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- Definition:
- Supplemental Instruction (SI) is an academic assistance program
that utilizes peer-assisted study sessions. SI sessions are
regularly-scheduled, informal review sessions in which students
compare notes, discuss readings, develop organizational tools, and
predict test items. Students learn how to integrate course content
and study skills while working together. The sessions are
facilitated by “SI leaders”, students who have previously done well
in the course and who attend all class lectures, take notes, and act
as model students.
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- Purpose:
-
to increase retention within targeted historically difficult courses
-
to improve student grades
in targeted historically difficult courses
-
to increase the
graduation rates of students
- Participants:
-
SI is a “free service”
offered to all students in a targeted course. SI is a non remedial
approach to learning as the program targets high-risk courses rather
than high-risk students. All students are encouraged to attend SI
sessions, as it is a voluntary program. Students with varying levels
of academic preparedness and diverse ethnicities participate. There
is no remedial stigma attached to SI since the program targets
high-risk courses rather than high-risk students.
- The SI model involves
key persons:
-
The SI Coordinator is a
trained professional who is responsible for identifying the targeted
courses, gaining faculty support, selecting and training SI leaders,
as well as marketing and evaluating the program on an ongoing basis.
-
The faculty members of
the identified historically difficult courses invite and support SI.
Faculty members screen SI leaders for content competency and approve
selections as well as collaborate with the SI leaders and
Coordinator on a regular basis.
-
The SI leaders (“near
peers”) are students who have been deemed course competent and have
been approved by the course instructor and the SI Coordinator. They
are trained in proactive learning and study strategies as well as
facilitation skills. SI leaders attend course lectures, take notes,
read all assigned materials, and conduct three to five out-of-class
SI sessions a week. The SI leader is the “model student”, a
facilitator who assists students to integrate course content and
learning strategies.
-
Students participating in
the SI sessions, although mentioned last, are the most crucial
component of SI. SI is introduced to specific historically difficult
courses. These courses frequently are introductory or “gatekeeper
courses” but also include upper level undergraduate courses and
courses in professional schools.
SI was created by
Deanna C.
Martin, Ph.D., at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1973.
Dr. Martin was assigned the task of decreasing the attrition rate of
minority students in the schools of medicine, pharmacy, and
dentistry—and given a grant of $7,000 with which to do so. After
initially offering SI at the health science professional schools, it was
extended throughout the university. For a more complete history of the
program, see:
-
Widmar, G. E. (1994).
Supplemental Instruction: From small beginnings to a national program.
In D. C. Martin & Arendale, D. R. (Eds.), Supplemental Instruction:
Increasing achievement and retention (pp. 3-10). San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
After a rigorous review
process in 1981, the SI Program became one of the few postsecondary
programs to be designated by the U.S. Department of Education as an
Exemplary Educational Program. The National Diffusion Network (NDN), the
national dissemination agency for the U.S. Department of Education,
provided federal funds for dissemination of SI. Although the NDN was
discontinued by the U.S. government, national and international
dissemination continues.
Faculty and staff from
over 1500 institutions from 29 countries have been trained to
implement their own SI programs. Outside the United States, SI operates
in Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, Malaysia, Marshall Islands,
Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Sweden, United Kingdom,
and the West Indies.
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