Improving student success in difficult engineering education courses through Supplemental Instruction (SI) – what is the impact of the degree of SI attendance?

The customary way to determine whether an adopted Supplemental Instruction (SI) program has been successful or not is by comparing course results for two groups, SI attendees and non-attendees. The division of SI attendees and non-attendees is generally done rather arbitrarily by prescribing a minimum number of SI sessions a student has to attend to be considered an SI attendee. Although the SI attendee vs. non-attendee concept is powerful in some respects, it tends to cloud the benefit of attending SI sessions. That a higher SI attendance leads to better course results is perhaps taken for granted, but in the few further studies that have been made, the picture of SI attendance rates vs. course results is not overly clear. The present study aims to contribute to how the degree of SI attendance affects course results in an engineering context at a Swedish University. In the study we divide the students into four categories, those with high, average, low, and no SI attendance. In terms of student success in a course, it is found that there is a clear relation between the number of SI sessions attended and course success. Students with high SI attendance do best followed by students with average, low, and no SI attendance, respectively

Impact of Supplemental Instruction on dropout and graduation rates: an example from 5-year engineering programs

This study focuses on quantitative long-term effects of Supplemental Instruction (SI) in terms of graduation and dropout rates. One of the main aims of SI is to introduce students to effective study strategies and techniques. If SI is introduced at an early stage for new students in higher education, it should therefore be expected that this action will promote timely graduation. This has also been indicated in studies at two US universities – University of Missouri Kansas City and Utah State University. This impact should obviously be of huge interest to any college or university that wants to introduce SI for their students. However, more studies from different settings and environments are needed to be able to generalise the findings from previous studies. This investigation is one such study for students at an engineering education faculty. The results from this study show that SI appears to have a pronounced effect on student persistence, and that the effect increases continuously with increasing SI attendance. A student’s chances of graduating from an Master of Science (MSc) engineering program within six years, increases by approximately 20-35 % for a student attending all SI meetings in the first semester, compared to a student who does not attend SI. The risk of a student dropping out is reduced by approximately 20-40 % if he/she attends all SI sessions. The results also show that all students benefit from attending SI, independent of prior academic achievement and gender

Peer Assisted Study Sessions (SI-PASS) in Higher Education, a European overview

The paper/presentation gives an overview of Peer-Assisted Study Schemes (SI-PASS) in Higher Education in Europe. SI-PASS is a method of improving student performance in “difficult” courses combining “how to learn” with “what to learn”. SI-PASS sessions are scheduled parallel to the regular education and are guided and facilitated by a “senior” student, the SI-PASS leader. The sessions are based on collaborative learning activities to understand difficult parts of the course material. The original and most commonly used name for SI-PASS is Supplemental Instruction (SI). In Europe, however, SI-PASS is often preferred as it better describes the actual programme. SI-PASS was created at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, in the early 1970s in order to come to terms with declining retention numbers. Since then the use of SI-PASS has spread widely and staff at more than 1500 universities in some 30 countries have been trained in the method. In a European context, SI-PASS-programs exist at some 70 Higher Education Institutes in nine countries involving more than 5000 SI-PASS leaders that facilitates learning activities for some 70.000 students annually. SI-PASS-programmes supports courses in all subject areas and are often applied to first-year courses. The reason for having SI-PASS in introductory courses is to help students bridge the gap between secondary and tertiary education. Some of the main benefits of SI-PASS are well researched. Increased student performance and learning as well as a decrease in student drop-out rates have been documented in many different Higher Education environments. However, several benefits from student/staff perspectives are qualitative. Some European examples:• “SI-PASS provides the comfort of discussing problems in the course with fellow students, which develops understanding as well as confidence.” (Student, Lund University, Sweden)• “SI-PASS eases some of my course stress by answering my questions and giving me an idea of what will be expected of me, not only in the coming weeks but in the future as well.” (Student, University of Winchester, England)• “SI-PASS gave me the opportunity to get to know my fellow classmates and also from talking to my SI-PASS Leader etc. it made me see that there are so many opportunities if I stuck it out and it also showed me that I wasn't the only one in this position as our SI-PASS Leaders felt the same in their first year and also some of my other peers felt the same” (Student, Athlone Institute of Technology, Ireland)• “…It really encourages students, when they arrive to become quite independent and autonomous and looking after their own learning. So, I think in some sense, SI-PASS helps in building up that confidence, that social sense of being part of the University. Which is actually really educational, because the educational dimension of University is all about being able to do things yourself, such as finding your own materials and coming up with your own ideas (…) all in all, it certainly seems to create a lot more confidence in the students who come along to the sessions in all areas.” (SI-PASS Coordinator, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

