- [Instructor] This video will focus on
how to talk to your students about ALEKS Knowledge Checks.
During the course, students will encounter
Progress Knowledge Checks, which assess students on
recently learned material.
After students take their initial Knowledge Check,
it is highly suggested that you talk
through the benefits of the Progress Knowledge Checks
with your students around the second week of class,
if not before, to help manage expectations.
Encourage students to think of Progress Knowledge Checks
as non-punitive review.
ALEKS is making sure students are retaining
what they have learned and preparing them
for upcoming graded assignments or assessments.
After a student spends five hours in ALEKS
and learns 20 topics, they will take their Knowledge Check.
ALEKS uses their individual learning path
to guide the questions.
It is important that students always do their best
and only use I don't know if they truly don't know
what to do.
There are two huge benefits to Progress Knowledge Checks.
First, the results of the Progress Knowledge Check will show
students any topic they had learned
but did not show mastery of, and therefore, need to revisit.
Students can then review those specific topics
that need more practice prior to a graded assignment
or assessment.
Second, if students are showing mastery
of their learned material, ALEKS will reach into
their Ready-to-Learn topics.
This means students can gain topics
without practicing them in learning mode.
In a non-ALEKS course, student who may not perform well
on an assessment will often shrug their shoulders
and move on.
If they want to improve their performance,
they either have to figure out what to study on their own
or meet with the instructor.
ALEKS takes care of this for them
by identifying topics that need more practice.
If students fail to retain topics on a Knowledge Check,
they can immediately go into learning mode
and use the Needs More Practice filter
to identify those topics they need to relearn.
It's useful to tell students it takes fewer correct answers
to gain topics back than it did to learn them,
so this is not a daunting task and easily illustrated
by the three-segment learning cycle
instead of the original five-segment cycle.
This ability to quickly locate topics in need
of practice is beneficial to all students
but incredibly important for those C or D students,
as they typically are not aware
of what they can or should do to improve.
Simply working through their Needs More Practice topics
can move these students up a letter grade.
Nothing else provides students with this clear knowledge
of what they know and what they need
to practice in such a low-stakes atmosphere.
While most students will accept Progress Knowledge Checks
as part of the course, other might get frustrated
as they see them as a barrier
to completing other coursework.
One way to combat this is be sure students are aware
of the structure, benefits, and notifications surrounding
Knowledge Checks that have already been mentioned
in this video.
This Knowledge Check icon eliminates the surprise
of a Progress Knowledge Check popping up
during a work session.
It is important to note that the time mentioned
is time spent working in ALEKS, not regular clock hours.
After a few cycles of working in ALEKS followed
by a Progress Knowledge Check,
most students will make peace with them.
For those that complain, instructors should look
at their course progress and see what's going on,
especially if the student is consistently
losing a significant number of topics,
as this may indicate a larger problem
with their learning behavior, such as cramming
or possibly using outside resources.
It is also important to explain to students
that if they try to cram a lot
of work into a small timeframe,
like trying to add 50 topics in a weekend,
they may encounter several Progress Knowledge Checks.
As with all math courses, it's in the best interest
of students to work consistently through the course
and not procrastinate.
Progress Knowledge Checks are where growth occurs.
This detailed Progress Report provides a great visual
of one student's learning
throughout a college algebra course.
As you can see, the student encountered
13 Progress Knowledge Checks over a 16-week semester.
That's the equivalent of a quiz a week,
but these quizzes were given outside of class.
The instructor didn't have to grade them,
and the feedback was instantaneous.
Additionally, you have the option
to schedule Knowledge Checks at appropriate times
for your class to assess student retention and mastery.
Instructors can assign these covering recent knowledge
with Progress Knowledge Check,
or the entire course with a Comprehensive Knowledge Check.
Assign these from the Assignments tab,
and then select Schedule Knowledge Check
to follow the steps.
Scheduled Progress Knowledge Checks fit in nicely in place
of traditional quizzes, and a scheduled
Comprehensive Knowledge Check is an excellent substitute
for a traditional test or even a tradition final exam,
as it can accurately determine a student's knowledge
of all course topics.
Be sure to partner with your ALEKS implementation team
to learn additional best practices
when implementing scheduled Knowledge Checks.
You can find additional tutorials on McGraw-Hill's website
as well as technical support via the ALEKS chat function,
email, or phone.