
Knewton (Wiley) - Detailed Review
Education Tools

Knewton (Wiley) - Product Overview
Introduction to Knewton Alta from Wiley
Knewton Alta, now part of Wiley’s education portfolio, is an innovative adaptive learning platform that revolutionizes the educational experience through AI-driven technology. Here’s a breakdown of its primary function, target audience, and key features:
Primary Function
Knewton Alta is designed to provide personalized, data-driven educational experiences. It adapts to each student’s learning style and pace, offering real-time feedback and personalized recommendations to maximize learning potential. The platform focuses on enhancing student outcomes by delivering high-quality, adaptive courseware that addresses the unique needs of each learner.
Target Audience
The primary target audience for Knewton Alta includes students, particularly those in higher education, as well as instructors and educators. It is especially beneficial for students in developmental and gateway courses such as math, statistics, chemistry, and economics. The platform also supports professional development, offering resources for continuous learning and career advancement.
Key Features
- Adaptive Learning: Knewton Alta uses advanced algorithms to provide customized learning experiences. It continuously monitors students’ performance and adapts in real-time to ensure each student receives the support they need at the moment they need it.
- Personalized Feedback: The platform offers immediate and detailed feedback on each question, helping students learn from their mistakes and fill knowledge gaps. This feedback is integrated within the adaptive experience and includes detailed answer explanations.
- Real-Time Remediation: If a student struggles with an assignment, Knewton Alta recognizes the knowledge gap and provides just-in-time remediation, even if it requires revisiting prerequisite concepts.
- Organized Content: All content, including instructional text, videos, examples, and assessments, is organized by learning objectives and served up at the precise moment a student needs it.
- Performance Insights: The platform provides instructors with actionable data and insights into student performance and preparedness. This includes test readiness dashboards and detailed analytics on student learning patterns, helping instructors identify at-risk students for early intervention.
- Accessibility and Affordability: Knewton Alta is accessible and affordable, with some resources, such as the Foundations of Math, offered at no cost to learners. This ensures that students have access to high-quality course materials without financial barriers.
By integrating these features, Knewton Alta from Wiley aims to create a dynamic and interactive learning environment that caters to diverse learning styles and enhances student engagement and outcomes.

Knewton (Wiley) - User Interface and Experience
User Interface of Knewton Alta
The user interface of Knewton Alta, an AI-driven education product from Wiley, is designed to be accessible, intuitive, and supportive for both students and instructors.
Accessibility and Usability
Knewton Alta’s interface is WCAG 2.0 AA-level ADA compliant, ensuring that all learners have an equal chance to succeed regardless of their abilities. The platform features a clean and intuitive interface that makes it easy for users to get started and stay focused. This simplicity helps in reducing any potential confusion and makes the learning experience more seamless.
Personalized Learning Path
The interface adapts to each student’s proficiency level with every interaction. Students begin on the learning objectives selected by the instructor, and the platform continuously monitors their performance, providing real-time adaptations to maximize learning outcomes. This adaptive technology ensures that students receive the exact support they need at the moment they need it.
Feedback and Support
Knewton Alta provides immediate and detailed feedback on each question, whether the answer is correct or not. This feedback is aimed at reinforcing key concepts and filling knowledge gaps. The platform also offers just-in-time instruction and remediation for prerequisite skills, ensuring students can address any gaps in their understanding promptly.
Instructor Dashboards
Instructors have access to actionable data and insights through the instructor dashboards. These dashboards are easy to review and navigate, providing transparency into how students are progressing toward mastery. They help instructors identify class trends and at-risk students early, enabling timely interventions.
Content Organization
All content, including instructional text, videos, examples, and assessments, is organized by learning objectives and integrated within the adaptive experience. This ensures that students receive the relevant content exactly when they need it, enhancing their learning experience.
Ease of Use
The interface is user-friendly, making it easy for both students and instructors to use. The seamless integration with Learning Management Systems (LMS) further enhances the ease of use, allowing for a smooth transition between different educational tools.
Overall User Experience
The overall user experience is focused on engagement and factual accuracy. Students are provided with a personalized learning path that adapts to their needs, ensuring they can retain, recall, and apply knowledge effectively. The platform’s ability to detect and address knowledge gaps in real-time enhances student engagement and learning outcomes. For instructors, the platform offers valuable insights and data to support their teaching, making the overall experience both supportive and effective.

