Academic Success Center

At SI, you can deepen your understanding of course concepts, participate in a supportive learning environment, and gain the skills and confidence you need to succeed in the course! Sometimes it can feel like everyone else in the class gets the material, but at SI, you'll see that your peers have many of the same questions that you do! You'll be able to talk through content that you feel confident in and through concepts that you want more clarity in. Lastly, we find that students who attend regularly earn 1/3 to 1/2 grade higher than students who do not attend SI.

SI is a bit different than traditional tutoring. The SI model focuses on collaboration in groups to create significant learning opportunities and keep things moving forward. At tables, we focus on major concepts of a course to ensure that you have a strong foundation in the important topics needed to understand what is happening in class. We also talk a lot about how to study effectively for the course, to make sure you are feeling confident in your ability to do well.

Some other things you might expect:

1. SI focuses on major concepts rather than individual problems- We still do practice problems at tables, but we don't ever do homework.
    
2. SI Leaders come prepared with a plan- We know that group study sessions can easily become sidetracked. This is why SI Leaders prepare weekly plans to ensure that things move effectively and efficiently.
    
3. SI Tables are active- In their plans, SI leaders have different activities to cover the different content. This means that no two tables will be the same from week to week or SI Leader to SI Leader. These activities are structured to help you learn the material in ways that are required for your course.  
    
4. SI Tables rely on your knowledge- Although SI Leaders know a lot, facilitate tables, and lead activities, they are not the holders of all knowledge when it comes to their tables. In SI, we rely on groups to bring their collective knowledge to the table (this may be a lot, or it may be a little), and we'll work together from there.
    
5. It's not all about the SI Leader- Everyone is used to a tutoring model where you ask and the tutor answers, but SI isn't that place. Instead, SI Leaders know the benefit of groups finding the answers together, so they will often redirect your questions to others or ask you additional follow-up questions before offering their thoughts.

You can see the full list of courses that we are supporting each term by clicking on the term in the menu above. 

Online tables work very similar to in-person tables. Just like before, you will register for a table time, with 8-10 other people. The big difference will be that in the welcome email to your table, your SI Leader will send you out a join code for Zoom, which will remain the same throughout the entire term. You will use that code to access your SI Table. SI Leaders will work with each group to help them navigate any questions that come up during the SI session.