New program to provide student support

Students in some of Lyndon State College's most challenging classes can expect to get a little extra help next fall.

LSC is debuting its new Supplemental Instruction (SI) program in the Fall 2011 semester. SI will be used in EJA-1010-L01 Intro to Media Communication, MAT-1020-L03 Intermediate Algebra, PHI-1020-L01 Critical Thinking, and possibly other courses.

The SI program allows students who have done well in a course to serve as a role model for other students, said Director of Student Academic Development Debra Bailin, who is helping to develop the SI program. For each course that has the SI designation, two previous students, called SI leaders, will attend each class session and model good learning behavior, such as asking questions, Bailin said. SI Leaders also facilitate an hour-long study group each week.

The study groups are particularly effective at helping students, Bailin said. The groups, which may be optional or required for students to attend depending on the professor's preference, are aimed at helping students process what they learned in class, Bailin said. She added that, since the groups are led by fellow students and not by professors, students might be more comfortable talking about what they don't understand. Also, since the whole class would attend the study group, students may feel less awkward than if they sought out tutoring on their own.

Assistant EJA Professor Meaghan Meachem, who will be using SI in her Fall 2011 Intro to Media Communication course, said in an e-mail that she chose SI partly because the course has many group components, and she hopes that the SI leaders will facilitate stronger group discussions. She added that she hopes SI helps her students gain a firmer grasp on the concepts.

Faculty members decide if they want to use SI in any of their classes, Bailin said. The program is currently targeting classes that have the highest rates of failures, withdrawals, and incompletes. Bailin added that, by targeting entire courses rather than individual students, the SI program can benefit both students who are doing well and those who may need more help.

SI was first used at LSC during the Fall 2010 semester in assistant professor of Business Administration Rodney Jacobson's Managerial Accounting class. Jacobson is using SI again this semester in the same course.

"It has been very helpful," Jacobson said.   

SI began at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and is now used at many colleges and universities around the world, Bailin said. She added that the program has proven itself very effective at improving student learning.

Students who wish to be considered for an SI leadership position for a specific course must be recommended by the faculty member whom they took the course with, Bailin said. SI leaders will be payed $9.15 per hour. They will not be enrolled in the courses they serve as leaders for, so they will not have additional credits added to their schedules.