Knewton (Wiley) - Key Features and Functionality
Knewton Overview
Knewton, now part of Wiley, offers a sophisticated AI-driven education platform that is packed with several key features and functionalities, each designed to enhance the learning experience for students and instructors.Adaptive Learning
Knewton’s platform uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide a highly personalized learning experience. It analyzes vast amounts of data to understand each student’s unique needs, preferences, and learning style. This adaptive technology adjusts the content and pace of learning in real-time, ensuring that students are engaged and challenged at their own level.Real-Time Feedback and Remediation
The platform offers immediate and detailed feedback on each question, regardless of the answer’s correctness. This feedback reinforces key concepts and fills knowledge gaps. If a student struggles with an assignment, Knewton Alta recognizes the knowledge gap immediately and provides just-in-time remediation, even reaching back to prerequisite concepts if necessary.Personalized Learning Paths
Each student receives a customized learning path based on their performance. The AI algorithms continuously monitor students’ performance and adapt the content to maximize their learning outcomes. This ensures that instruction does not move forward until the student has proven mastery in each learning area.Integrated Just-in-Time Instruction
Knewton Alta pairs practice with personalized learning, offering detailed answer explanations and integrated just-in-time instruction. This approach ensures that students receive the support they need at the moment they need it, helping to retain, recall, and apply knowledge in the future.Analytics and Reporting
The platform provides actionable data and insights into student performance and preparedness through a gradebook and dashboard. Teachers can track student progress, identify areas of improvement, and adjust their instruction accordingly. This real-time analytics engine helps in making informed decisions about student learning.Content Organization and Delivery
All content, including instructional text, videos, examples, and assessments, is organized by learning objectives and served up at the precise moment a student needs it. This ensures that the learning experience is coherent and effective.Collaborative Learning Features
Knewton AI incorporates collaborative learning features, allowing students to learn in virtual classrooms, participate in group projects, and engage in interactive discussions with their peers. This enhances the learning experience by fostering a more interactive and engaging environment.Scalable and Flexible Architecture
The Knewton platform is built on a service-oriented architecture that allows it to scale efficiently, handling concurrent activity from tens of millions of students. The Knewton knowledge graph and its associated ontology enable flexible and expressive ways to describe relationships between content, making it easy to integrate new collections of content quickly.Performance Metrics
The platform tracks various performance metrics, such as the Active Time metric, which measures how much productive time students spend engaged with educational materials. This helps in identifying how effectively students are using the learning system.Accessibility and Affordability
Knewton Alta is designed to be accessible and affordable, providing high-quality course materials to ensure students have the best chance at success, particularly in developmental and gateway courses like math and statistics.Conclusion
In summary, Knewton’s AI-driven education platform leverages advanced machine learning algorithms to deliver personalized, adaptive learning experiences. It provides real-time feedback, remediation, and analytics, ensuring that both students and instructors have the tools they need to achieve their educational goals effectively.
Knewton (Wiley) - Performance and Accuracy
Evaluating Knewton Alta’s Performance and Accuracy
Performance
Knewton’s adaptive learning platform, Knewton Alta, has demonstrated strong performance in various educational settings. Here are some highlights:- Student Outcomes: Studies have shown that students using Knewton Alta achieve significant improvements in their academic performance. For instance, 87% of students using Knewton Alta achieved mastery on their assignments, and there was a 38% increase in quiz scores for struggling students after using the platform.
- Adaptive Learning: The platform continuously monitors students’ performance and adapts in real-time to maximize their learning outcomes. It provides immediate and detailed feedback, filling knowledge gaps and offering just-in-time remediation, even for prerequisite concepts.
- Engagement and Completion: Increased usage of Knewton Alta is associated with higher rates of assignment completion and better performance on online assessments. Students who engaged more with the platform outperformed their peers, regardless of their ability levels.
Accuracy
The accuracy of Knewton Alta is supported by its data-driven approach and continuous assessment:- Real-Time Assessment: The platform uses over 100,000 assessment items to pinpoint skills gaps and intervenes with instruction and interactive activities as needed. This ensures that students do not move forward without demonstrating mastery of each learning area.
