Submitted by Hanno zur Loye / University of South Carolina on Sun, 01/25/2009 - 16:39
Forums
I was approached by the makers of ALEKS (Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces) and was wondering if anybody had used it - and if they did, was it helpful?
Barbara Reisner / James Madison University

Some of my collaborators on an education related project have used ALEKS with their genchem program.  They were in a trial run, but based on their first use with a small set of their student population, they liked it.  The program is based around the idea of student mastery rather than just doing some problems without regard for the outcome.

Their initial observations were that students were more prepared and were preforming better on tests.  However, there were a lot of complaints from the students.

I took the pre-test associated with the program just to get an idea of whether it is something I'd like to look explore after I get back from sabbatical.  In general, I liked the problems (a mix of conceptual and 'mathy' and at reasonable level).

Sun, 01/25/2009 - 17:16 Permalink
Nick K / University of Michigan-Flint

Wow before I wrote a post on the subject I did a search and can't believe it's been 3 years since ALEKS has been discussed on the forum.  I just did a 90 minute review and evaluation of the program yesterday and I am sure that there is a ton of things that have changed since 2009 in regards to their product. 

Has anyone used ALEKS more recently or have any insight into it.  I was really intrigued by what I saw but I have reservations about the way certain aspects of the program run.  

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. 

 

Nick

Wed, 02/15/2012 - 08:34 Permalink
Colin Thomas / Columbia College

Late, but relevant.

A close colleague of mine just finished (and reported) a statistcal study of ALEKS vs Mastering Chemistry for general chemistry.  He found a ~10 point improvement in the final exam score for ALEKS users over Mastering Chemistry users, and almost 20 points versus those that didn't do their homework (go figure).  The study was done with large class sizes, and it was a well designed study. I'll see if I can get him to post his results on this forum.  But based on that, I'm meeting with ALEKS this week to possibly adopt it for our students next year. 

IMO, MasteringChemistry rises and falls with the textbook it is pinned to.  The Tro version we just used was broadly criticized by students and faculty.  However, the same students acclaim MasteringPhysics. 

Sun, 03/18/2012 - 16:06 Permalink