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SI Program

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What is the SI Program?

Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a program that offers collaborative learning workshops for participating classes. The workshops focus on critical thinking and problem solving exercises centered on the course material. They are scheduled outside of class time and they are led by trained student leaders. All the workshops are free to students.
SI is not a remedial program; it is not targeted at "at-risk" students, but rather at "at-risk", i.e. difficult classes. It is currently used by dozens of faculty members in classes ranging from pre-college math and ESL to advanced physics, chemistry, and social sciences.

What can SI do for students?

SI helps students in a number of ways:

  • it gets them to spend more time on the class material: that alone increases their chances of success. Moreover, the time is spent reviewing and discussing concepts and/or solving problems related to the course, which helps them understand the material much better;
    it is collaborative: students work with each other and so get a chance to ask questions, discuss ideas, and participate in ways that they would not have done in class. Sometimes they are the learners, sometimes the teachers: in both cases the interactions are excellent learning opportunities;
  • it helps students develop active learning strategies, often modeled by the student leaders, and improve their study habits;
  • it creates links between students and the college community: this is one of the key factors in retention and success, from community colleges all the way to Berkeley and Harvard. Students develop friendships with other participants and with student leaders; they find people they can work with or go to with their questions about class material. Eventually they use these links to navigate their way through the college experience;
  • overall it produces higher retention and success rates, and students who attend regularly develop more interest in the class, contribute more, and earn better grades.

How and how well SI works depends on a number of factors such as the availability of good student leaders, the commitment of the faculty, the convenience of the workshop times, the dedication of the students themselves, etc. To find out more about how you can have a successful workshop program in your classes, contact Nancy Yaldizian, SI Coordinator, nancyy@glendale.edu, extension 5357.

Frequently Asked Questions

Supplemental Instruction (SI) offers weekly collaborative learning sessions to students in participating classes. SI participants meet an SI leader and with their classmates outside of class to discuss challenging concepts, practice problem solving and develop student strategies.

SI sessions are not remedial, but instead an opportunity for students to work together with a trained leader on course content. SI has been shown to improve student learning by about one course grade, providing a time for quality study focusing on key course concepts and modeling more effective study habits.

SI sessions are led by GCC students who have excelled in the target course, usually having taken the course in the previous semester. SI leaders are trained in a three hour workshop during which they learn strategies that encourage active learning. In SI sessions, leaders discuss class materials and best study practices. SI leaders do not re-lecture or go beyond content covered in class.

If possible, SI workshops are listed on the college class schedule. All SI sessions are announced by the instructor at the beginning of the semester, if possible with the SI leader present. A finalized SI schedule is distributed to faculty and counselors at the beginning of each semester.

SI sessions usually are once a week, but can be planned with greater frequency. Each sessions lasts one hour.

SI is used successfully across the GCC curriculum, from math to French to computer science to religion. Talk with your colleagues about how they have adapted SI to your discipline.

You will need to identify potential SI leaders (SI staff will train them). And, you will want to monitor SI, checking in with the SI leader to see how things are going. The SI staff will set up rooms for SI sessions and take care of signs if an SI session is cancelled.
Some faculty provide SI leaders with specific work sheets or other materials to use during SI sessions, but that isn’t required. SI leaders can use upcoming assignments, practice tests or other material provided by the instructor.

SI works best when the SI leader took the same course in a recent semester. As the semester draws to a close identify students who performed well on course assessment and also have the characteristics that will make them an effective study session leader: good listening skills; willingness to help others; empathy; and ability to explain ideas clearly. The SI staff will train new SI leaders, emphasizing the need to help students solve problems themselves—not to provide answers or offer mini-lectures.

The SI literature finds that SI works best when students are motivated intrinsically rather than by promises of “extra” points if they attend SI. In addition, there are ethical issues about offering points for sessions that some students cannot attend because of scheduling conflicts. That said, some instructors do offer a small bonus, perhaps best as a nudge for students if they try SI at least one time.

SI staff arrange for SI leader payment and provide a sign-up sheet for each SI session. At the end of the semester, SI staff can provide records summarizing which students attended which sessions. In addition, SI staff will offer an evaluation procedure for SI in your course.

Sometimes SI attendance will lapse, perhaps for one meeting after a major test. SI staff will alert you if attendance lags for several sessions in which case you will want to consult with students in the course and with the SI leader.

On occasion, SI leaders will try to be model professors, lecturing during the SI session—even though they have been advised not to. Faculty need to step in, perhaps with help from the SI staff, to advise SI leaders about a more appropriate role to help students learn.

Nancy Yaldizian (nancyy@glendale.edu; X 5357) is ready to set up SI sessions. For more information about SI contact Mark Maier mmaier@glendale.edu X 5468.