University students may not have to choose between class and supplemental instruction sessions thanks to a resolution requesting all SI sessions to start after 4 p.m. on weekdays.
Student senator Timothy Craig authored the resolution after some of his constituents in the College of Engineering approached him about an SI session being held at 2 p.m., a time when most of them were in class, Craig said.
“The issue was resolved on its own, but I thought, in the future, let’s try and do something to help make SI sessions more accessible to students,” Craig said.
The College of Engineering, especially, has curriculum built around SI sessions, and most of these sessions already occur after 4 p.m., Craig said. Even then, Craig said he wanted to guarantee students had access to SI sessions without class conflicts.
“The goal is more access,” Craig said.
After the students approached him, Craig contacted Matthew Mattox, the associate director at the Center for Academic Success, who helped him draft the resolution. Craig and Mattox decided on 4 p.m. as the time when out of class. The time restriction only affects SI sessions held on weekdays and not on weekends, Craig said.
Thermodynamics supplemental instructor Ryan Weber said he doesn’t think the resolution is necessary. He said he hasn’t had a time conflict with a session and a class, as he was required to hold all of his sessions after 4 p.m. unless the session was on a Sunday.
“I think it already happens,” Weber said. “They can pass it if they want, but I don’t think anything’s going to change.”
However, as a student, Weber said he’s had SI sessions conflict with each other. Holding most SI sessions after 4 p.m. on weekdays leaves a narrow time slot. For SI-heavy majors like engineering, multiple SIs might be held at the same time on the same day,Weber said.
Despite this potential conflict, Weber said all supplemental instructors have office hours, so if students have multiple sessions at the same time, they can always visit their instructor during office hours to receive for instruction.
Aside from class time conflicts, Weber said classroom space is also limited before 4 p.m.
Together, Craig and Mattox came up with a list of three exceptions that would allow SI sessions to be held before 4 p.m. on school days: a majority class vote to hold the session at an alternate time, lack of space available at that time and pre-specified SI office hours, according to the resolution.
“For example, if there’s an upper level course where the students are all seniors, they might finish class at 11 a.m. and why would you want to have an SI session at 4 p.m.?” Craig said. “They want to get off campus, so we added that the class can ask to move the session.”
While the resolution was on the floor last week, a representative from the Center for Academic Success spoke about the measures they taking to ensure students’ continued access to SI sessions, which Craig said he considers a positive response to his legislation.
“They’re working on making the start times as late as they could, so I think that’s already a good response,” Craig said.
The resolution passed the committee and senate unanimously. Now, the resolution needs signatures from Speaker of the Student Senate Christina Black and SG President Stewart Lockett. Craig said he expects to hear back from them in about a week.
“The goal of SI is to helpstudents be as successful as they can,” Craig said.