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SI Study Sessions


1) What do SI sessions look like?

A normal SI session is an hour long and is conducted online or in-person in the Learning Connection (S405). During the session, the SI will usually start with a warm-up that leads into the main activity, which is designed to review material from class without re-lecturing; the SI Leader uses the activity to facilitate collaborative learning among the students. Exam reviews are two-hours long but follow the same general format as regular sessions.

SI Leaders cannot directly help students with any sort of assessment, including homework, quizzes, and take-home exams.      

2) How do SI leaders plan their sessions?

SI leaders have 1-2 hours per week to plan their sessions in accordance with pre-semester training. The general skeleton for a session should include a warm up/introduction, followed by an activity, and then a closer/wrap-up to the session.
 
3) Can I attend an SI session?

While SI sessions are open for anyone to attend, we discourage faculty members from attending regularly. SI sessions are a way for students to receive learning assistance in a pressure-free environment and it can be intimidating for the students (as well as the SI Leaders) to have instructors present for their sessions.

4) Can I give input on how an SI session is conducted?

We do encourage instructors to collaboration with their SI Leader. Working together will ensure that all students' needs are met in a timely manner. SI Leaders are, however, do have limits in regards to what they can do in their SI Sessions. Specifically, SI Leaders cannot use SI session time to conduct lecture, help with homework, or assist with activities outside the scope of the course.

5) Can I give my students extra credit for attending SI sessions?

While grading practices are up to the discretion of the instructor, we highly recommend against extra credit for a number of key reasons:

  1. Students who are not available to attend the sessions are at a disadvantage to receive extra credit.
  2. Keeping track of sign-in sheets for extra credit purposes puts the SI Leader in a role of power, which can negatively affect the “near-peer” relationship between the SI Leaders and their students.
  3. Extra credit artificially inflates SI session attendance, which can skew our end-of-semester program performance reports.

6) Can I find out which of my students have attended SI sessions?

The SI Leaders do not keep written logs of who attends their sessions. If you would like to receive a report of SI session attendance for your section, please contact [email protected].