Students have help on the way for those tough classes plagueing them in their majors.
A new academic program is being tested and funded by The University of Memphis. The Supplemental Instruction program (SI), a national program in effect at nearly 600 colleges, is now in development at The U of M.
Coordinator of the Educational Support Program, Dr. Barbara Bekis, said students will use the new program as a study aid outside of class.
"The program's basic concept is out-of-class study activities," Bekis said.
Bekis said the groups will only be for students in a specified section of a course. Each group will have a student leader who is trained and has successfully passed the course. The group leader must also attend every class, do the reading, take thorough notes, prepare study sessions and help students think about the lecture.
For each course selection, there are four weekly study groups facilitated by the leader. The SI groups meet for one hour each week to further emphasize the course material and study skills.
Rosie Bingham, chair of the retention program, brought SI to The U of M and also facilitated its funding.
John Haddock, director of arts and sciences, was instrumental in collaborating with the faculty, while Barbara Bekis will supervise the program.
"We surveyed the students in every section to see what meeting times would suit them best," Bekis said, "We want to make SI as available as possible to the students."
The program does not focus on every course offered by The University, but will instead focus on four historically difficult courses at The U of M: Fundamentals of Accounting 2010, Principals of Biology 1151, Concepts of Fitness and Wellness 1100 and Foundations of Math 1181. The courses' difficulty is neither the fault of professors or students, but is due to the difficulty of the content being taught, Bekis said.
"Historically difficult courses are courses where 30 percent or more of the students who enrolled made either Ds, Fs or withdrew," Bekis said.
Since the program is still in a testing stage, only five sections from four historically difficult courses are being emphasized.
Future funding for the program will depend on the success the study groups bring the students. The success will be measured by comparing the grades of the students who participated in SI and those who did not.
"The expectations are high because, nationally, the students who participated in SI averaged 10 points above the class average on tests," Bekis said.
According to Edgar Dale's Cone of Learning, learners retain 10 percent of what they read, 20 percent of what they hear, 30 percent of what they see, 40 percent of what they see and hear, 70 percent of what they say and 90 percent of what they say and do.
The SI study groups will allow students to read, hear, see, speak and participate in the course material, thus promoting a high percentage of retention of course material and untimely improved test success.
"SI ought to help retain students and help improve the performance of those who are already here," Bingham said.
Bekis said SI will reduce the drop-out rate and raising levels of student performance. The students participating will improve their grades, their understanding of the course material, their study habits and have access to more efficient study time.
"Students who are struggling will have a different way to learn the material," Haddock said. "The more they learn, then the better our University and our community will be."
