Accolades, Expansion Comes to Supplemental Instruction Program

“SI attendees consistently outperform students who do not attend, with significant increases on exams and final grades.”

Students underperforming in some of the most challenging courses at San Diego State University are seeing notable academic improvement through Supplemental Instruction (SI), a peer-facilitated study program.

Launched at SDSU in 2015, the program, which is practiced at more than 1,200 institutions worldwide, focuses on courses like organic chemistry, calculus, linear algebra, psychology and business statistics—often referred to as gateway courses, as student performance in these classes generally forecast success in STEM majors. 

Research indicates that if students can be successful in these foundational courses, they will likely be able to grasp more strenuous science and mathematics instruction necessary for advanced study, graduate-level work, and to enter careers in STEM. 

“Unlike student success programs that target specific populations of students, SI is a non-remedial, free and completely voluntary program available to all students,” said James Frazee, senior academic technology officer and director of Instructional Technology Services. 

To further ensure student success, SDSU has customized SI by adding data analysis to consistently improve voluntary student success intervention.

Additionally, the SDSU program has seen both rapid growth and also recognition for improving student performance. 

From first supporting 700 students in 2015, the program served more than 13,000 student visitors last year. At the start of the 2018-19 academic year, about 60 SI student leaders are supporting 5,400 students enrolled in eight courses. 

Maureen Guarcello, the Instructional Technology Services assessment, research, and communications coordinator, was recognized in May by the International Center for Supplemental Instruction with its 2018 Outstanding SI Research Award. 

“SI is not remedial, it’s not required and faculty do not know which of their students go, as attendance is confidential. And we are seeing significant improvement in the ability of our students to be successful in their courses,” Guarcello said. 

A new scholarship is coming out of SI at SDSU. Frazee co-chairs the Learning Analytics Working Group with Stephen Schellenberg, assistant vice president of Educational Effectiveness. Both serve as executive sponsors of the program and have co-authored research on the effectiveness of SI at SDSU given the peer-based training and support model. 

“Sessions are facilitated by students who were previously successful in the course, with near-peers utilizing collaborative activities to actively engage participants by integrating what to learn with how to learn,” Frazee said. “SI attendees consistently outperform students who do not attend, with significant increases on exams and final grades.” 

Moving through gateway courses

Born out of SDSU’s Building on Excellence initiative, the program combines active learning strategies with learning analytics to simultaneously improve students’ study habits while evaluating their performance over time, to be more proactive with interventions. 

When Nalani Coleman began visiting SI during her first semester as a SDSU student, she did not know what to expect in her chemistry and calculus courses. 

“I enjoyed SI because I was able to understand concepts and approach problems on the test with confidence,” said Coleman, a sophomore majoring in biochemistry who aspires to work in the biotech industry. 

“Usually when I plan on studying by myself, I push that study time back further and further until crunch time. Supplemental Instruction has been helpful to me because it was consistent, structured time I took out of my day specifically for studying for that particular class,” said Coleman, adding that she has changed and improved her own study habits, becoming more dedicated to daily and weekly study schedules. Now an SI Leader, Coleman teaches her colleagues how to proactively plan and to study with intention. 

Open to all students, course data are used to encourage students to attend early and often. Student communication efforts vary by class, but often include Blackboard messages, and faculty announcements that demonstrate the difference in exam scores for those students who attended and those who did not participate in SI. 

“SI is my community on campus. Many of my closest college friends have are also my coworkers here,” said Olivia Musil, an SI leader who is studying biology, chemistry, philosophy and interdisciplinary studies. 

“Through training in active learning, I am much more focused on the students learning and help guide students to the right answers,” Musil said. “One of my favorite parts of SI training involves eating lunch with the faculty members. It's not often a student gets to eat side by side with a Ph.D. and hear about their interests and goals outside of the classroom.” 

“Supplemental Instruction is a great program because of the opportunities it provides to the leaders and attendees: attendees gain understanding, better test scores and more confidence with very difficult course material, which is a huge milestone,” Coleman said. 

SI goes virtual 

Now, the SDSU team is working to move SI into the digital realm, supporting students in online courses. 

Virtual SI was offered for the first time during the spring and summer semesters this year, with partnership from chemistry and psychology professors Christopher Harrison and Mark Laumakis. 

Through a grant from the California State University Office of the Chancellor, the SI team redesigned the SI for online via Zoom video conferencing, providing subject-specific videos and live online support. Within weeks of the beta testing, the Virtual SI materials received more than 1,300 views.  

“From the outset, we knew that we wanted to get online to test the SI model,” Guarcello said. 

While the team is pleased with its progress in the digital environment, they continue to evaluate both SI and Virtual SI for continued growth and expansion. 

Preliminary data suggests that students behave similarly no matter the course. For example, a student will employ the same behaviors in psychology as linear algebra. 

“In the Building on Excellence strategic plan, there is a specific line item that we are to use learning analytics to help support student success, and there is a lot of opportunity to further understand student behaviors as a proxy for motivation,” Guarcello said. 

“We are finding that the program works for all students, not just high performing students. Overall, our students have been successful because they are creating a community together, and using active learning strategies with the SI model to ultimately conquer these high challenge courses.”