- Personalized Feedback: Knewton Alta provides detailed answer explanations and remediation, which helps in accurately identifying and addressing knowledge gaps. The feedback is tailored to each specific question, reinforcing key concepts and filling gaps.
- Teacher Insights: The platform offers a dashboard that gives teachers visibility into student performance, helping them identify where students are excelling or struggling. This allows for targeted interventions and adjustments to the learning plan.
Limitations and Areas for Improvement
While Knewton Alta shows promising results, there are some limitations and areas that could be improved:- Data Limitations: One study noted that the online components of the course may have been optional, which could bias the proportion of assignments completed downward. Additionally, not all instructors used Knewton’s online assessments, limiting the availability of quiz and test scores for some students.
- Student Ability Proxies: The study used proxies for student ability, but these proxies may not fully account for student ability, potentially confounding the relationship between platform usage and student performance.
- Course Usage Variability: Statistics courses used the Knewton online platform the least compared to other subjects like chemistry, economics, and mathematics. This variability could indicate different levels of integration or acceptance across different disciplines.
Conclusion
Knewton Alta is a highly effective tool in the education sector, particularly in adaptive and personalized learning. Its ability to adapt to students’ proficiency levels, provide real-time feedback, and offer detailed remediation makes it a valuable resource for both students and teachers. However, there are some limitations, such as data biases and the need for more comprehensive proxies for student ability, which should be addressed to further enhance the platform’s effectiveness.
Knewton (Wiley) - Pricing and Plans
Pricing Structure for Knewton Alta
The pricing structure for Knewton Alta, a Wiley brand, is designed to be affordable and accessible for students. Here are the key details on the pricing and plans:
Pricing Options
- Semester Subscription: Courses are available for $44.95 per semester.
- Monthly Subscription: An alternative option is a monthly subscription at $10.95 per month.
Plans and Features
- Standard Subscription: This includes access to adaptive courseware that provides personalized learning, detailed answer explanations, integrated just-in-time instruction, and remediation of prerequisite skill gaps. The platform continuously monitors students’ performance and adapts in real-time to maximize learning outcomes.
AltaPass
- AltaPass: This plan offers two years of access to Knewton Alta courses within a single discipline (such as Math) for $89.95. This is a more comprehensive option for students who need long-term access to the course materials.
Free Options
- Foundations of Math Self-Study Course: Wiley provides a pre-built Knewton Alta Foundations of Math Self-Study Course at no cost. This allows learners to access the course directly and work at their own pace to build foundational math skills.
Key Features Across Plans
- Adaptive Learning: All plans include adaptive technology that adjusts to students’ proficiency levels with each interaction, providing immediate and detailed feedback to reinforce key concepts and fill knowledge gaps.
- Performance Monitoring: The platform continuously monitors students’ performance and adapts in real-time to ensure optimal learning outcomes.
- Support and Resources: Students receive integrated just-in-time instruction, remediation of prerequisite skill gaps, and access to instructional text, video, examples, and assessments organized by learning objectives.
These options are designed to make high-quality, adaptive learning accessible and affordable for all students.

Knewton (Wiley) - Integration and Compatibility
Knewton Alta Overview
Knewton, particularly through its product Knewton Alta, demonstrates strong integration and compatibility with various educational tools and platforms, making it a versatile and accessible solution for educators and students.Learning Management Systems (LMS) Compatibility
Knewton Alta is compatible with a wide range of popular learning management systems, including Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, and Schoology. This integration allows educators to seamlessly incorporate Knewton’s adaptive learning technology into their existing LMS, enabling personalized learning experiences for students. The process of integrating Knewton Alta with these LMSs is straightforward; for example, with Canvas, you can add Knewton Alta as an external tool when creating assignments.Accessibility Features
Knewton Alta is committed to accessibility, ensuring that the platform is usable by students with various disabilities. It is compatible with commonly used screen reader software such as JAWS, NVDA, and VoiceOver. The platform provides alternative text and long descriptions for images, descriptive video transcripts, and labeled screen elements to support students who are blind, have partial sight, or learning/cognitive disabilities. This adherence to accessibility standards like WCAG 2.1 A/AA and the US Rehabilitation Act makes the platform inclusive for all users.Device Compatibility
While specific details on device compatibility are not extensively outlined, the fact that Knewton Alta integrates with web-based LMSs suggests that it can be accessed on a variety of devices with internet capabilities, including desktops, laptops, and tablets. The web-based nature of the platform ensures that students can engage with the adaptive learning content from any device that supports a modern web browser.Adaptive Learning Integration
Knewton Alta’s adaptive learning technology continuously monitors students’ performance and adapts in real-time to maximize learning outcomes. This technology integrates seamlessly with the instructional content, providing immediate and detailed feedback, and filling knowledge gaps as students progress through their assignments. The platform’s ability to recognize and address knowledge gaps immediately enhances student engagement and learning effectiveness.Conclusion
In summary, Knewton Alta’s integration with various LMSs, its commitment to accessibility, and its adaptive learning capabilities make it a highly compatible and effective tool for educational settings, ensuring that students can benefit from personalized learning experiences across different platforms and devices.
