Log of lecture topics and notes is here.
TurningPoint lessons are here.
- What is ALEKS?
- Registration
- ALEKS mastery
- Objectives
- ALEKS grading
- Getting the most out of ALEKS
- Technical support for ALEKS
What is ALEKS?
ALEKS is a web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system. ALEKS uses adaptive questioning to quickly and accurately determine exactly what you know and don't know in General Chemistry, then instructs you on the topics you are most ready to learn. As you work, it periodically reassesses your progress to ensure that topics learned are also retained.
ALEKS provides the advantages of one-on-one instruction, 24/7, from virtually any web-based computer, for a fraction of the cost of a human tutor. ALEKS is a modern, powerful assessment and learning tool that can make your chances of doing well in this course significantly higher.
Registration
If you puchased ALEKS for the year last semester during CH101 you are already set. Otherwise, the charge for ALEKS for CH102 is $40 if purchased online using the link below ; ALEKS may also purchased from Boston University Barnes & Noble Bookstore.
Here is what you need to do to begin using ALEKS.
- Go to http://www.aleks.com
- Click on "SIGN UP NOW"
- In the box provided, enter the code MPCY4-RG9XR. This code is to be used for all three lecture sections (A1Tullius, A2 Abrams and A3 Dill)
- Register, following the instructions. Be sure to correctly enter your Boston University nine-character ID number, so that you can receive credit for your work.
- ALEKS has been updated for CH102 and you must make sure to upgrade your ALEKS plugin at www.aleks.com/downloads
That's it. You will now receive a brief tutorial on how to enter answers in ALEKS before taking an initial assessment to determine what you have retained from your prior course work.
ALEKS mastery
ALEKS determines your “mastery” of a topic. This means it will ask you how to do a problem in a few different ways and will periodically assess you to make sure you are retaining this information. The ALEKS program determines how often and when to assess you. Trying to cheat the system by having a friend do the work for you will only hurt you later because when ALEKS assesses you and finds you have forgotten how to do something, it will remove that topic from your mastered list and teach it to you again.
Your ALEKS work will be broken down into objectives that follow along with the material being covered in lecture. You can always see your current mastery of all topics - and how close you are to completing an objective - by viewing your pie chart, which is on the first ALEKS page when you log in.
You will always be able to see, right below your ALEKS topics pie …
- what you need to be doing,
- when it is due, and
- the number of topics needed to complete an objective.
Also shown is the number of topics you are learning per hour, so you can always estimate the time it will take to complete your work (factoring in some extra time for assessment).
Objectives
You are required to take a preliminary ALEKS assessment and begin working toward initial topic mastery. The preliminary assessment will take between one and two hours, will include 20-30 questions, and determines your background in basic math and chemistry.
Don't worry about doing well or poorly, just take the assessment as honestly as possible; that way ALEKS will adapt itself to you. Not taking the assessment seriously can lead to LOTS more work during the semester, because you have to master all the topics by the end of the course.
After the preliminary assessment, ALEKS will present you with the first objective. Each objective is made up of a few important chemistry topics and will be due approximately each week. When you complete all the topics in an objective, ALEKS will give you an assessment to see if you retained your knowledge. After you have completed this assessment, ALEKS will unlock the next objective as well as all previous topics you may need to review.
ALEKS grading
ALEKS will constitute 5% of your course score, broken down as follows:
- Mastery Goals, 2 goals, 1% each: There will be 2 times during the year we will see if you are keeping up with the ALEKS objectives. It is important to note that end of objective assessments do not affect if topics are marked as done, so always complete end of objective assessments as soon as possible.
- Overal course mastery, 3%: At the end of the semester we will look at the total number of topics you have mastered out of all the topics possible. This will constitute what percentage of the 3% you receive.
Getting the most out of ALEKS
ALEKS follows along with the course and book and can be a great help if used correctly. We expect most students to spend 2 - 4 hours every week working on it. If you put this work off, then it will require much more time. If you have others do the work for you, it will take you MUCH more time because ALEKS will reteach topics to you.
Because ALEKS is tailored to you, you might find you are a bit ahead or behind the lecture. This is fine, just keep spending your time with it. Do not allow yourself to fall too far behind the course because then you may find you have too many topics to learn before you are graded on your mastery goal. ALEKS only goes as fast as you are able to learn. No concessions will be made for incomplete work when objectives are due.
ALEKS technical support
At any time that you feel your answer to be correct and ALEKS to be incorrect, please follow the following procedure exactly.
- While working on the problem in question, select "Inbox."
- Compose a message to ALEKS customer support.
- Be certain to check the box near the bottom of the compose screen that says "Attach Page ... (Question)"
For all other technical problems using ALEKS, please contact ALEKS technical support at
http://support.aleks.com/
You can also visit http://www.aleks.com/support to find answers to all common questions. You may also speak with technical support at (714) 619-7090.
If you are working at a computer that does not allow downloads, then use
http://www.aleks.com/plugin
instead.