ALEKS FDOC Q&A Answer Key
1. What does ALEKS stand for? Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Space
You MUST know this or you will instantly lose credibility with your audience.
2. What’s different about the registration process for class tests/pilots?
Class tests/pilots use subscriptions, not codes. We do NOT give out free codes for
pilots. If a school wants to pilot with 25 students, then we load 25 subscriptions into the
account. Subscriptions act as pre-paid access. Therefore, in this example, up to 25 students
can register without ever being prompted to put in a registration code or purchase access.
Student #26 will get an error message that says there are no more subscriptions remaining.
For class tests/pilots, always estimate a bit conservatively to avoid that from happening. I
repeat, we do NOT give out access codes for pilots, since we don’t need to.
3. Financial Aid Access Code
a. How long is it good for?
2 weeks.
b. What happens when it expires?
When the student logs in, they will see a message that their account has expired, and
they will be unable to continue to work in ALEKS until they extend their access.
c. When does a student extend access?
Anytime! They do not have to wait until their account expires to extend access.
Students do not gain time on their access by waiting. If they buy an 18-week
access code after using the FAAC code for 1 week, they will have 17 weeks left on
their account once they put in their registration access code.
d. How does a student extend access?
Each time they log in while still on the FAAC, they will see an option to extend
access right then and there. A student should always log into their account to
extend access, even if their account is expired. If they create a brand new
account and then use the access code, guess what happens? They now appear twice
in the class, and their previous work is still associated with their expired account. If
this happens, tech support will need to merge the accounts.
e. Why might a school say that they don’t have access to this option?
By default, the FAAC option is not turned on at a school. If they do not see this
option available, tech support can turn this feature on for a school by request.
4. Initial Assessment
a. How many questions does each student get?
~30 questions or less.
b. What happens if a student cannot finish the assessment in one sitting?
The student can simply log out and finish later on when they log back in.
Assessments are never timed and always pick up where the student left off.
c. How does it work (see if you can come up with a relatable analogy)?
There are many possibilities and I encourage you to think of one that works for you.
Here’s one that relates to your job. Think about a position as a sales rep and imagine
you are about to make a sales call. Which call would be more effective?
i. You walk in with a list of 30 questions that you ask the instructor.
Regardless of how that instructor answers each of your questions, you go
through your list in order, gathering responses, and then leave.
ii. You walk in and ask your first question, and then based on how they answer,
you come up with another meaningful question to gain further insight from
the instructor. You continue doing this until you have all the information
that you need. This might take 30 questions, but it might take less.
d. How is it different than MML?
The first response in question (c) above is how “assessments” work in MML. Let’s
be honest, they don’t assess anything. They are simply static tests. You didn’t adapt
to the responses of the instructor. You came in with your own agenda and
accomplished exactly that. The second response is how assessments in ALEKS
work. They adapt to students and change the questions along the way, always asking
the most meaningful and informative questions possible. This allows ALEKS to
know so much more about the students in the class right away, much like you would
undoubtedly leave the instructor’s office in the 2nd scenario with much more
meaningful information than the 1st scenario.
5. Automatic Assessments
a. When do they happen?
Automatic assessments can be triggered in any of the following ways:
i. Progress Assessment – When the student has mastered approximately 20
topics in the Learning Mode and spent at least 5 hours working in ALEKS
since the last assessment.
ii. Login Time Assessment – When the student has spent 10 hours working
in the Learning Mode since the last assessment.
iii. Periodic Assessment – When 60 days have passed since the last assessment.
iv. Objective Completion Assessment – When the student completes the
material of an objective prior to the due date (objectives with end dates) or
reaches the assigned mastery level (objectives without end dates…by
mastery).
v. Goal Completion Assessment – When the student has completed the final
topic of the pie chart. If the assessment does not confirm the student’s
mastery of the class materials, the student will return to the Learning Mode.
Consequently, more than one Goal Completion Assessment is possible, but
ALEKS will not reassess the student if only a small number of topics need to
be re-learned.
An assessment will “reset the clock.” Note that automatic assessments may be
postponed due to a scheduled assignment. This occurs when the assignment has the
“Prevent automatic assessments” box checked. Also, to avoid the overassessment of students, all automatic assessments will be prevented for
students with 10 or fewer topics remaining in an objective (and in the 48 hours
preceding the objective end date when using objectives with end dates).
b. What are they?