The use of a Peer Assisted Study Scheme to help the transition from Secondary school to Higher Education

This presentation will give an overview of a peer learning model called Supplemental Instruction - Peer Assisted Study Scheme (SI-PASS). SI-PASS was invented at the University of Missouri in Kansas City, USA in the early1970s and was then directed to Universities and for the university students. In this presentation, the focus and discussion will be on how SI-PASS can be implemented in secondary schools using an adaptation of the model, called SI-Platform. The Platform is used as a link between secondary education and Higher education to prepare students both academically as well as socially in their transition. A part of the objective with the platform is to use it as a tool in the University mission of widening participation.What is then SI-PASS? SI-PASS is an academic support model with large international prevalence with the purpose of preventing dropouts and strengthen students’ study abilities and results. SI-PASS is a collaborative form of learning in groups of about 5-15 students who meet on a weekly basis under the facilitation of an SI-PASS leader, an older student with good insight in the course. The SI-PASS leader helps the students to succeed in high-risk courses in heterogeneous groups. A relaxed atmosphere, inner motivation and a collaborative academic-social learning characterize the SI-sessions.The SI-Platform is a cooperative program where six Higher Education Institutes in the Southern part of Sweden works together with a number of secondary schools in the region. At the moment it is active in over 20 municipalities of 40 possible in the provinces of Skåne, Halland and Blekinge. The goal is to reach out to all in a range of two more years. At present it includes around 30 upper secondary schools and 10 lower secondary schools. During the last academic year over 1000 SI participating students where involved. And of these approximately 70% were active on a weekly basis. Around 50 teachers at secondary school been trained in the SI-PASS model. SI has been used in a broad range of subjects such as mathematic, Swedish, economy, Swedish as a second language, modern languages, chemistry, physics and Music. Examples of outcomes from the SI-Platform project so far is • a considerably stronger link between secondary and tertiary education in southern Sweden,• secondary school students getting o new study strategies where learning in collaboration is seen as a resource,o an alternative view of the studied subject,o a more personal view of higher education studies from the SI-PASS leade

Benefits of Guiding Supplemental Instruction Sessions for SI Leaders: a Case Study for Engineering Education at a Swedish University

In previous studies on Supplemental Instruction (SI) relatively little attention has been paid to the “senior” students who lead the sessions. The focus in this study is on the benefits that the SI leaders gain from their SI experience. Data from one questionnaire directed at 35 students who recently completed their assignment as SI leaders, and another questionnaire directed at 20 former SI leaders who have graduated and are currently employed, was analysed. The results indicate that the SI leaders improved their communication and interpersonal skills, several types of leadership skills, and self-confidence as well as acquiring a “deeper” understanding of course content. However, the majority of the SI leaders do not seem to have changed their way of studying or their approach to planning their work, based on their SI experiences. A majority of former SI leaders regard their SI leader experience as an important asset in attaining employment after graduation. A clear majority of former SI leaders have had some use, or good use in their later professional life, for skills acquired and developed during their SI leadership

Using peer assisted learning to empower first-year students and helping them experience success

