Frequently Asked Questions

The Supplemental Instruction (SI) program provides academic support to traditionally difficult courses through peer-led study groups. This service is provided at no cost to students and faculty, and studies have shown that students who regularly participate in SI sessions perform on average a full letter grade better than students who don’t take advantage of the service. These study groups are led by an SI Leader, a student who previously performed well in a course and was nominated by a faculty member to support the class for future semesters. The SI Leader gets paid to attend class, take notes, and assist students with regular collaborative study group sessions, usually before or after class.

In addition to improved grades, students also have the opportunity to bond with their peers in an academic setting and gain a better understanding of not only course content, but the resources available to students at ACC.

At each collaborative study session, the SI Leader will guide you through course concepts in a fun and engaging way. The goal of these sessions is to help you process the information from class, answer questions, and overall improve your understanding and navigation of the class materials.

The SI Leader collaborates with your professor to create exclusive study content and develop unique activities and problem sets to reinforce course material, but they do not re-lecture or provide answers.

Before registering for classes, be sure to view the updated list of courses supported by SI on the SI website. You can also search “Supplemental Instruction” in Self-Service under Academics->Course Catalog->Course Type. If you are in a class supported by SI, during the first week of class the SI Leader will make an announcement about SI. SI supports classes at every campus, as well as courses that are in-person, hybrid, and online.

SI sessions are typically held before or after your class. They are held 2-3 times a week and are scheduled based on the availability of the students in the class, and the availability of the SI leader.

SI Leaders are students themselves who successfully completed the course and are model students. They’ll be in class with you every day, hearing what you hear and reading what you read. They take notes and participate in the class, just like you. Their job is to help you understand and navigate the lectures and readings effectively.

The SI Leader attends class from the very beginning, but the SI study sessions begin during the second week of the semester. The SI Leader will set up two or three study sessions a week at times that are best for the majority of students in the class. 

SI support is completely FREE to students and faculty. You can attend as many SI sessions as you’d like 100% free of charge.

If you are interested in becoming an SI Leader, we encourage you to talk to a faculty member for a course you performed well in. Students must earn an A or a high B in the course and be nominated by an ACC faculty member. If your faculty member is unfamiliar with SI, you can provide them with information from our website.

You will develop important public-speaking, team-building, and interpersonal skills, you will gain excellent experience for future teaching positions, you can get reacquainted with course material, obtain important professional experience for your resume, form relationships with peers and/or faculty members and help others succeed, all as a student employee!

You will typically work from 6 – 8 hours/per week/per unique course you support. The hours differ depending on the course.

My course is…	16 week	12 week	8 week
asynchronous 3 credit hours	Lecture: 2h/wkSession: 3h/wk Admin Time: 1h/wk Total: 6h/wk	Lecture: 2.5h/wkSession: 3h/wk Admin Time: 1h/wk Total: 6.5h/wk	Lecture: 3h/wkSession: 3h/wk Admin Time: 1h/wk Total: 7h/wk
asynchronous 4 credit hours	Lecture: 2h/wkSession: 3h/wk Admin Time: 1h/wk Total: 6h/wk	Lecture: 2.5h/wkSession: 3h/wk Admin Time: 1h/wk Total: 6.5h/wk	Lecture: 3h/wkSession: 3h/wk Admin Time: 1h/wk Total: 7h/wk
synchronous 3 credit hours	Lecture: 3h/wkSession: 3h/wk Admin Time: 1h/wk Total: 7h/wk	Lecture: 3h/wkSession: 3h/wk Admin Time: 1h/wk Total: 7h/wk	Lecture: discuss with adminSession: 3h/wk Admin Time: 1h/wk Total: discuss with admin
synchronous 4 credit hours	Lecture: 4h/wkSession: 3h/wk Admin Time: 1h/wk Total: 8h/wk	Lecture: 4h/wkSession: 3h/wk Admin Time: 1h/wk Total: 8h/wk	Lecture: discuss with adminSession: 3h/wk Admin Time: 1h/wk Total: discuss with admin

• These values are estimates; the actual amount of lecture time may vary. For questions, please reach out to [email protected]
• Hour counts are per unique course:
  • SIL can support up to two unique courses, at which point they would get the hours for each course as noted in the above table
  • Paired courses will be treated as two unique courses, hour counts will be determined between the SIL and the SI Admin Team
  • An SIL supporting multiple sections of the same course (with the same professor, in the same modality) would get the hours for one course
• For 8-week courses: SIL needs to have taken the course with the nominating professor within the last year and must have access to their previous class notes; hour counts will be determined between the SIL and the SI Admin Team

An SI Leader may support up to two unique courses at the same time.

Yes! SI Leaders go through online and in-person training prior to the start of the semester, so they are well prepared, even if they’ve never been to a session before.

SI Leaders make $23/hour

No. You need to have taken the class before, reside in Texas, and be nominated by the faculty teaching the class.