Frequently Asked Questions about ALEKS at the University of Washington What is ALEKS, and how does it work? ALEKS (Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces) is a teaching tool based on artificial intelligence. Rather than give every student in the class the same set of homework problems, ALEKS will present you with a unique set of problems that meet both of the following criteria: 1. You don t already know how to do the problems, and 2. You are ready to learn how to do the problems, based on what you currently know. Note that ALEKS will tailor its questions to the specific needs of each student in the class. ALEKS does this by determining your initial knowledge state at the beginning of the class. The first time you log in to the system, you will complete an Initial Assessment of your knowledge: a series of 20-30 questions designed to assess your proficiency in chemistry and basic mathematics. Once ALEKS determines what you remember, what you have forgotten, and what you haven t learned yet, it will design a unique trajectory through the material for you. The topics that your instructor has chosen for your course are organized into assignments called Objectives. You will complete one Objective roughly every week of the quarter. Based on your performance in the Initial and subsequent Assessments, you may have more or fewer topics to complete than your classmates. If the current Objective includes topics you re already familiar with, perhaps from a previous chemistry course, you will have less work to do that week. If the Objective contains mostly new topics to you, you will have more work to do. After each Objective, you will complete another Assessment to determine how well you have retained the concepts you learned in the Objective. Like the Initial Assessment, the end- of- objective Assessments will contain 20-30 questions designed to measure your current knowledge, so that ALEKS can adjust to your specific needs. I already have an active ALEKS subscription. How do I update the course code? 1. Click on your name at the top of the screen 2. In the resulting dialog box, click on Account Home Revised 8 Jan 2013 by CFC Page 1 of 17
3. The next screen will show you the classes you are currently signed up for. Click on the link to sign up for a new class: 4. Enter your new course code on the next screen, and follow the prompts to confirm the change. Revised 8 Jan 2013 by CFC Page 2 of 17
What is the difference between an Objective and an Assessment? Objectives are interactive, tutorial- based based assignments, similar to homework. An Objective contains a collection of topics relevant to the current material being covered in the course.. ALEKS will present you with a series of practice problems for each topic. Once you can consistently get the problems for a given topic correct, ALEKS considers that you have mastered the topic. Assessments measure your knowledge at a particular point in the course. ALEKS will ask you 20-30 questions designed to determine what you know and what skills you have. You will only be asked each question once, as opposed an Objective, where you are asked to complete several iterations of a problem. Assessments are similar to quizzes, so you will not receive any feedback during an assessment. How do I know what topics are included in an Objective? Below the Pie graphic on your ALEKS homepage, you will see the following link: View List of Goal Topics. Clicking here will bring up a series of menu tabs containing the list of topics for each Objective. The goal topics will be organized into sections: topics that are available in your pie now, and topics that will become available when you have completed the prerequisite topics. Depending on your performance in Assessment, you may even have credit for some of the goal topics before you even start working on the Objective. Clicking on the icons will expand the sections: Revised 8 Jan 2013 by CFC Page 3 of 17
How do I know when I m done with an Objective? There are several ways to tell when you are done with an objective: o o o o The white dots on your pie should be gone (dots will reappear when the new Objective opens). Look at the list of goal topics under your pie (also called the goal topic dashboard ). If you have topics left to learn, you will see those listed. Look at your Gradebook within ALEKS. If your score for the Objective is 100%, then you ve completed all the required topics. You should receive an Assessment after each Objective completion. Assessments are initiated in one of three possible ways: A) if you complete the objective before the due date, B) when the objective due date has passed or C) (for students working ahead in the open pie mode) if you complete all the topics in an objective before the start date for that objective, you will receive the assessment as soon as the objective start date is reached. Should I try to get every question right in an Assessment? No. You should simply try to do the best you can without using outside resources. The assessments are meant to be a snapshot of what you understand about your general chemistry course at a particular point in the course not what your roommate or Wikipedia understands. You will encounter questions Revised 8 Jan 2013 by CFC Page 4 of 17
