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Janet had asked me about Supplemental Instruction (SI), which is something that EOP has done for their students over the years. This model is one that is used to bring the extension activities that students need and expect to those in classes that are taught in the large-lecture format.

Learning in any discipline entails different cognitive skills than courses in other disciplines. Learning math, for example, requires that a student be able to conceptualize abstract ideas and express them in numbers. That's very different than learning in history, where one learns about historical events, their causation and the results thereof. Although it is unfortunate, some students don't know how to study and learn on their own the materials from lecture courses. What's more, many don't realize that the way they approach learning math is not sufficient for they way they approach learning history. SI is designed to give students an opportunity to think through how they're approaching learning in a specific course. SI can be peer or professional-led.

There are a number of "formulations" of SI, some more valuable than others, I would posit. I am not an expert on the matter at all, but David Arendele is a writer who has done quite a bit of research on the SI model of instruction. This is an article he has written that gives an overview of how SI works: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~arend011/SIoverview94.pdf.

I think of SI as akin to the recitations that some of the science courses include. Basically, SI is a way to allow students to learn cooperatively in smaller groups, extending what they learned in class. SI can potentially provide some of the learning activities that students have come to expect in their learning environments, such as in-depth discussion, group activities, etc. It is promising, I believe. The CADE staff has discussed many times how they'd like to provide SI, but CADE had never been staffed to provide such additional services (in addition, that is, to professional tutoring, developmental courses, and the coordination of peer tutoring). With its tutor training program now in place, however, it wouldn't be completely impossible for CADE to provide trained SI leaders for classes if the campus were to choose to do so using peer SI leaders.

Incidentally, CADE does offer a course called PROF 120: College Learning Strategies, which, although not tied to another course as SI is, spurs students to think about their thinking. It compels them to look at their approaches to learning in their various courses and plan for how they can engage with the material in meaningful ways -- taking into consideration the context in which college learning happens, from the classroom to the social scene. Students love the course (although they usually note that it has a lot of work involved with it) because it helps them really consider themselves as learners -- their history, their proclivities, their weaknesses, their goals. It carries the WS2 General Education attribute as well.

Amy Crouse-Powers

Senior Staff Assistant

Division of Graduate Studies, Continuing Education,

Summer Sessions & Learning Support

SUNY College at Oneonta