Information about Supplemental Instruction for faculty at Penn State Altoona

Supplemental Instruction (www.umkc.edu/cad/SI/overview.html) is a protocol for peer-led review sessions for high-risk courses. Generally, these are courses where approximately 30% of the students earn a D or an F or drop the course. If you are interested in SI for your students, please contact Paula Ford (5112 or pxf3) to discuss logistics.

The professor will

• identify a current student to serve as the SI leader next semester(s)
• agree to allow the SI leader to sit in on your course next semester(s)
• allow the SI leader to distribute a scheduling form at the beginning of the semester (to determine when the most students would be available for review sessions)
• allow the SI leader to remind students about the availability of SI several times during the semester
• share your students' grades at the end of the semester (overall number of As, Bs, etc., not individual grades)

The professor will not

• attend SI sessions
• know which students attended until after the semester ends

The SI leader (your current student) must meet the criteria to be a peer tutor:

• at least nine credits completed at Penn State Altoona
• an A or A- in the courses to be tutored
• approval of the LRC coordinator
• approval of the professor who taught the course to be tutored
• a GPA of at least a 3.0 (though the average GPA of peer tutors is usually much higher)

The SI coordinator (Paula)

• trains the SI leader
• supervises the SI leader
• pays the SI leader
• pays for supplies, handouts, etc.
• notifies you of any special issues--successes or problems
• analyzes data and shares them with you after the semester ends

For more information about SI, see this annotated bibliography: www.umkc.edu/cad/SI/si-docs/sibib.htm The list is long; there's a lot of research on SI. Search by your disclipline.