Alta is Knewton’s product for higher education. Alta is a courseware solution that combines Knewton’s adaptive learning technology with content, and is designed to deliver a personalized learning experience that is affordable, accessible and improves student outcomes. Knewton is a Wiley brand (acquired 2019).
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WileyPLUS
Score 9.4 out of 10
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WileyPLUS is a learning and assesment platform which can be added to many popular LMS, from Wiley.
I think any computational based math class will greatly benefit from [alta from Knewton, a Wiley brand]. It simplifies the professor's work in terms of grading while also increasing the student's ability to get real time help on homework problems if they are struggling. I like that the questions are at a deep level and not all multiple choice. If a student gets a problem wrong they get a growth mindset message of encouragement.
It's a good platform that has some very good content. We use Canvas as our learning management platform. It is nice to be able to integrate some of the pre-build WileyPLUS course modules into our Canvas course. Other publishers are good too and they sync with Canvas, but I find Wiley's Canvas modules easy to use and customize.
24-7 support is available by phone, chat, or email. They also hold annual events which I have been blessed to attend twice. The staff is excellent. They are knowledgeable and genuinely care about you and your students. There are online forums for instructors to collaborate, learn, and have fun. Instructors receive gift cards for their participation too!
Compared to competitors, the Knewton system is much more adaptive and designed for mastery and learning rather than assessment. If those are your goals, then this is a good system to use. The complexity of the problems is generally lacking, so you will need to supplement with more difficult problems for your students to tackle, whereas many other systems have these more difficult problems built-in.
I like the mechanistic approach and taught that way for several years. Klein makes a nice meeting point between the traditional, by-the-functional-group way of approaching the material and the mechanistic approach with common patterns pointed out and grouped along the way. It is one of the best, clearly written texts on Organic Chemistry on the market!! It isn't overly dry and intimidating, but more conversational - like a tutor guiding you through the foundational topic or thought process. The graphics are clear and understandable with good use of color. The canvas integration is wonderful! The adaptive practice is growing on me - I started a skeptic, but students really like the by-learning-objective feedback. From term to term, you can easily turn your homework assignments over for the next term if you like to assign specific questions.
Before Wiley Plus, my students didn't do homework, because it was not possible for me to grade all their work. Now they do it to earn points needed to pass the class.
Before Adaptive Assignment, my students really struggled with the multiple-choice part of the exam. Now my students have the opportunity to practice a plethora of questions provided to them in Adaptive Assignment. Now the exam grades are much better!