Knewton (Wiley) - Customer Support and Resources
Knewton Alta Overview
Knewton Alta, a product offered by Wiley, provides several customer support options and additional resources to ensure a smooth and effective learning experience.Customer Support
For any issues or questions, users can contact Knewton Alta support through several channels:Contact Options
- You can email the support team directly at support@knewton.com for assistance.
- While using Knewton Alta, you can report issues or ask questions via the “Chat” icon located at the bottom of the screen. This feature allows for real-time support.
- Users must be logged in to submit a support case, which can be done through the contact support page.
Additional Resources
Knewton Alta offers a range of resources to help instructors and students get the most out of the platform:Resource Types
- Technical Support: Alta provides award-winning hands-on customer support to help you build out your course. This includes access to technical support teams that can assist with any technical issues.
- Community Resources: Users can join community resources and forums where they can share experiences, ask questions, and get tips from other users and educators.
- Detailed Feedback and Analytics: The platform offers detailed feedback on each question, along with predictive analytics and test readiness dashboards. These tools help instructors identify student learning patterns, knowledge gaps, and areas where students may need extra support.
- Personalized Study Plans: Knewton Alta’s Review Center generates personalized study plans based on each student’s learning history, helping to connect homework and exam preparation.
- Customizable Assignments: Instructors can create and customize adaptive assignments quickly to meet the specific needs of their course.

Knewton (Wiley) - Pros and Cons
Advantages of Knewton Alta
Knewton Alta, now part of Wiley, offers several significant advantages in the education tools AI-driven product category:Personalized Learning
Knewton Alta provides adaptive courseware that personalizes the learning experience for each student. It continuously monitors student performance and adapts in real-time to maximize learning outcomes, ensuring students receive support exactly when they need it.Affordability
The platform is highly affordable, with students able to purchase Alta for just $40, significantly lower than the typical cost of a college textbook. Additionally, some content, like the Foundations of Math, is offered at no cost.Effective Feedback and Remediation
Alta offers immediate and detailed feedback on each question, helping students fill knowledge gaps and reinforce key concepts. It also provides just-in-time remediation, even reaching back to prerequisite concepts if necessary.Mastery-Based Learning
The system is mastery-based rather than problem-based, meaning students must demonstrate mastery of subjects before moving forward. This approach has shown significant improvements in student performance, particularly for struggling students.Student Agency
Alta integrates student agency, allowing students to make decisions about their learning path at high-leverage points. This empowers students to guide their own learning and adjust their focus as needed.Instructor Insights
The platform provides instructors with actionable data and insights into student performance and preparedness. This includes test readiness dashboards and detailed metrics on student learning patterns, helping instructors identify at-risk students and areas needing review.Disadvantages of Knewton Alta
Despite its numerous benefits, Knewton Alta also has some drawbacks:Content Alignment Issues
Some users have reported that the adaptive questions may not always align with the content of the class, leading to confusion for students. Instructors may need to provide additional guidance or allow students to seek external help.Generic Advanced Problems
Advanced problems on the platform can sometimes be too generic and not sufficiently challenging or relevant to the specific course material.Blackbox Criticism
Knewton’s AI algorithm has been criticized for being a “blackbox,” making it difficult for users to fully understand how the personalization works. This lack of transparency has led some to question the validity of the technology.Historical Challenges
Knewton faced significant challenges in the past, including a decline in investor sentiment and competition from integrated players like Pearson. However, its acquisition by Wiley has provided new opportunities for growth and integration. Overall, Knewton Alta offers a highly personalized and effective learning experience, but it requires careful management to ensure content alignment and address any transparency concerns.
