ALEKS is a web-based online learning system that uses artificial intelligence to individualize student learning paths and promotes learning through mastery. In addition to the learning system it includes a comprehensive course management system which allows you to set up a gradebook, create assignments, quizzes, and even tests. All of these features are customizable and easy to use. ALEKS can be designed to align with a variety of textbooks or can be used as a standalone. It also has documentation that allows you to correlate its curriculum to all 50 states’ curriculum standards as well as the Common Core Standards.

For our university’s developmental sequence, we use ALEKS for all 3 courses in the sequence (pre-algebra, beginning algebra, and intermediate algebra). The pre-algebra course it designed to be a self-paced course in which the students learn and work on their own and the instructor acts as a facilitator. We have been using this model for the pre-algebra class so that students have the opportunity to finish the course early and begin on the next course in the sequence. The beginning algebra and intermediate courses have a completely different model. Those courses consist of short lectures followed by small group work. Those students only use ALEKS minimally during class time and do most of their work on ALEKS outside of class. ALEKS offers enough flexibility to easily implement both models.

There are quite a few things that I like about ALEKS. The course management system has many features and is intuitive and easy to navigate. I can easily track the progress of every student in the developmental program. It makes communication between myself and my students quite simple by allowing me to message students from just about any report in the system. For example, with just a few clicks, I can view the scores of the latest online homework assignment, sort it by students who missed one particular problem the most often, and email only those students. As a result, I am in contact with my students outside of class more than I would have been using traditional email.

It seems to me that ALEKS gives students more freedom to work and learn on their own. Gone are the days of answering the same questions over and over (What was the assignment? When is it due? etc. , etc.). ALEKS has built in reminders at every turn and students don’t have to look far (or look at all) to find those answers. All a student has to do is to log into ALEKS and off they go. I walked into our university’s tutoring center one day last semester and saw that every single student there was working on ALEKS either on a workstation or on their own laptops.

I could go on and on about how great ALEKS is but what is more important is what ALEKS cannot do and what problems can arise when using a web-based learning system like this.
Listed below are a few challenges that we faced when implementing the system and how we overcame them.

Problem: Since ALEKS is web-based, a student must be able to access a computer and also have access to the web.
Solution: At our institution, there are many computer labs available Monday through Saturday from early in the morning to 10PM at night. Many of our students have laptops or have internet access at home.

Problem: Every now and then there are network outages or even power outages which could cause a disruption. Imagine the collective panic that might ensue when a student loses their internet connection in the middle of a timed test!
Solution: The only way to deal with these types of issues is to always have a backup plan and to let students know that you have a plan in the event of an emergency. If a student has technical difficulties at home it is wise to make the online coursework available well in advance so that they are not stuck trying to complete assignments at home on the weekend.

Problem: Each topic presented in ALEKS is done so at the granular level. Students often see topics as separate from one another and have a hard time making connections between the topics.
Solution: As instructors we must be aware of this issue and make sure that we try to emphasize the connections between the topics during the short time we have with our students. One new thing that we are going to try to squeeze in to our classes this coming academic year is providing students with critical thinking problems or story problems that require the use of multiple topics that they learned earlier during the week.

Problem: Homework on web-based systems doesn’t allow partial credit for wrong answers. This leads to quite a bit of frustration on the part of the student, particularly when the error was the result of a typographical error or even just an arithmetical error.

Solution: One idea we have used to address this issue is to have both a written paper/pencil component and online component to every assignment. Students turn in short traditional written homework assignments that are graded by the instructor. Instructors give them plenty of feedback on the processes and procedures that the online system cannot detect. The online assignments they work on are set up so that after a student submits the work and receives a grade, they have the option to do the assignment again (with different versions of the individual problems ). This generally satisfies the students concern about how the online system grades their work.

In summary, there are many benefits to using a web-based learning system. In our case, the benefits have been great. Instructors across the board have noted better attendance and improved homework completion. Students seem to take advantage of the highly organized learning system and work diligently to complete it. The amount of time we spend grading assignments has dropped dramatically.
We can supplement our course models to plug any holes left behind by the computerized system and still maintain its benefits. As this technology evolves and improves we must be ready to adapt and to recognize the potential benefits that we can gain from it.