Ensuring Student Engagement and Equity with Personalized,

Adaptive Learning

REMOTE
The Connected Faculty Summit hosted by ASU & sponsored by McGraw-Hill

Claude Tameze, Ph.D.

Chairman & Director
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Lincoln University

July 13, 2020

 Background

About ALEKS
 ALEKS (Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces).
 Web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system.
 Adaptively determines exactly what a student knows or doesn't know in
a course.
 ALEKS periodically reassesses students to ensure that the topics they
learned are also retained.

ALEKS at Lincoln University

 Placement assessment (ALEKS PPL- Placement, Preparation and
Learning).
 Supplemental tool for instruction in (MAT-101 and MAT-102).
 Learning with ALEKS

Knowledge Initial
Check Knowledge
Retention Check

Positive Ready to
Reinforcement Learn

Focus on Personalized
Mastery Practice
ALEKS Pie
ALEKS Progress Report
 ALEKS Role in Remote Instruction

 Facilitated a smooth transition from face to face to

remote instruction.
 Helped to maintain the continuity of assignment.
 Allowed both faculty and students to quickly switch
to a virtual environment.
 Helped to support test integrity by providing a built-
in test proctoring tool (Lockdown Browser with
Respondus Monitor) at no additional cost that lasted
until June 15.
 Helped faculty to be flexible in course delivery.
Teach based on feedback from ALEKS.
 Student Engagement

ALEKS:

 Improves students’engagement by ensuring remote

access from any device, including smartphones.
 Provides a user friendly and easy to navigate
platform
 Instructs students on the topics they are most ready
to learn and engaging them in the learning process.
 Provides students a 24/7 access to their course and
faculty access to students' activity.
 How does ALEKS help students?

 ALEKS promotes equity

 Everyone starts at a different place. ALEKS
gives all students the opportunity to finish at
the same place.

 ALEKS acknowledges that all students have

unique backgrounds with varied levels of
preparation and provides an opportunity to
start at different places

=
An Equitable Start
 Equity

 Lincoln University covers the cost of ALEKS

subscription. This ensures equitable access to ALEKS
quality learning platform for low income students.

 ALEKS also helps ensure an equitable and fair

assessment mechanism by maintaining test integrity
(Lockdown Browser with Respondus Monitor) at no
additional cost during this time of social distancing
and remote instruction.
How does ALEKS help instructors promote equity?

Student #1
Student #2
 Outcomes/Results

 On average, students who spend 10 hours learning through

ALEKS PPL place one level higher than those who don’t.

 According to our data, approximately 1/3 of students who

would place in to level 1 (MAT-101) place at least one level
higher by studying with ALEKS PPL.

 Our data shows a moderate correlation (0.44-0.55)

between ALEKS completion and average exam score.
 COVID did not affect students’
 Effectiveness of ALEKS PPL

Effectiveness of study through ALEKS PPL

80.0%

70.0%

60.0%
Percentage of Students

50.0%

40.0%

30.0%

20.0%

10.0%

0.0%
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5
Overall 67.9% 18.4% 11.7% 1.9% 0.2%
10+ 46.3% 25.9% 18.5% 7.4% 1.9%
 Students Evaluation of ALEKS

 How do you rate your performance in MAT 101/102

course with and without ALEKS?
90%

80%

70%

60%
Percentage

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Better with ALEKS Better with out ALEKS
Fall 2018 82% 18%
Spring 2019 77.24% 22.76%
 Questions?

THANK YOU