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ALEKS: The Positives and Negatives of Proficiency–Based Online Math
1:30 to 2:30
October 31, 2019
Peter Martin Principal
Zion Lutheran School Lake Stevens, WA
206-351-5975 [email protected]
Agenda
1. Introduction--who I am, my experience in 6th grade math, Algebra, and IM3; Mango Languages (Note to self: traditional math classes vs. ALEKS)
2. Various perspectives and anecdotes about our experience
3. I have 5 Chromebooks so that you can try ALEKS in small groups.
4. Recommendations--(Warning--may be frustrating).
Mango Languages
ALEKS--Principal Perspective$45 per student for a 12 month license$35 per student for a 40-week license
After purchasing the licenses, I:•Typed in 30 Student First Names, Last Names and Passwords. (although, I'm sure there's a way to upload the roster)
•Typed in 3 Teacher Names•Selected Class Levels for each Teacher•Moved students to the appropriate teachers and classes
This process took about 90 minutes for me, and was straight-forward.From here, students take an initial knowledge check and they are the teacher's responsibility.
Easy set-up; runs smoothly, no technical difficulties, reports including comparisons to state standardsare easy to generate and easy to read
ALEKS--Teacher Perspective 1 of 2
"It helps me to stay engaged and interested in being helpful to students and a problem-solver. It also allows kids to have immediate feedback on your work. It takes seven
time longer to unlearn something than to learn it."
ALEKS reached all my students at exactly the right place in their learning. Each lesson is "next" in their educational
life--students are challenged daily
ALEKS--Teacher Perspective 2 of 2
We struggled with •Motivation•"Clicking through"•Lack of social atmosphere--we're all learning this together.
I used the following plan: •Students work at their own pace; complete as many objectives as they can, but are not held to any minimum completion. •Every class period, they complete five problems, they write down one explanation, and they write notes on one video they watched during class. •These all go into a composition book which they bring to every class. •Parents can see what they've been working on, and everyone can see the progress that the child is making.
ALEKS--Student Perspective--Quotes from 8th Graders
"ALEKS has greatly increased my math ability, because I can travel through my course at my own pace."
"ALEKS is distracting on the computer and it's harder to get your work done."
"It doesn't stick in our brains. It lets you see what you're losing."
"ALEKS has ruined my math experience"
ALEKS--Student Perspective--Quotes from 7th Graders
"I didn't like it.""It's good."
"Shoulder shrug. I would rather have it in a book with a teacher, where the teacher teaches a lesson."
"I like that I can go at my own pace."
"What if your own pace is not working?"
T: "How are you liking your classes this year?" S: "Not so good". T: "Even math?"
S: "Oh yeah, except math."
ALEKS--Student Perspective--Quotes from 6th Graders
"(ALEKS) is so much better because you don't have to write all of this and if you don't have to write on paper, you can just type a few
letters, and it also tells if your answer is wrong right away.""I don't really like it because I go
really slow on it and I don't feel like I can focus. I don't concentrate very
well on computers."
"I feel like we should be able to listen to some music or do some other stuff to help us focus on the
math. Yeah, like music on an ipod."
"Once I was way (ahead) at something and I just got shot back like three subjects.
ALEKS--Parent PerspectiveParent feedback has been mixed, slightly leaning toward the
positive.
The top concerns were that both manipulatives and paper and pencil are essential for middle school math. We
answered this by saying that teachers are responsive as soon as hands are raised and are encouraged to find real-world
examples, use manipulatives, and require paper-and-pencil work.
Parents generally like the concept of proficiency-based learning; particularly parents of students not in the
mainstream.
Logins
Find ALEKS.com and use the username and password attached to your group's Chromebook.
Start with "Continue my path" Feel free to explore
Ask me or Joel for help.
The Positives
1. The nature of proficiency based learning; Objective based learning
2. Particularly beneficial for high and low learners 3. Low-risk entrance into proficiency based learning
4. See exactly how students are spend their time 5. Easy teacher buy-in
The Negatives1. Student buy-in
2. Hard to communicate results to parents
3. Requires support, teacher resilience, creativity, teacher supplement
4. Not successful (as nothing is) if you intend to drop students in front of screen and let them at it
5. Cost, while reasonable, is a consideration. It's significantly cheaper to squeeze another year out of your math textbooks.
RecommendationsI think ALEKS Math is a good introduction into proficiency-based education.
I love the idea of kids working on exactly the math lesson that is "next" in their education.
The biggest drawback we've had is not teacher pushback, nor parent pushback, but students who claim either boredom or frustration.
ALEKS as a stand-alone math course requires all of the following: 1. Teachers who are familiar with the entire math curriculum
2. Teachers who are active in answering questions 3. Work is recorded with paper and pencil
4. Work is communicated to parents in an understandable format 5. Supplemental support to stimulate engagement
ALEKS is also a good resource in any of the following situations: 1. Students with learning differences (high and low)
2. For use as a supplement or challenge for students who need more work. 3. For use with a teacher who struggles with variety of instructional strategies.
