Students Complain about “Artificially Intelligent” College Math Program

Since the beginning of this school year, freshmen have been complaining about the “artificially intelligent” college math program ALEKS, which, for the first year, is now used in most math classes at UW-Milwaukee.

Earlier this fall, many students bombarded the UW-Milwaukee Class of 2018 Facebook page with statements that were along the lines of “I hate you ALEKS!”  One student even wrote that if it were between Hitler, Stalin, Kim Jong Un and ALEKS, he would destroy ALEKS.

ALEKS stands for Assessment and Learning Knowledge Spaces.  According to its website, ALEKS is an “artificially intelligent assessment and learning system.” Students spend time in classes and labs working online through ALEKS. The Math Department’s website says students can finish two basic math courses in one semester if they proceed through ALEKS fast enough. In some classes, all student homework and assessment is done through ALEKS, which students proceed through at their own pace. In some of the classes, there is also instruction from teachers. According to the Math Department website, referring to one course in which ALEKS is used, “the time spent for instruction is dedicated toward helping students individually or in small groups and toward improving the students’ problem-writing and problem-solving skills.”

The program gives students a pie chart to complete by doing topics or problems that will help fill a pie slice.  It is a way to help students understand how to do a math problem by having them do several similar problems in a row. All the topics given on the pie chart are things that the student is supposedly ready to learn.

Kyle Swanson, Chairman of the Math Department, explained that ALEKS is a “mastery system” that will make sure a student understands a topic by asking questions multiple times.  It allows students to learn problems again that they might’ve forgotten.  He compares mathematics to learning how to play a musical instrument or learning a foreign language.  It is something you have to keep doing consistently.

As the semester has unfolded, there have been fewer posts on social media about the math program, but it is still discussed among students.  Many of them still have issues with so much of their class time being taught by a computer.

“It’s honestly very time consuming and tedious.  If you get one question wrong, it adds more questions on top of it.  I had to stop working on it at times because it was so frustrating,” said student Erin Foster on the Class of 2018 page.

One student named Rebecca Simpson said it’s good that ALEKS teaches students to help figure things out themselves, but some students can’t teach themselves.

“This isn’t the way many students learn.  I can see why in theory this is a good program, because you have to do it until you get it right a few times…but then again there are so many students that get so fed up with not being able to understand how to do it, they end up just not doing it or worse, they drop the class.”

Another student named Britanny Cannon said she feels “angry and upset” when she worked on her ALEKS assignments.  “I have never felt more unconfident than when I’m giving answers on that program.”

Swanson said the UWM Math Department had previously used various kinds of online homework systems in different math classes.  But they wanted to use just one online program so students’ experience as they go through the math courses is consistent.

The way teachers grade ALEKS can depend on the math class.  Dan Lotesto, who teaches Math 105, says that students need to have the whole pie chart completed to be able to pass the class.  He also teaches Math 116, and students are graded on ALEKS based on their weekly scores on it.

The amount that teachers use ALEKS also varies in the math courses.

Most of the math courses are using the math program.  They have been using ALEKS for about 15 years, but they started having a majority of the classes use the program this school year.

Swanson says that the Math Department is still learning the program and will improve.

In a syllabus a student receives, it says that they should be spend about 60 hours or more a semester doing homework.

“For better or worse, ALEKS holds you accountable for that,” said Swanson.

High school didn’t require as much work as college does.

“When you look at what you cover in a whole year in high school, we’re trying to cover that in a semester in college.”

Swanson says that students have to work on it continuously everyday each week instead of doing six hours of ALEKS on Sunday and not doing it for the rest of the week.

Swanson says that there are students who do in fact do all the work required but don’t see progress.  He wants to make sure that those students and others who are struggling seek help.

Even when students comment on what they dislike about ALEKS, many mention how it is helpful.  As student Amy Yang puts it, “It’s a pain in the butt…but it is helpful.”

Niyah Cobbs, who is in Math 092, says she likes ALEKS.

“Whatever you put into ALEKS is what you’re going to get out of it…It’s not about your teacher and what they do because, at the end, it’s your grade and not your teacher’s grade.”

Next year, the Math Department plans to have a fully staffed ALEKS lab on the third floor of the Engineering Mathematical Science Building for student who need help with the math program.