Alta

What do you like best about alta?

I have started using Knewton Alta about 4 years ago, shortly after I started teaching co-requisite courses. I was on a search for an adaptive learning system that could identify knowledge gaps and provide the missing background as the students were working on an assignment. Knewton Alta was the best thing for my needs; my students love it, and it is super easy and intuitive to use both for instructors and students. It provides ample information such as the time it took to complete an assignment, the last time and date the student was last active, the time and date an assignment was complete, and much more. These features are very helpful for conducting and teaching co-requisite courses in an online or hybrid format.

What do you dislike about alta?

Nothing! It's absolutely the best online platform out there, in my opinion.

Recommendations to others considering alta:

If you care about your students' financial health, choosing alta is the best you can offer your students. It is cost-effective, user-friendly and helps build students' knowledge and confidence.

What problems is alta solving and how is that benefiting you?

When a student is working on homework that requires some proficiency in basic topics, Alta provides any missing knowledge by introducing simpler questions, extra examples, and videos. It is truly an adaptive system. You can also set it up to allow late homework submission without a late penalty; it saves instructors time for setting up extensions, and it provides flexibility to students. Further, as an instructor, you don't need to review a long list of problems and pick the ones you want, but rather you pick objectives to include in an assignment. This saves time and makes it easy to create assignments and other assessments. Last but not least, Alta helps students develop a growth mindset as it provides positive feedback all along and ample opportunities to fix mistakes and progress with mastery.

What do you like best about alta?

I like how students who understand the material can get through the homework quickly and students who need more practice get it. The fact the materials used are OER fits into the philosophy of my college. The overall cost to students is quite reasonable. And I love the integration of DESMOS with the homework and student instructional assistance.

What do you dislike about alta?

It is not always as clear what needs to be taught for each section unless you manually review each homework section's instruction. The OpenStax book for Statistics is not very robust, but Alta gets around that by supplementing with more materials (that are still open source).

What problems is alta solving and how is that benefiting you?

Students with different prereq skills are able to complete the same homework without a 'one size fits all' number of questions. It also fits in with our Open Source model with a robust homework system.

What do you like best about alta?

The course structure and organization of content in terms of text and videos are beneficial. i personally love the assesments at the end of each module and helps to keep track of your progress and understanding of the course material.

What do you dislike about alta?

I have personally liked everything about the platform. I can recommend reviewing the cost of the subscription to make it as an competetive option for students and more video content on some topics.

What problems is alta solving and how is that benefiting you?

As a full-time professional, I have limited time to dedicate to extra course learnings. Still, Alta with its phone access feature, allows me to learn and study effectively on the go while traveling and during downtime at work which helps me to utilize my time effectively.One of the benefits that I have notice is, this application is really simple and even with very little knowledge, one is able to navigate their way smoothly through the application to complete the task at hand.

What do you like best about alta?

Alta is very easy to use for both the instructor and student. The objectives are clear and organized which makes creating assignments a breeze. The adaptive platform is especially appealing to my students. Gone are the days of every student getting the same assignment. Students get the right level and number of problems when they need it.

What do you dislike about alta?

Most of the lower level classes at my school do not allow calculator use on exams. However, some problems in the alta assignment ask for approximations or use large numbers.

What problems is alta solving and how is that benefiting you?

The biggest problem alta has solved is giving students quality software at an affordable price. It's actually worth their time and money.

What do you like best about alta?

Alta is customizable to the needs of the course I am teaching.

What do you dislike about alta?

Some students don't understand the mastery platform and get frustrated when they are taken back to previous objectives.

Recommendations to others considering alta:

Take advantage of the support team. They are committed to providing the best help and service to get the program up and running.

What problems is alta solving and how is that benefiting you?

I teach algebra and students use Alta for homework. The explanations built into the homework experience has been positively received.