Academic Success Center

Welcome to our page dedicated to planning for spring 2010 Supplemental Instruction (SI) sessions at Iowa State University. This page contains all the information typically needed by university faculty and staff who regularly partner with the SI program. If you are unfamiliar with SI or if you would like to be a new partner, please contact the SI Coordinator, Craig Zywicki (294-6624) for additional information.

• Planning Documents
• Timeline of Planning for the Spring 2010 semester
• Benefits of SI to Academic Departments and the Institution
• Funding for SI Sessions
• Criteria Used to Select Targeted Courses for SI

Planning Documents

For ease of information dissemination, the following documents are available for download as Microsoft (.doc) or Adobe (.pdf) files. To receive print versions of documents, please contact the SI Coordinator, Craig Zywicki (294-6624).

• .doc | .pdf: General memo to Academic Faculty and Staff
• .doc | .pdf: Brochure for Academic Faculty and Staff
• .doc | .pdf: General SI Promotional Brochure (tri-fold format)
• .doc | .pdf | e-mail: SI Session Request Forms

Timeline of Planning SI for the Spring 2010 Semester

• Ongoing: Meetings between academic faculty/staff and the SI Coordinator to discuss Supplemental Instruction. To schedule a meeting, please call 294-6624.
• Ongoing: Promotions and recruitment for new SI Leaders. SI Leader Applications are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year.
• Wednesday, November 11: Last day to request spring 2010 SI sessions that are centrally funded by the SI program. (Requests for SI funded by academic departments will be accepted until January 4, 2010.)
• Friday, November 13: Targeted date to confirm which courses will have SI that is centrally funded.
• Monday, November 16: Targeted date to begin placement of SI Leaders for spring 2010 positions.
• Monday, January 4: Last day to request spring 2010 SI sessions that funded by an academic department.
• January 9-10: SI Leader Orientation and Training.
• Tuesday, January 19: First day of SI sessions.

Benefits of SI to Academic Departments and the Institution

National research on the Supplemental Instruction program supports the following claims about the benefits of SI:

• SI is cost effective.
• SI assists students with comprehension of course content and development of study skills.
• SI lowers attrition rates in courses.
• SI participants are more likely to be retained at Iowa State University.
• SI helps students improve exam grades and final course grades.
• SI supports instructors by maintaining high expectations & standards.
• SI enhances classroom experiences.

These benefits are based on actual student performance and student feedback, not our perceived benefits of the program. Additional information about the assessment of SI at Iowa State University is also available.

Funding for SI Sessions

SI typically receives funding from the President's Office, Office of the Provost, Learning Communities, and the Dean of Students Office. This pool of "central funding" is used to provide SI sessions for the most students possible based on specific criteria.

The new Resource Management Model encourages "effective ways to accomplish the goals of the university's strategic plan" and "rewards units that focus on high quality education, research, and outreach programs." We are willing to partner with you! We are willing to coordinate SI sessions for any course in any academic department that is willing to fund the SI Leader. $1800 covers the cost of one leader for one semester, which results in approximately 40-45 SI sessions.

Criteria Used to Select Targeted Courses for SI

Every course is a candidate for SI, but the following criteria are used to determine which courses receive SI sessions that are supported by central funding:

• Support of Department Chairperson.
• Support of Instructor(s) for the course.
• Number of C- or lower grades and drops in the course.
• Course size (over 300 students for a course; over 150 per section).
• Course format (we target lecture courses).
• 100 or 200 level course.
• Mean final course grade.
• Number of students repeating the course.
• Number of tutoring requests at Academic Success Center.
• Perceived level of difficulty.
• For courses with a prior history of SI:
  • SI vs. Non-SI participant final course grade received.
  • Number of contact hours spent in SI sessions for course.

The above criteria ensure we support the greatest number of students possible in courses for which SI is successful. Centrally funded SI must target courses that meet most or all of the criteria. We will support SI for any course if an academic department is willing to fund the SI. We encourage departments to review the above criteria to determine the usefullness of SI, but for departmentally funded SI, we specifically need:

• Support of Department Chairperson
• Support of Instructor(s) for the course
• Commitment by the department to fund the SI sessions

For more Information

Please contact:
Craig Zywicki, SI Program Coordinator
czywicki @ iastate.edu
294-6624

Academic Consulting, Academic Intervention, Psych 131, Supplemental Instruction, and Tutoring Services
1060 Hixson-Lied Student Success Center, Ames, Iowa 50011
(515) 294-6624

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