Supplemental Instruction
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Professional staff are always available to answer educators or staff questions, receive feedback about students' SI experience, or listen to ideas on how to improve the program. Educators or staff may also request SI for courses where they are currently not offered. You can reach the SI Program staff by sending an e-mail to aah@ucsd.edu or go to our team page to find AAH professional staff information.
The Supplemental Instruction (SI) program supports students enrolled in courses that have been typically challenging and/or foundational to their majors. The sessions promote students working as a community of learners and active engagement in study skills and strategies to master the content knowledge. Undergraduate students are hired as facilitators of the sessions. Their formal titles are SI Leaders. These students receive an initial 10-hours of training in facilitation techniques and collaborative learning strategies along with weekly follow-up training during the quarter. We regularly invite faculty for which we are supporting their course to our training to observe and understand the program components.
SI Leaders facilitate sessions and have already completed the courses at UC San Diego. All Leaders are trained in collaborative learning techniques, promoting community, and developing a safe and respectful environment for learners. Some SI Leaders are required to attend all lectures each week whereas some Leaders attend lectures one time per week or as needed upon instructor request. Instructors work with SI professional staff to arrive at the best option for lecture attendance. Sessions are held weekly for 80-minutes.
AAH professional staff support a number of ways to assist you in informing your students about participating in SI and the benefits. Visible support of the SI program by the instructor encourages students' participation in this academic support resource as determined by program evaluation.
We respect faculty time, but we do encourage instructors to interact with the Leaders if they wish. Here are some ways that faculty may interact with SI Leaders:
All students enrolled in the course are eligible to attend SI sessions. Students of all ability levels are encouraged to participate. SI provides a great opportunity to have a set study time each week and the opportunity to work with peers to master course material. However, it may not be a fit for all students. Students should participate if they are interested in working each week with their peers, are willing to actively participate in meetings, and enjoy studying in a small group environment.
SI helps students learn the material in a deeper, more concrete way. Sessions that are effective generate positive energy, encourage active participation, teaches discipline, and requires commitment from participants. These skills are all important criteria for life-long learning. These learning skills are transferrable to other courses and/or content.