Supplemental Instruction

Session SChedule  Student FAQ  Faculty Resources  Testimonials  SI Goals  Apply to be an SI Leader

Supplemental Instruction (SI) provides free, organized group study sessions which are open to any student enrolled in select historically difficult courses. These sessions are led by currently-enrolled University of Utah students who have previously taken the course and are trained to be SI Leaders. SI sessions are held twice a week for 60 minutes each. 

The Learning Center defines historically difficult courses as ones with high rates of non-passing grades, withdrawls, and incompletes. If you are enrolled in a different section of a supported course, you are welcome to attend the SI sessions; however, the course content may not line up depending on course syllabi. 

The Learning Center's SI Program is accredited through the International Center for Supplemental Instruction. Accreditation demonstrates the impact of SI on enrolled students in supported courses.

Check out the student and faculty resources pages for more information about Supplemental Instruction. If you have any questions about the SI program, please contact the SI Coordinator at Taylor.R.Johnson@utah.edu. 

Spring 2026 Schedule 

SI Impact Data

In course sections that offer SI sessions, SI participants have an average class GPA of 3.2 compared to non-SI participants with an average class GPA of 2.9, a 0.3-point difference.

Testimonials

"Going to the SI sessions helped me understand the course material better. Hearing it from a different person and in a different way than the professor often helped me see a new way of approaching the problems I was working on." - Morgan, PHYS 2010

"SI has helped me gain a better understanding of the material. Hearing multiple explanations of the same topic helped me comprehend the material better compared to when I was not attending the SI sessions." - Zach, MATH 1040

"SI has had a major impact on my experience in this course because I was able to practice and really be able to know the material in the course. The SI sessions really improved my knowledge of the course and helped me succeed on the quizzes/exams." - Sasha, MATH 1040

"SI helped me understand better what the class wanted me to learn. When taking an online course, it can be challenging to learn what you need to cover and do to prepare for tests, and the SI sessions helped bridge that gap." - Quinne, CHEM 1210

"SI saved me in this class! There is a lot of information and SI was the main way I learned the course material." - Tiffin, CHEM 1130

SI Program Goals

Supplemental Instruction helps students to become independent learners by combining what to learn with how to learn. The main goals of the SI program are to empower students to:

1. Learn the course material
2. Improve their course grade
3. Develop transferable study skills

SI provides students with an informal small group learning experience that helps them feel connected to other students and demonstrates the power of group study. Students who attend SI sessions report higher course grades and more learned study skills than their peers who do not attend (International Center for Supplemental Instruction, 2022).