Knewton (Wiley) - Comparison with Competitors
Unique Features of Knewton Alta
- Adaptive Learning: Knewton Alta uses adaptive technology to provide a personalized learning experience. It continuously monitors students’ performance and adapts in real-time to maximize learning outcomes. This includes more than 100,000 assessment items to pinpoint skills gaps and intervene with instruction and interactive activities as needed.
- Real-Time Feedback and Remediation: The platform offers immediate and detailed feedback on each question, reinforcing key concepts and filling knowledge gaps. If a student struggles, Knewton Alta provides just-in-time remediation, even revisiting prerequisite concepts if necessary.
- Teacher Visibility: Teachers have access to a dashboard that provides insights into students’ overall performance, helping them identify areas where students are excelling or struggling and adjust their lessons accordingly.
- Accessibility and Affordability: Wiley offers the Knewton Alta *Foundations of Math* course free to students whose institutions have adopted Knewton Alta for developmental and gateway math and statistics sequences. This initiative aims to improve access to high-quality education, particularly for underserved communities.
Potential Alternatives
Smart Sparrow
- Personalized Learning: Smart Sparrow is an adaptive e-learning platform that uses AI to personalize learning and provide real-time feedback. It offers interactive lessons, allowing students to learn at their own pace.
- Difference: While Smart Sparrow focuses on general adaptive learning, Knewton Alta is specifically tailored for math and statistics, with a deep integration of adaptive technology into these subjects.
Querium
- AI-Powered Tutoring: Querium is an AI-powered tutoring platform that assesses students’ strengths and weaknesses, providing targeted instruction and real-time feedback. It is more focused on tutoring rather than a comprehensive courseware like Knewton Alta.
- Difference: Querium is more about one-on-one tutoring support, whereas Knewton Alta is a full-fledged courseware that integrates with the curriculum.
Woot Math
- AI-Powered Math Education: Woot Math personalizes math lessons for each student, providing real-time feedback and support. It is similar to Knewton Alta in its focus on math but may not offer the same level of integration with higher education curricula.
- Difference: Woot Math is more geared towards general math education, whereas Knewton Alta is designed for higher education math and statistics courses.
Gradescope
- Digital Grading and Assessment: Gradescope is a digital grading and assessment tool that uses AI to assist in grading and analytics. While it provides valuable insights into student performance, it does not offer the adaptive learning features of Knewton Alta.
- Difference: Gradescope is primarily a grading tool, whereas Knewton Alta combines grading with adaptive learning and real-time feedback.
Conclusion
In summary, Knewton Alta stands out for its deep integration of adaptive technology into math and statistics education, its real-time feedback and remediation capabilities, and its commitment to accessibility and affordability. While other tools offer similar features, they often focus on different aspects of education or are less specialized in the subjects of math and statistics.

Knewton (Wiley) - Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions about Knewton Alta
What is Knewton Alta?
Knewton Alta is an adaptive courseware platform provided by Wiley, designed to support students in developmental and gateway math and statistics courses. It uses adaptive learning technology to deliver a personalized learning experience, helping students fill knowledge gaps and achieve better learning outcomes.What courses are available on Knewton Alta?
Knewton Alta offers a range of courses in mathematics and statistics, including College Algebra, Precalculus, Algebra and Trigonometry, Trigonometry, Quantitative Reasoning, Survey of Math, Introductory Statistics, and more. The platform also includes foundational courses like Prealgebra, Elementary Algebra, and Intermediate Algebra.How does Knewton Alta adapt to student needs?
Knewton Alta continuously monitors students’ performance and adapts in real-time to maximize their learning outcomes. If a student struggles on an assignment, the platform recognizes the knowledge gap immediately and provides just-in-time remediation, even reaching back to prerequisite concepts if necessary.What kind of support does Knewton Alta offer to students?
Knewton Alta provides immediate and detailed feedback on each specific question, regardless of answer correctness. It also offers integrated just-in-time instruction, remediation of prerequisite skill gaps, and detailed answer explanations to reinforce key concepts and fill knowledge gaps.How much does Knewton Alta cost?
