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Sep. 1, 2009
ALEKS Review
What is ALEKS?
Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces is a Web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system. ALEKS uses adaptive questioning to quickly and accurately determine exactly what a student knows and doesn't know in a course. ALEKS then instructs the student on the topics she is most ready to learn. ALEKS can provide you with the instruction and support that you need to homeschool your children in mathematics for grades 3-12. ALEKS offers highly-targeted, individualized instruction from virtually any computer with Internet access, making it a comprehensive and mobile education solution for your children. As a member of the Homeschool Crew, I had the opportunity to review ALEKS last fall. (Read that review here.) This year, I was given a second opportunity to review ALEKS in order to test out some of the improvements they have made to the program. The first step, after getting our passwords sent to us, was to take a reassessment. I was pleased to see my son perform better on the assessment than he had previously. It looks like he learned some math last year.
One of the improvements that ALEKS has made since last year is the addition of quizzes. Before, if you wanted to test the student on what he was learning, the only option was a complete assessment. Those were time consuming so I didn't use that option. With the quiz option, the instructor has the ability to decide the number of questions and the specific types of questions to include. There is also an option for "Recent Knowledge Quiz" in which ALEKS will automatically pick questions that pertain to what the student has been studying recently. That's very handy and a time-saver for sure! You can set up when you want the quiz to be given, so that when the student logs in after that time, the quiz is automatically administered. After the quiz is taken, a note is sent to the master account and the results are easily accessible. And if you're not satisfied with the results, you can re-administer a duplicate quiz with the same types and number of questions. The quizzes are timed too and the duration can be set by the teacher. I think the quiz feature is excellent. It allows tremendous flexibility for the instructor to change settings, and is even more simple to use when using the standard quiz settings.
The other major change in the ALEKS program was in the design of the Master Account page.
This is what the new master account looks like.
To be perfectly honest, I can't remember exactly what the old master account was like. I remember that I didn't have any real difficulty using it, but that it wasn't very intuitive to use. The new master account is very user friendly and easy to navigate.
ALEKS is currently $19.95 per month for one student. They also offer family discounts when purchasing either a 6-month or 12-month subscription. In addition, ALEKS is offering a special 1-month free-trial to homeschoolers. I highly recommend the free-trial. It allows a long look at this excellent program and enough time to decide if it is a good fit for your student.
Disclosure: This product was provided to our family for free as members of the 2009-2010 Old Schoolhouse Magazine Homeschool Crew. Reviews and opinions expressed in this blog are our own.
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