The automatic assessments check the students’ retention of recently learned material,
and may also include topics the student is ready to learn.
6. Scheduled Assessments
a. How can an instructor schedule an assessment?
Instructors can schedule assessments for the entire class or for specific students,
using the “New Scheduled Assessment” link in the Assignment category.
b. Why would an instructor schedule an assessment?
Here are 3 common reasons:
i. They want the assessment to be completed at a specific date/time, or point
in the class (midway, final, etc.).
ii. They would like the assessment to be proctored.
iii. They would like the assessment to be graded (automatic assessments are
NOT graded, but do adjust the pie appropriately).
c. What kinds of assessments can be scheduled?
Instructors have the option of selecting the style of assessment as Progress or
Comprehensive. Progress Assessments are slightly shorter and focus on the
student’s most recent learning history. Comprehensive Assessments are slightly
longer and probe more deeply into the student’s overall knowledge of the class
content.
d. How are these graded?
The grade on ANY scheduled assessment (Progress OR Comprehensive) is based on
total class mastery. For example, at the midway point in a class, it might be
reasonable for an instructor to expect their students to be at 50% total class mastery.
Therefore, if an instructor schedules an assessment labeled “Midpoint,” then in the
Gradebook Setup, the instructor needs to click on the Edit link under the
Assessment category. Where they see “Midpoint” listed, they need to set the Goal %
at 50%. A student who demonstrates at least 50% class mastery will then get a 100%
grade in the gradebook. A student who demonstrates 45% class mastery will get a
90% grade in the gradebook. A student who demonstrates 25% class mastery will
get a 50% in the gradebook, and so forth. If an instructor schedules an
assessment, it’s critically important that they set the Goal % correctly in the
Gradebook Setup.
e. Where do instructors get the questions for these assessments?
Nowhere! The questions are determined by the artificially intelligent ALEKS
engine, therefore providing the student with a personalized experience. Reminder:
the competition has no assessment capability, so when they talk about assessing a
student, they are really talking about testing a student.
7. How should an instructor handle a student who loses a lot of topics after an assessment, and
why might that happen in the first place?
First of all, this shouldn’t happen very often, if at all. But if it does, these are the
recommended steps:
Step 1 – Talk with the student and ask them why they think they forgot so much.
Losing a lot of topics means that they were able to demonstrate very little
retention of topics that they had previously worked through. At this point,
the student will usually do one of these things:
- Admit dishonesty (using help from a friend, an internet site, etc.).
- Say they didn’t want to take the assessment and didn’t understand
the consequences of clicking “I don’t know” for each question.
- Talk about a life event that caused significant distraction (couldn’t
sleep, family emergency earlier that day, etc.).
- Shrug their shoulders and have no idea.
Step 2 – Step 1 is helpful to at least try to gain a better understanding of why the
reason might be, but regardless, the instructor can assign a new
assessment to just that one student. Since all ALEKS assessments are
adaptive and reset a student’s knowledge, if they really do know some of that
material, they can have it added back to their pie this way. ** Typically a
student who has been dishonest but is unwilling to admit it will turn down
the offer to take a new assessment, knowing that it will not help them fill
more of their pie and ultimately waste their time, whereas an honest student
will often take the opportunity to gain the topics back.
If an instructor asks about students losing a lot of topics on an assessment, gently
remind them that while forgetting a few things is common, losing a lot is abnormal.
8. How are assessments different than tests?
With tests, all students get the same types of questions (although algorithmic). They are
standardized, not personalized. With assessments, each student gets asked a unique set of
questions that adapt to their responses, and the outcome is effectively a new, updated image
of their current mastery. The competition offers tests. ALEKS offers both.
9. What 3 reports should every ALEKS instructor know how to use?
ALEKS Pie, Progress, and Time & Topic. ** They should know that custom reporting is
also available.
10. Can you name 3 new features in ALEKS since June, 2014?
Many options, including (but not limited to):
- New instructor interface.
- New option to copy classes (public/private classes).
- Lost Topics and Attempted but Not Mastered Topics information now available.
- 3 new gradebook categories (Pie Mastery, Time, and Topic).
- Customizable dashboards.
- Incoming & exiting student options are now available for instructors to select, so
they can control more preferences when a student switches from one section of the
same course to another.
