Issue #4 Fall 2009
Faculty Focus - Tyler J. Bowles, Professor and Head, Department of Economics and Finance, Huntsman School of Business

As a result of teaching large classes of primarily freshman students for more than twenty years, I have had the good fortune of interacting with 15,000 to 20,000 students thus far in my teaching career. It has been a wonderful experience.  An additional benefit of teaching so many students has been my involvement with the Supplemental Instruction program and, particularly, with many exceptional SI student leaders.

Although my involvement with the SI program was universally positive, the statistician in me caused me to question the statistics the SI program presented that indicated that students who attended SI sessions received better grades than students who did not; maybe better students attended SI. A former SI student leader and I gathered the data, statistically controlled for student ability, and confirmed that SI helps students. Indeed, the effect on student learning was larger than the raw statistics suggested. This led us to address another question: does student participation in supplemental instruction as a freshman increase the possibility of graduating? Interestingly, the answer was yes, by approximately 10 percent.   What a great program.  It helps students master the content of the course, it helps develop study skills and habits that promote retention and graduation, it is great experience for the SI student leaders, and professors get to meet and work with these outstanding SI leaders.  I look forward to many more years of involvement with the SI program and 20,000 more students.

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