For institutions that adopt Knewton Alta for a developmental and gateway math sequence, the Knewton Alta Foundations of Mathematics course is provided at no cost to students. Credit-bearing courses are available for $39.95 per term, or through an AltaPass subscription that provides two years of access to all courses in a single discipline for $89.95.What kind of data and insights does Knewton Alta provide to instructors?
Knewton Alta’s instructor dashboards deliver meaningful data that is actionable and easy to review. This includes performance data, learning pattern insights, and test readiness dashboards, which help instructors identify at-risk students, uncover class trends, and provide early intervention.How does Knewton Alta address educational inequity?
Wiley is addressing educational inequity by making the Knewton Alta Foundations of Math course freely available to students from institutions that have adopted Knewton Alta. This initiative aims to support students in developmental math and statistics, particularly in underserved communities, helping to narrow the achievement gap.Can Knewton Alta be integrated into different course designs?
Yes, Knewton Alta can be flexibly integrated into various course designs, including online, face-to-face, and hybrid courses. It offers options such as instruct-first assignments and adaptive questions, allowing instructors to control the student experience and provide support exactly when needed.What kind of training and support does Wiley offer for Knewton Alta implementation?
Wiley provides course syllabus mapping, faculty training, and “First Day of Class” training materials to help institutions implement Knewton Alta effectively. They also offer support for integrating the platform within the campus learning management system.What are the outcomes for students using Knewton Alta?
Students using Knewton Alta have shown significant improvements in their learning outcomes. For example, 87% of students achieved mastery on their assignments, and there was a 38% increase in quiz scores for struggling students after using Knewton Alta.How does Knewton Alta ensure long-term learning retention?
The data science behind Knewton Alta is designed to ensure students can retain, recall, and apply knowledge in the future. The platform’s adaptive technology helps students fill knowledge gaps and reinforces key concepts, leading to better long-term learning outcomes.
Knewton (Wiley) - Conclusion and Recommendation
Final Assessment of Knewton Alta by Wiley
Knewton Alta, offered through Wiley, is a highly effective AI-driven adaptive learning platform that significantly enhances educational outcomes in higher education. Here’s a comprehensive overview of its benefits and who would most benefit from using it.Key Features and Benefits
Personalized Learning
Knewton Alta provides personalized learning paths that adapt to each student’s learning style and pace. It uses data-driven algorithms to offer real-time feedback, detailed answer explanations, and just-in-time instruction, ensuring students receive the support they need exactly when they need it.
Adaptive Technology
The platform continuously monitors student performance and adapts in real-time to maximize learning outcomes. This adaptive approach helps fill knowledge gaps and remediate prerequisite skills, ensuring students retain, recall, and apply their knowledge effectively.
Affordable Access
Knewton Alta is cost-effective compared to traditional textbooks, making high-quality educational resources accessible to a broader audience.
Analytics and Insights
The platform offers instructors actionable data and insights into student performance through its gradebook, helping identify areas of difficulty and provide targeted support.
Who Would Benefit Most
Students
Knewton Alta is particularly beneficial for students who need personalized support to master course material. It is especially effective for those in developmental and gateway courses such as math and statistics, where 87% of students using Knewton Alta achieved mastery on their assignments.
Instructors
Educators can benefit from the platform’s ability to track student progress in real-time, identify struggling students early, and provide targeted interventions. This helps instructors create dynamic and interactive learning environments that cater to diverse learning styles.
Institutions
Educational institutions looking to improve student engagement, retention, and overall academic success can integrate Knewton Alta into their curriculum. The platform’s affordable pricing and adaptive learning features make it an attractive solution for institutions aiming to enhance educational outcomes.
Overall Recommendation
Knewton Alta is a valuable tool for both students and instructors in higher education. Its ability to provide personalized learning experiences, real-time feedback, and detailed analytics makes it an excellent choice for those seeking to improve educational outcomes. The platform’s affordability and adaptability ensure that it can be integrated into various educational settings, making it a highly recommended solution for anyone looking to enhance their learning or teaching experience.
In summary, Knewton Alta by Wiley is a powerful and effective adaptive learning platform that can significantly improve student engagement, retention, and academic success. Its personalized approach, real-time feedback, and affordable access make it an excellent option for students, instructors, and educational institutions alike.