This is the third of three blog entries (click here and here to read the previous ones) that follow Stephanie’s experience as she takes an Algebra I online course through Apex Learning:
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After completing the first activity, Stephanie clicks on the next activity in the outline to move ahead. As per directions on the first page, she clicks on the icon in the upper right of the content window to download and print an assignment consisting of 10 practice problems that ask her to apply what she has learned in the previous activity. When she has completed the assignment on the print out, she uses the navigation buttons to move to the next page where she is again instructed to click on the icon in the upper right of the content window to launch the answer key so she can compare her answers to the key.
When Stephanie has made sure that she fully understands how to do all the practice problems correctly, she clicks on the next activity in the outline to move ahead to the first quiz. Like all Apex Learning quizzes, the computer-scored assessment consists of 10 multiple-choice questions that are similar to the types of questions Stephanie was asked in the previous activity. Stephanie must receive a score of 80 percent or higher on the quiz before she can move ahead to the next activity. She may retake the quiz—which is randomized to present a different version on each attempt—up to three times before the assessment locks and teacher intervention is required.
As soon as Stephanie has completed the computer-scored activity, her grade is entered automatically into her teacher’s online grade book. Teachers use the online grade book to monitor student progress, track how well a student is doing in a course, and view how recently a student has accessed a course. This timely and comprehensive snapshot of Stephanie’s progress enables the teacher to intervene early and provide one-on-one assistance as soon as Stephanie begins struggling with the material.
Once Stephanie has successfully completed both quizzes, she clicks on the next lesson in the navigation bar to move ahead in the course. She works through this lesson, and all subsequent lessons in the unit, in a similar fashion to the first lesson. When she has successfully completed all the lessons in the unit, she is ready to test her understanding of the material. The unit contains two lessons to help her prepare for the unit exam: there is a diagnostic, which comprises online questions that check her learning and generate a list of activities for her to review, and a unit review, which helps her prepare for the exam.
All unit and course exams consist of two parts: a computer-scored assessment, which comprises multiple choice questions, and a teacher-scored assessment, which consists of written work including writing essays or solving math problems by hand and showing one’s work.