- Deeper LMS integration (now ALL grade columns can transfer, not just the final
grade).
11. Can you name 3 ALEKS DFCs in the Southeast, outside of your territory?
Many options, including (but not limited to):
- Broward College
o Michelle Carmel
o Awilda Delgado
- Central Piedmont Community College
o Meagan McNamee
- Clemson University
o Eliza Gallagher
- Georgia Perimeter College
o Andrea Hendricks
o Ginny Powell
- Johnston Community College
o Lance Gooden
- Miami Dade College
o Alina Coronel
-
Seminole State College
o Barbara Lott
Tallahassee Community College
o Brandie Oscar-Faulkner
West Georgia Technical College
o Chad Mathews
12. Where do students go to download the ALEKS plug-in?
This is basically a trick question, since nearly all ALEKS products are plug-in free now as
well as accessible via tablet devices. For the rare exception courses that are not quite plug-in
free yet (which is pretty much just the Stats courses), they can go to the ALEKS website and
click on the Downloads link towards the top right.
13. Objectives/Modules
a. What are they?
A way for instructors to provide benchmarks (graded or un-graded) along the way in
a class, and to group certain topics together, thus offering instructors more control
on the content delivery and student workflow in their classes. The terms
“objectives” and “modules” are used interchangeably in ALEKS, but your
instructors may not realize this initially.
b. How do they relate to topics?
A topic is one single concept in ALEKS, or a problem type. Objectives/Modules
are a grouping of topics as selected by the instructor.
c. Do instructors have to use them?
No, but most do. The most common times that they are not used are in self-paced
classes or prep classes.
d. What types are there?
Objectives with due dates, and objectives without due dates (by mastery).
e. How do they work?
i. Objectives with End Dates – When an end date is assigned to an objective,
students should do their best to complete the objective before this date.
After this date, students will be moved to the next objective, and the material
in the past objective will not be available unless it is prerequisite for current
learning. Completion dates are assigned by clicking the box in the end date
column and choosing a date from the pop-up calendar.
ii. Objectives without End Dates (by Mastery) – Students will be moved to
the next objective when they meet the mastery level set for the current
objective. They will still be able to access the remaining un-mastered topics
from all previous objectives via their pie. A final due date must be set for all
objectives, and at that time scores for all objectives become final in the
gradebook and appear in black (prior to that, they appear in gray to indicate
that they are not final).
Regardless of which of these you choose, the same fundamental principle of
ALEKS is always adhered to. Even when students move forward to a new
objective, they will never be presented with a topic that they do not have the
prerequisite knowledge to solve. Earlier un-mastered topics carry forward to
future objectives and appear when needed. In other words, instructors
NEVER have to worry about their students moving forward into a new
objective under-prepared. This is a huge competitive advantage of ALEKS
vs. any other system.
f. Does work in objectives affect the pie?
Yes! Work on a homework, quiz, or test does NOT affect the pie.
g. When should an instructor use homework instead of objectives?
Never, and they really shouldn’t use homework in conjunction with objectives either.
The homework tab almost shouldn’t exist at all, but every now and then it can be
useful when used correctly. One example of it not being detrimental would be if an
instructor assigns a no-credit homework that contains questions that will be on an
upcoming test. In this way, it serves as an opportunity for student to go through a
practice test. This does not interfere significantly with the pie or other course
outcomes. Assigning homework in ALEKS is the #1 way instructors misuse
ALEKS. They think they need to do this because this is what they do in
MML. Once they have their objectives set up, adding homework is NOT
necessary.
14. What does the new interface look like and how can you demo it?
More Dashboard driven. You can demo it via the free trial.
15. What do you say if an instructor tells you that students get stuck in ALEKS?
First, ask them why they think that. It’s really important that you completely understand
where the misconception is coming from before you try to address it. Pearson does a
really good job telling people that this happens. Many years ago before objectives were
available and before the assessments became a bit more forgiving (I’m talking circa 2008 or
earlier), there was a little bit of truth to this, so naturally, Pearson is going to stay with this
argument and ride it out as long as they can. If the Pearson rep feels that ALEKS is
threatening MML, expect the “your students will just get stuck in ALEKS” line to come out.
