to be a really nice curriculum. Our family was offered a one month trial period in order to review the program. My son is in 3rd grade and my daughter is in 9th grade. I like how everything is laid out and easy to use. Each child was able to pick which area they wanted to work on and was able to change it if they wanted to. The nice thing about this program is that once the child has mastered it, they can move on. It is not overly repetitive which is a big plus in our house. My daughter learns very quickly and once something clicks, she must move on or she will easily become bored. This hinders learning. ALEKS allows for a quick pace if the child is excelling. It really is individualized. My son is similar to my daughter, but takes a little bit longer grasping certain concepts. ALEKS offers review lessons right on the same page as the questions. He can just click on review and look at how the process works. But once he learns it, he wants to move on. Because ALEKS is individualized and frequently assesses progress, he can move on.

What we thought -

My daughter likes ALEKS. She didn’t like that when she clicked into review it made her do another problem instead of the original one. But that’s just her personality and learning style. She did like that once she learned the area, she was able to move on to the next thing.

My son really didn’t like ALEKS as much. It was a little more difficult for him, even at the 3rd grade level. Some of the concepts he knew already but wasn’t quite able to get the hang of it online. He does much better on paper.

I like ALEKS. I like the assessment phase and the fact that it really seems to accurately assess each student individually. I like that I can see what each child is doing and the progress they’re making. I am not sure if our school district would approve it on our IHIP for homeschooling, but it is a full curriculum so I couldn’t see why they wouldn’t. Check out the homeschoolers info on ALEKS website.

The price for ALEKS:

· $19.95 per student, per month, or

· $99.95 for six months, or

· $179.95 for one year (12 months)

There is a family discount, too.

You can try ALEKS out free for one month to see if it works for you and your family. I am confident you will like it and realize the benefits of it.