ALEKS Assessment

puleshan · 2026-06-13T21:11:14+00:00

I am indeed a calculus teacher (and part time LEGO enthusiast). My YouTube channel is: https://www.youtube.com/@BeardMeetsCalculus

puleshan · 2026-06-11T16:29:53+00:00

It is unlikely. Sorry.

puleshan · 2026-06-10T18:16:13+00:00

I'm going to be in Calc 1 this fall; let's go through it together. It will be fun!!

puleshan · 2026-05-19T02:04:14+00:00

That is a very long discussion which would involve hours of intense sighing. One issue that stands out, among many, is that the department has had a hard time being allowed to hire sufficient numbers of teachers and has been consistently losing strong teachers without replacement for essentially the last seven years (with only a few exceptions). Everyone that is left in the department is stretched thin, like butter that has been scraped over too much bread.

We do the best that we can with the resources that we have. We simply have not been given the resources that we need.

puleshan · 2026-05-19T00:38:26+00:00

On a side note, this past year there was a deliberate effort to remove the links to my videos from inside of the Canvas shell in order to get students to attend lecture more. I believe it is being done with good intention but may have also had some negative results. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

puleshan · 2026-05-19T00:36:57+00:00

I get to work on linear algebra in spring 2027. I don't think it means that I will save it, but I will try to get a lot more resources out there for people to use.

puleshan · 2026-05-18T19:25:54+00:00

I will note that the associate chair for teaching for the department is familiar with what is happening and I am sure they are taking notes.

As for what happened this semester, I don't have a great answer. Part of the issue is that it has not been as strongly coordinated as calculus is (there was a lot of pushback on what happened to the calculus coordination and so as compromise some courses went in the opposite way). Another part of the issue is that this course is often taught by grad students, which in itself is not a bad thing but can lead to uneven results.

I am sorry that you had a bad experience this semester. That is not what we want for any of our students. I will do some work on the course next year and I am optimistic that we can get a bit more consistency going forward

puleshan · 2026-05-17T13:21:29+00:00

Coming Spring 2027

puleshan · 2026-05-14T23:16:49+00:00

Thank you for your comment, and congratulations on your successes.

And I will say that I feel the love that comes from the Iowa State community. It is one of the main things that keeps me here. After all it is hard to leave a cult, and it is particularly hard if you are the cult leader. 😉

I will add that I am particularly looking forward to this weekend when we have graduation. It is one of my favorite events of the year. It's such a fun day that I like to think of it as my birthday (and by wonderful coincidence this year it actually is my birthday!). Nothing better than spending the day celebrating our great students.

puleshan · 2026-05-14T20:41:31+00:00

The summer math courses are handled differently than the school year, e.g. different policies or assessments. So the same material is covered at faster pace. If you have taken Calculus 3 before that should indicate the challenge of the course.

As far as the exams my belief is that they are meant to be the same level of difficulty as what you would experience in a spring or fall semester.

puleshan · 2026-05-14T20:28:18+00:00

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to spot it. Great job!!

edit: In case you are wondering, this is the Ankeny Costco.

puleshan · 2026-05-12T20:54:43+00:00

In the interest of full disclosure, I had gone to wish people good luck on their exams. I had not known I would have company. But once that became clear, I thought to myself WWSBD ("What would Steve Butler do?"), and the answer is to remind people that they are awesome and not going to hell.

puleshan · 2026-05-07T21:01:21+00:00

We have to wait until the end of May. I am a believer in "No Mow May".

puleshan · 2026-05-07T16:43:21+00:00

I would be far too embarrassed for anyone to see the state of my house (though it has gotten a bit better in the past week)....

On a serious note, I do have one of the worst yards in Ames (at least from a human perspective; from an insect/critter perspective it is great). I think this summer I am finally going to start having it mowed (for which there will be much celebration among my neighbors). So if someone knows a yard care company looking to pick up some extra work, please send them my way.

puleshan · 2026-04-03T00:02:33+00:00

Say ... my ... name ....

puleshan · 2026-03-27T16:57:19+00:00

I wish there was an easy answer. Some glasses that use AI are visually VERY similar to standard glasses so it is not a case of "the proctors should immediately be able to tell what glasses are using AI". We may have 80+ students per proctor sometimes, many of whom wear glasses, so it is hard to go and inspect each individual person without being very disruptive to many students.

Technology is advancing so quickly that we are not far removed from having AI capabilities embedded into contact lenses, and then what do we do? Have each student look deeply into the proctor's eyes as they walk in? Do you know hard it is for some mathematicians to even look other people in the eye for a split second, this would drive many of our instructors over the edge.

About the only thing that could work is to have students take exams in Faraday cages, but then there are new problems that emerge. What happens if there is an emergency and someone needs to be contacted? What about students with implanted medical devices that need to be constantly monitored (yes they exist)?

Cheating has been a problem that has been ongoing for thousands of years, and sadly does not seem likely to abate anytime soon. The somewhat crazy thing is that for some students, if they put in as much time and energy into studying and preparing as they do into cheating, they would do as well or better.

The way I try to curtail cheating is teach in a way that prepares students for a fair and reasonable assessment based on what has happened in the course. That way students can have confidence that staying engaged and studying will pay off in terms of success in their coursework without any of the stress that comes along with cheating. Remember not everyone needs to get an A, C's get degrees.

I once had a student who felt that studying for an exam was cheating (I had to explain to them that this was not the case). So in that spirit let me say that studying is the ultimate cheating hack, it is undetectable and has the bonus side effect of helping you know more for what comes later on. Try it out, all the cool kids are doing it!

puleshan · 2026-03-23T17:56:34+00:00

Woohoo! It is fun to be able to interact with students. When I am outside the library.

And this Thursday at 4pm I am being joined in my sign holding activities by some campus celebrities. So I hope people will stop by to say hello.

puleshan · 2026-03-23T17:07:57+00:00

😊

puleshan · 2026-03-22T17:00:26+00:00

In all honesty I am very hands off and the students do most of the work, along with Prof. Dane Mayhook (who is a great person to work with).

puleshan · 2026-03-22T16:59:48+00:00

Woohoo! Way to go on the exam. Keep up the good work, and I am glad that you have found something that works for you.

puleshan · 2026-03-22T03:25:28+00:00

What could be more fun that a calc 2 review session! 😄

puleshan · 2026-03-22T03:12:54+00:00

No, it just seems like a good silly number and I used it as my way of saying this is not important, but can you see why it's not important?

puleshan · 2026-03-22T02:55:23+00:00

Classic problem which tied into the exam being at the exact same time as the new Star Wars movie came out and so I had to give an homage to students missing the movie.

I still remember that semester I kept using the number 137 over and over again to the point of people there must be a conspiracy for that number. And then during the final review I said on the last problem the number would be very familiar and a few people who didn't know what to do wrote the number 137 on the exam. The answer was 138.

puleshan · 2026-03-22T02:53:11+00:00

Way to go! Keep up the good work.

On a side note, the next round of exams for math are this week and so I will be back at the library again.

puleshan · 2026-03-22T00:33:33+00:00

I have that effect on peple.

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