that you will not know how to do...don't take this personally. ALEKS is just trying to determine the edges of your understanding. It is extremely important that you complete the assessments carefully and honestly! IT IS A WASTE OF TIME to play games with the ALEKS assessments. For example: Answering questions carelessly will give ALEKS the impression that you don t have limited background and poor problem- solving skills. This means ALEKS will force you to work through material you already know and don t really need to review, and you ll end up spending a lot of time in your Objectives solving problems that are too easy. Consulting outside resources such as a textbook, the internet, a friend while working through the assessments will give ALEKS the impression that you have a stronger grasp of the material than you may actually have. This means ALEKS will try to teach you things you are not really ready to learn, and you ll end up spending a lot of time in your Objectives attempting to solve problems that are too difficult. NEVER click the I haven t learned this yet button during any ALEKS assessment unless you truly have no idea how to do the problem. Otherwise, ALEKS will think you don't know a bunch of things you actually do know and reintroduce topics for you to "learn". How do I know if I am taking an Assessment? During an Assessment, you will not receive any feedback on your performance, like you do during an Objective. Also, the Explain button which is present during an Objective is replaced by the I haven t learned this yet button. Revised 8 Jan 2013 by CFC Page 5 of 17
After I completed an Assessment, I noticed that some of the topics I mastered in the Objective were removed from my ALEKS Pie. What does that mean? Can I get them back? Will this affect my grade? When this happens (and it happens to everyone), it means that ALEKS determined from your Assessment that you still need to work on some of topics you previously mastered in the Objective, and so they were removed from your Pie. It is possible to add those topics back during Open Pie time (see What is an Open Pie? for more information). Your Objective score will not be affected by the missing topics. Your Objective score represents your all- time best performance on that set of topics. However, missing topics will have an impact on your Assessment score. ALEKS picks Assessment problems from the material that is currently in your pie, and material that is coming up in future Objectives. If your pie does not include certain topics from previous Objectives, you will never be assessed on those topics, and therefore your Assessment score at the end of the quarter will be lower than it could have been. How can I avoid losing topics from my ALEKS Pie in an Assessment? You probably can t avoid losing a few topics in an Assessment every once in a while, but you can minimize the number lost by working steadily on your Objectives rather than cramming. Try spending an hour or so in ALEKS five or more days a week, mastering a few topics at a time, instead of waiting until the day an Objective is due and working for a six- hour stretch. Because of how ALEKS is structured, it s almost impossible to complete all the topics in an Objective in one sitting. Furthermore, working in this Revised 8 Jan 2013 by CFC Page 6 of 17
manner is a recipe for forgetting what you ve just learned. When you take the Assessment for an Objective that you ve crammed for, you are much more likely to have forgotten the topics you mastered than if you had worked steadily, mastering a little every day over a series of days. Another way to minimize the number of topics lost in Assessment is to review the material that you ve added to your Pie before you take the Assessment. ALEKS will periodically suggest topics that it thinks it would be a good idea for you to review. You should take ALEKS s advice and review the topics it suggests. You can also visit the Review tab in the upper left corner of your screen to find topics to review. See the How can I review old material in ALEKS? topics for more information. How can I review old material in ALEKS? Click on the Review link in the upper left- hand corner of the screen. On the Review page you will find a list of topics that ALEKS thinks you would benefit from reviewing. This list may contain topics that you recently mastered, or topics that you have not looked at in a while. You can also find a full list of all topics that you have mastered in the Objectives by clicking on the Click here for more review link at the bottom of the Review page. Revised 8 Jan 2013 by CFC Page 7 of 17
Does my ALEKS pie have to be complete by the end of the quarter? No. Your ALEKS grade is based on the sum of your Objective scores, and your Assessment performance over the quarter. The more of the Pie you complete, the higher your Assessment score will be, but you will still earn credit if your Pie is not completely full. What is the purpose of the Initial Assessment? The purpose of the Initial Assessment is to calibrate ALEKS to your current knowledge of the material in your general chemistry course so that it knows where to begin teaching you. You will encounter questions that you will not know how to do, especially on the Initial Assessment...don't take this personally. ALEKS is just trying to determine the edges of your understanding. It is extremely important that you complete the assessments carefully and honestly! This is how ALEKS finds out about YOU, how it determines what you already know, and what you are therefore ready to learn. IT IS A WASTE OF TIME to play games with the ALEKS assessments. For example Answering questions carelessly will give ALEKS the impression that you don t have the necessary background and skills to be successful in your chemistry course. This means ALEKS will force you to work through material you already know and don t really need to review, and you ll end up spending a lot of time in your Objectives solving problems that are too easy. Consulting outside resources such as a textbook, the internet, a friend while working through the assessments will give ALEKS the impression that you have a stronger grasp of the material in your chemistry coruse than you may actually have. This means ALEKS will try to teach you things you are not really ready to learn, and you ll end up spending a lot of time in your Objectives attempting to solve problems that are too difficult. Revised 8 Jan 2013 by CFC Page 8 of 17