Students do NOT get stuck in ALEKS. It is quite the opposite. If anything, they get
stuck in MML, and here’s why:
-
How could students get stuck in ALEKS when they are always only presented with
problems that they are ready to learn (backed by billions of data points)? How many
data points has MML collected regarding the effectiveness of the problems presented
in it? Hint: You should ask your MML users this, and the answer starts with a
Z and ends in an O.
- With objectives, instructors limit the content that students can access to what they
are currently covering in class. Gone are the days of “students being all over the
place” (Pearson LOVES to use that one too from ~2008 or earlier).
- Since ALEKS carries forward prerequisites and makes them reappear as needed,
when needed, students can never be presented with something that is too difficult.
MML doesn’t carry forward any prerequisites. Each chapter is just like a silo of
content. If students didn’t learn something critical earlier in the course that they
need to know now in order to solve the current problem, guess what? They get
STUCK.
- Assessments only remove topics from the pie that the students need to work
on more, since they did not retain those skills. What instructor wouldn’t want a
tool that is smart enough to figure this out for them?! The MML attitude is, “Let’s
just keep pushing the students forward regardless of their ability.” This explains the
high failure rate in the course, as by the end everyone is lost, and further explains the
under-preparedness of students entering the next course that somehow make it
through.
Bottom line, this is an old argument. So after you know why they think that ALEKS
students get stuck, ask them to explain how students get stuck in ALEKS. Most of
your instructors will simply say, “I’ve heard that” but can’t tell you how (meaning Pearson
told them this happens). If they actually say because of the assessments or something that
sounds rational, talk about the points above.
16. Who should you direct the following sample statements from an instructor to?
a. I’m trying to download a report on my Tests but it doesn’t seem to be
working. Why not?
ALEKS Support (support.aleks.com or 714-619-7090). This is a “how to” question.
b. I can’t seem to figure out if I should use objectives by end dates or mastery.
John Osgood (this is a consultative question).
c. We need to set up training for our faculty prior to fall classes.
DLC and LTR coordinate trainings, and loop in the DST, a DFC, and/or John
Osgood as needed.
d. We’d like to upgrade our school to the new ALEKS interface.
John Osgood (since there are consequences to upgrading, something of this
importance should run through the ALEKS IM first).
e. I’d like more information about master templates.
ALEKS Training Center (http://www.aleks.com/highered/math/training_center).
We don’t need email chains for things that are thoroughly documented already.
f. I’d like an ALEKS presentation for our department, so we can see how it’s different
than what we’re currently using.
DLC and LTR coordinate presentations, should notify Leigh Jacka of the
opportunity, and loop in a DFC and/or John Osgood as needed.
g. We need to know if ALEKS is ADA compliant.
John Osgood or Leigh Jacka (this is a sensitive and complex conversation).
h. I’m incredibly dissatisfied with our placement test.
The LTR or DLC should gather the following basic information, and then
immediately turn this over to John Osgood:
i. How do you currently place students?
ii. Why is there dissatisfaction?
iii. Who makes the placement decision?
iv. Is that person actively looking at alternative placement methods, and if so,
what is the timeline?
v. How many incoming students do you have each year?
vi. How did you hear about ALEKS?
i.
I need help with my first day of class this fall.
LTR coordinates this. Numerous ALEKS resources are also located at
http://www.aleks.com/highered/math/getting_started.
j.
I have a student who due to family issues this term needs extra time in ALEKS.
If the LTR believes that we should be giving out free access to ALEKS for any
reason, they should explain why and submit it to John Osgood for approval.
k. We would like to integrate ALEKS with Canvas.
The DLC, John Osgood, Leigh Jacka and Andre Fredy (MH Campus Integration
Specialist) should all be notified.
l.
I’d like my students to be able to email me through ALEKS.
ALEKS Support (support.aleks.com or 714-619-7090). This is a “how to”
statement.
m. ALEKS is going ok so far.
John Osgood (this statement is concerning, and the ALEKS IMs are equipped to
analyze class data and consult with the instructor accordingly).
n. I could use a best practices checklist.
Direct the instructor to their Class Summary page in ALEKS, where this document
exists (towards the right side of the screen) and can be opened/downloaded from
there.
o. Our school would like to purchase ALEKS codes directly.
Cherie Harshman, and copy John Osgood.
17. What changes are coming in 2015?
Main one to know about is the brand new student interface! Screenshots are planned for
January with a launch in the summer 2015.