ALEKS OVERVIEW

Become familiar with our learning platform, ALEKS:

Progress Reports: Figuring Out How Much Is Left Within Each Unit

Different students will have different amounts of topics to learn within each Unit. To figure out how to schedule your time, you need to first note how much you have left to learn in each Unit. To do this:

Click on the three bars in the top left corner of ALEKS to see the navigation menu.

Click on Reports (Third choice from bottom)

This will show you a tile for your progress in your current Module/Unit: how many topics you've mastered and how many ones you have remaining (first image below).

If you want to know about other Units, click on "View Full Report" at the bottom right of the Current Module tile (second image below).

Image of ALEKS dashboard with 6 tiles or areas. Each tile shows your progress in your current Module/Unit including how many topics you've mastered and how many ones you have remaining .

Image of a different ALEKS dashboard showing four tiles or areas, titled Unit A, Unit B, Unit C, and Unit D. The Unit A tile shows a score of 81% and that 69 out of 85 topics have been covered. Other Units are grayed out showing no information yet.

How to Use ALEKS

Assignments

Throughout the course, you will learn lessons in Canvas, then go to ALEKS for further learning, practice and assessments. In ALEKS, when you see a page such as the one below, that is your signal to return to Canvas and begin the next section of learning.

Learning Assignments

Each Learning Assignment page in Google Classroom contains the following:

- - Goals for the lesson
  - Reading(s): The reading included on the learning assignment page is also an overview of the topics in the lesson and includes definitions, formulas, and some examples. These are generic readings created by ASU faculty.
  - Lecture video(s): The lecture videos are overviews of the lesson topics created by ASU faculty. They include information about definitions, formulas, and some examples.
  - A link to ALEKS assignment: The ALEKS part of the assignment is in what ALEKS calls "learning mode". You usually get to the learning assignment by clicking on the Continue My Path button in ALEKS. You will be presented with an example for a specific topic. After you read through the example, you will be given problems to complete. The number of problems that you must do depends on your Initial Knowledge Check and how you do on the questions in the topic. It is possible to lose credit for questions if you answer incorrectly.
  - A list of optional videos on topics in the learning assignment: Some of the topics can be clicked on to take you to a video that shows how to do a problem covering the topic. Not all of the topics have associated videos.

The learning assignments are worth 20% of your grade.

Practice Assignments

How to Do the Practice Assignments

There are practice assignments that are titled with the unit name, the word practice, and the practice assignment number. These practice assignments are worth 10% of your grade.

Practice Assignments are questions picked from the prior lessons of the unit. They are to help prepare you for exams.

How to Access the Practice Assignments

To access the practice assignments, in ALEKS, click on the drop-down menu (three horizontal lines, top left side of the screen). Select Assignments and then click on the Practice Assignment that you want to work on from the list.

Unit Pre exams

There are Pre Exams that are titled with the unit name. These Pre Exams together are worth 10% of your grade.

To access the Pre Exams, in ALEKS, click on the drop-down menu (three horizontal lines, top left side of the screen). Select Assignments and then click on the Pre Exam that you want to work on from the list.

Topic carousel

In Learning Mode, you can access the Topic Carousel by selecting the downward arrow tab: .

Topics are sorted from easiest to hardest so you first work on topics with the highest likelihood of being learned and retained. Each topic has its own card containing the slice name, the topic name, and attributes (if any). The Topic Carousel shows three cards at a time and is easy to scroll through by using the scroll bar or back/forward arrow.

How to find it:

- - - 1. Go to Learning Mode (Click Start or Continue My Path or Click "Learn" in the ALEKS menu).
      2. Select the Topic Carousel downward arrow tab: (top left).

ALEKS offers quick tips when you encounter the Topic Carousel for the first time in the form of pop-up messages, as shown below.

How to switch topics

Topics can be switched at any time by selecting a new topic card in the Topic Carousel. After selecting a card, a sample problem is available for preview in the bottom half of the window. You can begin working on the new topic after selecting Start from the Learning Page.

Switching topics mid-way through working on a topic will not cause you to lose your work. ALEKS remembers the progress made on the topic and the next time you return to that topic, you can resume where you left off.

Topic icons

Use these icons on the topics in the Topic Carousel to help you decide what topic to cover next.

Topic carousel filter

The Topic Carousel is useful for filtering specific topics, reordering topics in the carousel, or filtering topics by specific attributes such as videos, goal topics, unblocked topics, etc. You can also enter words to search for topics by name. By default, the Topic Carousel is sorted from the easiest to hardest Ready to Learn topics.

How to find it:

- - - 1. Go to Learning Mode (Click Start or Continue My Path or Click "Learn" in the ALEKS menu).
      2. Click the down arrow in the upper left corner and select Filters on the right
      3. Select Filters in the upper-right corner.

Topics are tagged to display attributes (if any). On the right is an example of a topic that is tagged with attributes.

Topic lists showing 5 different icon badges, one for locked with a lock, one for "learned" with a star, one for "mastered" with a crown, one for "goal" with a gem and one for "review" with a checkmark."

screenshot of the ALEKS dashboard with 3 topics panels or tiles. There is a dropdown menu that shows filters and several tags that could be selected including Any Topic, Needs more practice, goal topic, unlocked, video, and instructor resource.

Review filter

By default, the Topic Carousel displays Ready to Learn topics. However, if you want to review and practice previously learned and mastered topics, you can use the filter to load the Topic Carousel with review topics by selecting Review.

How to find it:

- - - 1. Go to Learning Mode (Click Start or Continue My Path or Click "Learn" in the ALEKS menu).
      2. Click the down arrow in the upper left corner and select Filters on the right (see image below).
      3. Select Review

Compare my answer to ALEKS answer

Sometimes ALEKS may mark your answer as incorrect, but you think it is correct. In this case, you should check and see how the formatting of your answer compares to the formatting of the ALEKS response. Here's how:

- - - 1. Access "Report" in the navigation menu.
      2. Under the "This week's activity" tile, select view full report. This will launch the "Time and Topic" report.
      3. Click on the bar graph to view topics covered and questions attempted.
      4. Click on individual questions to see how your response compares to the ALEKS response. This will allow you to see exactly how you formatted your answer versus the answer that ALEKS states is correct. 🎦 This video demonstrates this process.

Note: If you believe that your answer to a question is correct despite it being counted as incorrect, then please contact your instructor using the "moderator" feature of InScribe.

Need more help?

- - Head to ALEKS Technical Support for more information.
  - Email StudyHall@asu.edu
  - Post your question on the InScribe Community Forum.

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