What is SI?

Supplemental Instruction (SI) was established in 1973 by Deanna Martin at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). SI is a series of weekly review sessions for students taking historically challenging courses to improve their understanding of the material in select courses. Attendance is voluntary, and SI allows students to get together with others in the class to compare notes, discuss important concepts, and develop study strategies

Goals of SI at ICC

SI’s goals are multi-dimensional:

To increase retention within targeted courses
To improve student grades in targeted courses
To increase student graduation rates
To discover and cultivate emerging SI Leaders at ICC

What is an SI Leader?

SI Leaders attend class, hearing what students hear and reading what students read. They then hold three or four 50-minutes group study sessions per week. They help students think about the lectures and course concepts during the review sessions. SI can help students learn the material more efficiently.

SI vs. Tutoring:

SI Leaders audit the class and provide students with role models and encouragement. In general, tutors do not offer audit classes. The class expectations and standards are clear to the SI Leader and enable the Leader to identify concepts students find challenging.
SI sessions are planned. The SI Leader pre-selects topics to reinforce the problematic/challenging material covered in the curriculum. Like tutoring, SI sessions are student-directed. The difference is that students will often seek tutoring assistance once they have identified a challenging topic and formed questions about the material.
SI Leaders are student peers. While SI Leaders may not always be current students at ICC, our goal is to hire students who have taken classes at ICC. Tutors are not required to have taken classes at ICC.
SI sessions are focused on interactive group learning. Working with tutors can be done both 1:1 or in small groups. While tutors cater to individual learning styles, SI leaders have students work with each other.

Working together, faculty and SI Leaders can help guide ICC students to great success!