ALEKS

ALEKS (Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces) is an online tutoring and assessment program^[1] developed by ALEKS Corporation that includes course material in mathematics,^[2] chemistry,^[3] introductory statistics,^[4] and business.^[5]

Rather than being based on numerical test scores, ALEKS uses the theory of knowledge spaces to develop a combinatorial understanding of the set of topics a student does or doesn't understand from the answers to its test questions.^[6] Based on this assessment, it determines the topics that the student is ready to learn and allows the student to choose from interactive learning modules for these topics.^[7]

ALEKS was initially developed at UC Irvine starting in 1994 with support from a large National Science Foundation grant.^[8] The software was granted by UC Irvine's Office of Technology Alliances to ALEKS Corporation under an exclusive, worldwide, perpetual license. ^[9] In 2013, the ALEKS Corporation was acquired by McGraw-Hill Education.^[10]

Subjects Covered

ALEKS is available for a variety of courses and subjects that cover K-12, higher education, and continuing education, ranging from basic arithmetic and chemistry to pre-calculus and MBA financial accounting preparation.^[11]

Notes

1. Doignon & Falmagne (1999); Canfield (2001); Hardy (2004).
2. Canfield (2001); Alsup & Stillson (2003); Hardy (2004); Hagerty & Smith (2005); Tempelaar et al. (2006); Hampikian et al. (2007); Cheney et al. (2011).
3. Grayce (2013).
4. Miller (2005); Xu, Meyer & Morgan (2009).
5. Baxter & Thibodeau (2011).
6. Doignon & Falmagne (1999); Miller (2005); Baxter & Thibodeau (2011).
7. Canfield (2001).
8. "Bridging the gap: Adaptive learning program developed at UCI supplements and reinforces math and science skills - July 1, 2013, UCI News". UCI News. Retrieved 2014-11-22.
9. "Research Behind ALEKS".
10. "McGraw-Hill Education Agrees to Acquire ALEKS Corporation, Developer of Adaptive Learning Technology... - NEW YORK, June 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/". Prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2014-03-25.
11. "Course offerings".

References

• Alsup, John; Stillson, Holly (2003), "Smart ALEKS ... or not? Teaching Basic Algebra using an online interactive learning system" (subscription required), Mathematics and Computer Education 37 (3): 329–336.
• Baxter, Ryan J.; Thibodeau, Jay C. (2011), "Does the Use of Intelligent Learning and Assessment Software Enhance the Acquisition of Financial Accounting Knowledge?", Issues in Accounting Education 26 (4): 647–656, doi:10.2308/iace-50052.
• Canfield, Ward (2001), "ALEKS: a Web-based intelligent tutoring system" (subscription required), Mathematics and Computer Education 35 (2): 152–158.
• Cheney, K. R.; Craig, S. D.; Anderson, C.; Bargagliotti, A.; Graesser, A. C.; Sterbinsky, A.; Okwumabua, T.; Hu, X. (2011), "Closing the knowledge gap in mathematics among sixth grade students using ALEKS", in Koehler, M.; Mishra, P., Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2011, Chesapeake, VA: AACE, pp. 1425–1427.
• Doignon, Jean-Paul; Falmagne, Jean-Claude (1999), "A Practical Application: The Aleks System", Knowledge Spaces, Berlin, Heidelberg, and New York: Springer-Verlag, pp. 9–10.
• Grayce, Christopher J. (2013), "A commercial implementation of knowledge space theory in college general chemistry", in Falmagne, Jean-Claude; Albert, Dietrich; Doble, Chris; Eppstein, David; Hu, Xiangen, Knowledge Spaces: Applications in Education, Springer.
• Hagerty, Gary; Smith, S. (2005), "Using the Web-Based Interactive Software ALEKS to Enhance College Algebra" (subscription required), Mathematics and Computer Education 39 (3): 183–194.
• Hampikian, Janet; Guarino, Joe; Chyung, Seung Youn; Gardner, John; Moll, Amy; Pyke, Pat; Schrader, Cheryl (2007), "Benefits of a tutorial mathematics program for engineering students enrolled in precalculus: a template for assessment", ASEE Annual Conference (PDF).
• Hardy, Michael E. (April 2004), "Use and evaluation of the ALEKS interactive tutoring system", Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges 19 (4): 342–347.
• Miller, L. Michele (2005), "Using learning styles to evaluate computer-based instruction", Computers in Human Behavior 21 (2): 287–306, doi:10.1016/j.chb.2004.02.011.
• Tempelaar, Dirk; Rienties, Bart; Rehm, Martin; Dijkstra, Joost; Arts, Mark; Blok, Geke (2006), "An online summer course for prospective international students to remediate deficiencies in math prior knowledge: the case of ALEKS", Proc. First WebALT Conference (PDF), pp. 23–26.
• Xu, Yonghong Jade; Meyer, Katrina A.; Morgan, Dianne D. (2009), "A mixed-methods assessment of using an online commercial tutoring system to teach introductory statistics", Journal of Statistics Education 17 (2).
• ALEKS Publications, (c) (2007), "Dramatic Learning Outcomes: Mathematics" (PDF), White Paper 1 (1).

External links

• Official website