Supplemental Instruction: Cooperative Learning
and Embedded Learning Strategies

David R. Arendale, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota
Former National Project Director for Supplemental Instruction
David@Arendale.org, http://arendale.org

An Overview of Supplemental Instruction (SI)

The Supplemental Instruction (SI) model of academic enrichment helps students in historically difficult classes master content while they develop learning and study strategies. SI program outcomes include: (1) improved student grades in targeted courses; (2) reduced attrition rates within those courses; and (3) increased persistence rates. All students in a targeted course are urged to attend the optional SI sessions which are held outside of class, and students with varying ability levels participate. Historically-difficult classes typically have rates of 30% or more of low marks (D, F, or course withdrawal). There is no stigma attached to SI since historically difficult courses rather than high risk students are targeted. Since SI is scalable, it can be implemented in one or more courses each term. SI was one of the first cooperative learning community models widely adopted in U.S. higher education (Arendale, 2002).

SI was created at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1973. After a rigorous review process in 1981, SI was designated by the U.S. Department of Education as the first of only two programs as improving both academic achievement and graduation rates. Faculty and staff from more than 1,000 institutions in 13 countries have received training to implement SI. Around the world, each academic term approximately 250,000 students participate in SI (Arendale, 2003).

Key Persons Involved in SI

There are four key persons involved with SI. The first is the SI supervisor, a college staff or faculty person who: identifies the historically-difficult targeted courses; gains faculty support; selects, trains, and monitors SI leaders, and evaluates the program.

The second key person for SI is the faculty member who teaches one of the identified courses. SI is only offered in courses in which the faculty member invites and supports SI. Faculty members screen SI leaders for content competency and approve selections. They generally meet with the SI leader periodically throughout the academic term to discuss SI session strategies and providing anonymous feedback.

The third key person is the SI leader. They are students who are course competent, approved by the course instructor, and trained in proactive cooperative learning and study strategies. The SI leader is considered a “near peer” (Whitman, 1988). SI leaders attend course lectures, take notes, read all assigned materials, and conduct three to five out-of-class SI sessions a week. The SI leader is the "model student," a facilitator who helps students to integrate course content and learning/study strategies. SI leaders generally receive a modest stipend and/or academic credit for their work.

The fourth key member of the SI program are the participating students. Through use of cooperative learning activities during the SI sessions, students are actively engaged in course review and practice use of learning strategies with the course content (Donelan & Wallace, 1997; Van Der Karr, 2001). Immediate integration of “how to learn” with “what to learn” is a distinctive SI feature. Rather than requiring some students to enroll in prerequisite developmental education courses due to skill deficits, all students in a historically difficult course are invited to concurrently develop needed learning strategies while mastering difficult academic content material.

Essential Use of Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is an essential component of SI sessions for improving student outcomes. One reason why cooperative learning is essential lies in the typical passiveness of many students who want the SI leader to provide answers to questions rather than engaging in active learning activities. Careful use of a wide variety of cooperative learning activities, such as think-pair-share, jigsaw, and structured controversy, help SI leaders maintain their role as facilitators of the discussion rather than becoming the designated answer-givers.

A second reason for the use of cooperative learning strategies is to create a learning community that provides good role models for the students to adopt. Research is clear that students change their behavior in the direction of the dominant orientation of their peer group. Careful management of these peer group learning environments is essential. It is the biggest factor that affects college student outcomes (Astin, 1993).

The third reason that cooperative learning groups are so essential is that they provide “. . . an arena for conversation and to sustain us while we learn the language, mores, and values of the community we are trying to join” (Bruffee, 1993, p. 20). Too often just a few new students are “adopted” by the course professor or by other knowledgeable advanced students to receive informal or formal mentoring on how to join the campus culture and to engage the academic discipline. Often the first-generation college students are left alone and bewildered by the campus environment. SI provides an opportunity for all students in the class to join the academic community at a deeper level within a supportive learning environment.

To Learn More about SI          

For more information about SI, visit the author’s web site at http://arendale.org and the National Center for SI at http://www.umkc.edu/cad/si/ At these sites there are more than 100 documents authored by fellow educators from countries around the world that describe the use and modifications of the SI model.

References

Arendale, D. (Ed.). (2003). Annotated bibliography of supplemental instruction and video-based supplemental instruction. Unpublished manuscript, General College, University of Minnesota. Retrieved from http//arendale.org

Arendale, D. (2002). History of Supplemental Instruction: Mainstreaming of developmental education. In D. B. Lundell, & J. L. Higbee (Eds.), Histories of developmental education (pp. 15-27). Minneapolis, MN: Center for Research on Developmental Education and Urban Literacy, University of Minnesota. Retrieved from http//www.gen.umn.edu/research/crdeul

Astin, A. W. (1993). What matters in college: Four critical years revisited. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Bruffee, K. A. (1993). Collaborative learning: Higher education, interdependence, and the authority of knowledge. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Donelan, M., & Wallace. J. (1997). Peer assisted learning: A truly cooperative initiative. London: University College London. [Online] http://www.ucl.ac.uk/epd/pal/SEDApaper1.html

Van Der Karr, C. A. (2001). Becoming a cooperative learner: Supplemental Instruction experiences at a community college [Dissertation, Syracuse University, 2000]. Dissertation Abstracts International, 62(04), 1347.

Whitman, N. A. (1988). Peer teaching: To teach is to learn twice. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 4. Washington, D.C.: Association for the Study of Higher Education.