SI is collaborative learning, which focuses on the importance of relations, guidance and reflection as emphasized methods for learning.
The purpose of SI is to improve the students’ performance and reduce the risk of dropout.
SI was developed in 1973 by Dr. Deanna Martin at the University of Missouri in Kansas City, and has since then been spread to over 1,500 universities and colleges in nearly thirty countries.
A basic principle for SI is that the method should not focus on weak students, but rather on challenging courses, and also function as an offer to everyone who wants to strengthen their opportunities to achieve better results in certain courses.
The Road Traffic Division at Nord University Business School (as a part of the former Nord Trøndelag University College) introduced the programme in 2004. Nord University has a collaboration with Lund University, which is the European centre for SI Supervisor Training.
The education programme in Lund is regulated through an agreement with the University of Missouri in Kansas City, where the International Center for Supplemental Instruction is located.
There are four positions in the SI programme: SI Leader, SI Supervisor, lecturer and students.
The SI Supervisor is responsible for implementing the SI programme. Some of the work tasks is to train future SI leaders, follow them up and observe them during SI sessions through the semester. The SI supervisor is not meant to be a lecturer in SI, and shall not have direct contacts with students who participate in SI sessions.
The SI leaders are students who have previously completed the relevant course and achieved academic success (grade A or B), and can act as a model for the students. The SI leaders go through two days of intensive training before the SI start. The SI leaders are responsible for informing new students about SI at the start of the semester. They shall support the students in facing difficult course material, and not convey new knowledge.
Students should be introduced to SI at the start of the semester. SI is included as an offer in the relevant course, and does not work as supplementary teaching. There is no scaling of the students, and the SI groups are not based on assumed academic skills. SI is a voluntary offer for all students, and it is performed in the students’ own learning environment.
The lecturers collaborates with the SI Supervisor when new SI leaders are chosen. The SI leaders should follow the lectures throughout the semester, and collaboration with the lecturer is vital for the program to be successful.
The SI sessions are bares on the lectures in the course. The sessions are led by an SI leader, and there are usually 5-15 students attending.
The SI leader is not a teacher, but guides the students through difficult topics within the subject area by asking questions, initiating group work, and coordinating presentations of conclusions.
The SI leader has previously passed the course with grade A or B, and is trained to use proper methods to function as an SI leader.
SI sessions are offered to students to work in groups under the guidance of an SI leader. The discussion topics have been reviewed during lectures after the SI leaders have had a dialogue with the lecturer.
Books and articles
Supplemental Instruction Volume 1: Digital Technologies (2021). Pages: 108
Print-ISBN: 978-3-8309-4324-2
E-Book-ISBN: 978-3-8309-9324-7
Forlag: Waxmann Verlag GmbH, 2021. Münster, GermanySupplemental Instruction Volume 2: Student Learning Processes (2021). Pages: 164
Print-ISBN: 978-3-8309-4325-9
E-Book-ISBN: 978-3-8309-9325-4
Forlag: Waxmann Verlag GmbH, 2021. Münster, GermanySupplemental Instruction Volume 3: Organisation and Leadership. (2021). Pages: 140
Print-ISBN: 978-3-8309-4326-6
E-Book-ISBN: 978-3-8309-9326-1
Forlag: Waxmann Verlag GmbH, 2021. Münster, GermanyHow have Supplemental Instruction-Peer Assisted Study Sessions (SI-PASS) programmes adapted during the Coronavirus pandemic?
Studies from four Higher Education Institutes in Ireland, Norway, the UK and Sweden
Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal. Volume 4, Issue 2, September 2022, (s. 24-44).
Nord open: https://nordopen.nord.no/nord-xmlui/handle/11250/3033264
ISBN: 978-3-8309-4326-6