NEVER click the I haven t learned this yet button during any ALEKS assessment unless you truly have no idea how to do the problem. Otherwise, ALEKS will think you don't know a bunch of things you actually do know and take you way back and make you "learn" them. What is the purpose of the End- of- Objective Assessments? At the end of each Objective, you will complete an End- of- Objective Assessment. These are intended to gauge how well you are retaining the material you have learned. If an assessment determines that you have forgotten how to solve a particular problem, ALEKS will require you to relearn that material before you can move on to topics that build on those concepts. Why does the Initial Assessment ask me questions about the course that I am about to take? ALEKS does not assume that every student in a class starts with exactly the same background. You may already be familiar with some of the concepts that will be covered in your general chemistry course, perhaps from a chemistry course in high school or another college, or because you are retaking the course. The Initial Assessment is designed to figure out what knowledge you are coming in with, so that the ALEKS system can tailor itself to your specific needs. Why do I get questions in the assessments about things I haven t learned yet? The ALEKS assessment engine is built to determine the edges in your current understanding. This means the system will ask you questions that go up to and slightly beyond the limits of what you have already learned. Don t interpret the set of questions you get in an assessment as a representation of the material that you are supposed to know. The assessment is only trying to measure what you do know. Is the assessment for a particular objective due at the same time as the objective? No. You just need to complete the Assessment before you can move on to the next Objective. What does the ALEKS Pie represent? The ALEKS Pie is a graphic representation of your current percentage mastery of the course material. Your percentage mastery is constantly updated based on your progress in the Objectives and your performance in Assessment, so your Pie will include both Objective performance and Assessment performance. You can view your individual Objective scores by clicking on the Gradebook link, and you can view your current Assessment performance by clicking on the Report link. Both links can be found in the upper right hand corner of the ALEKS screen. Revised 8 Jan 2013 by CFC Page 9 of 17
Why do I sometimes see white dots on my ALEKS Pie? If you see white dots in your Pie, this means that you are in the middle of an Objective. The dots represent the percentage of the different pie slices you will reach once you master all the topics in that Objective. What does it mean if I don t see white dots on my ALEKS Pie? If you don t see white dots in your pie, this means that you finished the current Objective and its Assessment before the due date, and your pie is open (see What is an Open Pie? for more information). Once the due date for the current Objective has passed, your pie will become locked down to just those topics included in the next Objective. What is an Open Pie? In an Open Pie, you are free to work on any topic in the course that you are ready to learn, including topics from future Objectives, or topics that were removed from your pie in a previous Assessment. Note that this is the only opportunity you will have to add back topics that were removed in an Assessment, so it is a good idea to complete Objectives early and take advantage of Open Pie time. Why is ALEKS making me do the same type of problem over and over again? ALEKS wants to make sure that you truly understand how to do a particular type of problem. If you can consistently complete different instances of a particular type of problem correctly, it s more likely that you understand the concept underlying the problem. Why is ALEKS making me work on a topic I already know how to do? There are a couple of reasons why this might happen. If you did not take the Initial Assessment seriously, and simply pressed I haven t learned this yet or entered dummy answers for all the questions in order to get through it as soon as possible, you have essentially told ALEKS you have very little knowledge of math and chemistry. Therefore, ALEKS will give you questions that it thinks you can handle, which will be too easy for you. A second reason this might happen is that you actually don t know how to do the topic in question. Why is ALEKS giving me problems I have no idea how to do? If you find that you re getting problems that are too difficult, this probably means you used outside resources to try to get every question correct on the Initial Assessment, or a previous End- of- Objective Assessment, thereby giving ALEKS the impression that you have a much broader grasp of the material in you general chemistry course than you actually do. Revised 8 Jan 2013 by CFC Page 10 of 17
