UHD Faculty Feedback on Supplemental Instruction Program (SI)

9. What did you find
the most frustrating about SI?

1.      Not
having enough time to best use my SI in and out of class.

2.      Initially
it was mildly frustrating that he was to shy to help the students during the
class, but by mid semester this subsided.

3.      I
just did not have enough time to take advantage of the features of the
SI…if we had the time to do more classroom activities, I could have used
the SI more effectively.

4.      I
did not find any of my SI leaders frustrating. They all conducted themselves as
upperclassmen and were never condescending. However sometimes the students
would frustrate one of them somewhat and this was his first semester being an
SI. At those times I would talk to him and may be show him a pointer or two. By
semester’s end he had become a “seasoned” tutor.

5.      The
SI leader should be someone who has a good background in Math; who has taken
and performed well in higher level courses and who is current.

6.      That
it is not an hour attached to the course so that everyone would benefit from
doing their homework in such a positive environment.

7.      That
students did not take advantage of this wonderful opportunity-especially since she
made herself available on Fridays.

8.      His
one flaw, perhaps, is that he can seem a stern task-maker. He is always there
to help, but has a serious demeanor which may make students a bit fearful of
asking for help. On the other hand, I have absolutely no proof of this-I can
only compare him to my other SI in this respect. I imagine the evaluations will
be more help. This was not really a frustration; simply a concern of mine (may
have no foundation).

9.      Sometimes
it is difficult for the SI leaders to be available at the times all students
can attend.

10.  She is
quiet. Her disability frequently kept her from attending class.

11.  The
students do not attend SI sessions. Even when I have offered
“incentives” to attend like extra credit or extensions on paper
deadlines, students just don’t make use of the SI outside of class.

12.  Unfortunately,
only a small percentage of the students in the class chose to take advantage of
the SI assistance made available.

13.   Occasionally, his handwriting. Very
occasionally, not confident.

14.   This semester one frustration was the
loss of my initial SI and having to start over with a new SI about halfway
through. Another was that not enough students sought the SI’s help.

15.   In general, SI leaders are not trained to
tutor for English classes. An English SI leader should never write on or
correct students’ papers for them. This has never happened with any of
the SI leaders that I have been assigned because my SI leaders have either been
Writing/Reading Center (WRC) tutors or I have trained the SI to not do the work
for the student. As the director of the WRC, I have offered my services to the
LC program each semester and have offered to train the English SI leaders. Once
again, I will gladly volunteer my time to hold mini-training sessions for
English SI leaders. In addition, I have heard through my tutors who also serve
as SI leaders that there is an SI leader who speaks negatively about the WRC
and repeatedly tells students not to come to the WRC. He claims that the tutors
in the WRC do not know what they are doing. This is very unprofessional
behavior and undercuts the overall mission of both the SI program and the WRC.

16.  Unfortunately,
only a small percentage of the students in the class chose to take advantage o
the SI assistance made available.

17.   It is difficult to find a time when
students and SI can meet because of conflicting schedules. An online venue
might be helpful.

18.   I regretted not being able to find a
common time that would allow me to meet regularly with the SI leader to include
his insights in curriculum development and to offer him closer guidance in how
he might more effectively support the students’ research and writing.

19.   Not a thing! I love it, as you may know.

20.   Every time I asked him for work, he
completed/was successful with about half of the assignment.

21.   Getting students to go see the SI outside
of class is challenging. He was able to get a small of group of students to
come regularly, but others who could have benefited never did go see him.

22.   That I could not ask the SI to help me
with grading. I would have wanted to do more in-class quizzes and I could have
done this with some help from somebody (SI or somebody else).

23.  Getting the
students to take advantage of the extra times he was available outside of
class.

24.  I
can’t ask the SI leader to help me with grading quizzes-knowing that SI
leaders should be very qualified to do the job.

25.  His
inexperience with the SI program and his cocky attitude at the beginning
(coming late, wearing headphones, thinking that if he did anything during class
time he was doing my work). We had a discussion and he did change for the
better. He really was helpful in that some students who passed would not have
without working with him.

26.  My SIs are
both wonderful and knowledgeable. I feel that I have trained them to be most
helpful in my class and that is part of my responsibilities as an instructor in
this program. It is difficult for them and frustrating when they are told by
someone else to do even more! I, as an instructor, should have been consulted
first!