The workshop will focus on what first-year students to higher education needs to be successful and how a peer learning programme might address those needs. (~5 min for introduction)The workshop will start with a brainstorm session where participants in small groups will share thoughts and ideas on the question (~20 min for activity): “What would you like to affect with your new students? Provide skills, strategies, other? The workshop leaders will collect and summarize the participants ideas and thoughts.Thereafter a well-established peer learning programme will be presented – Supplemental Instruction/Peer Assisted Study Schemes (SI-PASS). (~20 min for activity)What is then SI-PASS? SI-PASS is an academic assistance program that provides help for students in “difficult” courses, often introductory courses for first-year students. The idea behind SI is that learning a subject is enhanced by an exchange of thoughts and ideas between students. The goal is to make the students become active and independent learners that sees peers as a learning resource. SI-PASS is connected to a “difficult” course and consists of weekly scheduled sessions led by an older student. The older student acts as a facilitator and receives prior and ongoing training. (The senior student should not be a teacher but help in clarifying tough questions within the subject by asking questions, initiating work in small groups, and coordinate presentations of conclusions). The session is open to all students (heterogeneity is encouraged) and usually has 5-15 participants. The session agenda is decided by the participants and the course material is processed using collaborative activities. SI-PASS as a concept is spread widely and is used at more than 2000 university colleges and universities in nearly 30 countries. SI-PASS has shown to reduce failure rates and increase reenrollment numbers. The programme has also been shown to benefit all students with different prior academic ability. After the description of the programme, the participants in the workshop will be invited to discuss their thoughts on the possibilities of SI-PASS and peer support more generally to address their initial thoughts on what they would like to affect with their new students. (~15 min for activity

Supplemental Instruction and timely graduation - A case study at an engineering education faculty

This presentation focus on quantitative long-term effects of SI in terms of graduation rates. One of the main aims of SI is to introduce students to efficient study strategies and techniques. If SI is introduced at an early stage for new students in higher education, it is therefore likely that this action promotes timely graduation. This has also been indicated in studies at two US universities – University of Missouri Kansas City and Utah State University. This impact should obviously be of huge interest for any college or university that want to introduce SI for their students. However, more studies from different settings and environments are needed to be able to generalize the findings from previous studies. This investigation is one such study for students at an engineering education faculty. The results from the study show indeed that SI affects graduation. After six years (the engineering educations investigated are 5-year leading to an MSc degree) there are twice as many graduates (61 % compared to 29 %) among the group of students attending SI frequently in the first introductory course compared to students not attending SI. The difference in drop-out rates between these groups are remarkable – 37 % in the non-SI group compared to 7 % for frequent SI attendees. Are these results on graduation and drop-out rates due to SI or are some other factors affecting the results? Since attending SI is a self-selecting process it is not possible to say that the results shown is just due to SI. However, one can try to control for other factors that may affect the results. In this study we included factors like motivation/attitude, ability (both self-estimated and based on GPA from upper secondary school), study strategy, age when entering university, the academic background of the students family and if the student is male/female. Did any of the factors differ between SI attendees and non-attendees? A few actually, with the most pronounced being study strategy (frequent SI attendees had better study strategy in upper secondary school compared to non-attendees). However, the correlation between study strategy and SI-attendance was not especially pronounced (although statistically significant), being 0.24, and did not have more than a minor effect on the results above. Other factors with statistical significant differences between SI participants and non-participants where that grades from upper secondary school was slightly better for the former group and that female students (having higher grades and better study strategies) were slightly over-represented among the SI participants. However, these two factors did not have a pronounced effect on the results above. We will involve the participants by inviting their ideas and questions and introducing themes for discussion like • What are the potential benefits of SI that can promote a timely graduation? • What factors should one include when investigating differences between SI attendees and non-attendees

Supplemental Instruction (SI) at the Faculty of Engineering (LTH), Lund University, Sweden. An evaluation of the SI-program at five LTH engineering programs autumn 2008.

The study presents an evaluation of the SI-program at five LTH engineering educations based on data from inquiries to SI-participants and SI-leaders, data on credits taken by the students during the first year, and average grade data from high-school for the first year-students. The results show that participation in SI-sessions markedly improves the chances of student success in studies during the first year. Furthermore, there are clear indications of a positive social introduction to engineering studies that is created through the SI-program. The SI-sessions also improve the participants study techniques and develop common skills important for the engineer, like problem solving, working in a group, and presenting/discussing results