How is my grade in ALEKS determined? Your ALEKS grade is a combination of your performance on the Objectives and in Assessment. Assessment Score. The percent mastery of the course you achieve by the end of the quarter as measured by the Assessments will comprise 50% of your ALEKS grade. Your current Assessment performance can be found by clicking on the Report link: Note that your Assessment percentage is always measured out of the total number of topics in the course, so your Assessment score will increase throughout the quarter. If topics are removed from your pie after an Assessment, those missing topics will decrease the Assessment portion of your ALEKS score. You will have the opportunity to add those removed topics back during open pie periods (see above). Objectives Score. The sum of your scores on each Objective will comprise the other 50% of your ALEKS grade for the quarter. You can monitor your performance on the Objectives in the ALEKS gradebook. Since the individual Objective scores reflect your percent completion of the required topics before each deadline, it is possible to earn 100% on each Objective. If topics are removed from your pie after an assessment, those missing topics will not decrease the Objectives portion of your ALEKS score. You can find your Objective scores by clicking on the Gradebook link: Locked Pie vs. Open Pie. During an Objective, ALEKS restricts the topics you can work on. Under these conditions your pie is locked. If you finish an Objective before the due date, your pie becomes open, and you are free to work on any topic in CHEM 142A. This is a great opportunity to work ahead on topics from future Objectives, or to re- master any topics that were removed from your pie during an Assessment. This is the only way to work on topics from previous Objectives and add them back in to your pie. Revised 8 Jan 2013 by CFC Page 11 of 17
Where can I find my Objective scores? Your Objective scores are recorded in the ALEKS Gradebook. The Gradebook link can be found in the upper right hand corner of your ALEKS screen. Where can I find my Assessment score? Your Assessment performance can be found by clicking on the Report link in the upper right hand corner of your ALEKS screen. At the bottom of the Report page you will find a section titled History, which contains a bar graph representing your progress in the course in both Assessment (in blue) and the Objectives (in green). Why don t my ALEKS scores appear in the Catalyst/Canvas Gradebook? Your ALEKS scores will be uploaded all at once to the Catalyst/Canvas Gradebook near the end of the quarter. What subscription length should I purchase? One quarter, three quarters, or four quarters? As of December, 2013, the subscription prices are as follows: Higher- Ed 1- quarter (11 weeks) (US $30.00) Higher- Ed 3- quarters (40 weeks) (US $70.00) Higher- Ed 4- quarters (52 weeks) (US $90.00) Revised 8 Jan 2013 by CFC Page 12 of 17
If you plan to take the full CHEM 142/152/162 sequence, the three- quarter subscription is the best deal. If you are only taking a one- quarter general chemistry class, such as CHEM 110 or CHEM 120, or if you only need one or two quarters in the 1x2 series, purchasing one quarter of access is the best deal. NOTE: ALEKS is not used in any chemistry class numbered 200 or above, including CHEM 220/221. What happens to my multi- quarter ALEKS account if I have to take a break from the CHEM 142/152/162 series? If you purchase more than one quarter of access and need to take a quarter off between courses in the series, you will be allowed to suspend your ALEKS account for a period of time please contact ALEKS support for assistance with this. How do I report technical problems? No one in the Department of Chemistry at UW can provide you with technical support for ALEKS. Do not contact your instructor or your TA with operational questions about ALEKS we will not be able to help you. Instead, please follow the steps below to report your issue via email to ALEKS. 1. Click on the Inbox link in the top right hand corner of the screen. This will take you to your ALEKS message center. Revised 8 Jan 2013 by CFC Page 13 of 17
2. Click on Compose 3. Click on To to choose recipients for your message. Choose ALEKS Customer Support and Prof. X. You can also choose to send a screenshot of the page you are currently working on by checking the Attach Page box below the message body. Revised 8 Jan 2013 by CFC Page 14 of 17
Here are some other helpful resources on the ALEKS website: 1. Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.aleks.com/faqs 2. User s Guide: http://www.aleks.com/user_guides/learners-gchem 3. Troubleshooting: http://www.aleks.com/support/troubleshooting 4. Email the Support Team: http://support.aleks.com When are ALEKS Customer Service representatives available? Hours (Pacific Time): Sunday, 1:00 PM to 11:00 PM Monday - Thursday, 4:00 AM to 11:00 PM Friday, 4:00 AM to 6:00 PM Revised 8 Jan 2013 by CFC Page 15 of 17
How do I send a screenshot of a problem I m having trouble with to my instructor? 1. Click on the Inbox link in the top right hand corner of the screen. This will take you to your ALEKS message center. 2. Click on Compose 3. Click on To to choose recipients for your message. Choose Prof. X. Check the Attach Page box below the message body to send a screenshot of the problem you are currently working on. Revised 8 Jan 2013 by CFC Page 16 of 17
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