Become a leader for SI sessions
As an SI leader, you help a group of students from a specific course to work through relevant course material. You hold an SI session each week. You can read more about the role of SI leader and how to apply here.
Selected courses have SI sessions
SI leaders and SI sessions are tied to specific challenging courses that the SI leaders themselves have studied and completed. These are usually introductory courses where students may have difficulty getting into the subject or developing effective study skills.
There are currently around 160 courses that have SI sessions, in various subject areas across seven of the nine faculties at Lund University. Over 4,000 students participate in these sessions each year.
A few examples of courses/subject areas with SI sessions at Lund University:
- Archaeology
- Biology and Health
- Business Administration
- Business Law
- Geology
- Linguistics
- Mechanics
- One-dimensional analysis
- Organic Chemistry
- Philosophy
- Psychology
- Sociology
The role of SI leader
At present, there are around 235 SI leaders active at Lund University. Maybe you would like to join them?
If you
- are interested in educational approaches and leadership
- enjoy collaborating in a group, and
- would like to motivate and inspire other students
this is a fantastic opportunity for you to take on a fun, rewarding role!
As an SI leader during SI sessions you will lead discussions and act as a sounding board and mentor rather than in a teaching role. You hold one SI session per week, lasting 1–2 hours, for around 5–15 students. This can be for one semester or a longer period. During the sessions, you help students to understand the content of the course and develop their study skills. That way, both their motivation and their self-confidence will increase. By doing this, you contribute to reducing the risk that students drop out of courses unnecessarily and help students to feel a sense of community.
You can find concrete descriptions of the duties and responsibilities of an SI leader further down this page. You will receive compulsory basic training lasting two days before you start the role, after which you will be given ongoing support.
Read more about the training:
Advantages of being an SI leader
As an SI leader, you are paid for the hours you work, while you simultaneously develop leadership knowledge and experience of talking in front of groups.
You also have the opportunity to make new connections and expand your network.
This experience and knowledge will be valuable both in your studies and in working life, where they are in demand. When you complete your time as an SI leader, you also receive an official certificate which may be of use in future job applications.
Above all, I have learnt about educational approaches and how best to learn a subject.
Previous SI leader in Sociology
What is SI-PASS?
SI-PASS stands for Supplemental Instruction – Peer Assisted Study Sessions. They are regular, informal sessions led by an SI leader who is a student, in which students on a specific course can take part in order to get help in grasping the content of the course and in developing study skills.
Apply to become an SI leader
To apply to become an SI leader, contact the SI organisation within your faculty or department. You can find contact details on each faculty or department website:
- Department of Business Administration (School of Economics and Management, LUSEM) – fek.lu.se (in Swedish)
- Faculties of Humanities and Theology – ht.lu.se (in Swedish)
- The Faculty of Engineering, LTH – student.lth.se
- Faculty of Medicine (Ulla Wingren, ulla [dot] wingren [at] med [dot] lu [dot] se and Karin Stenkula, karin [dot] stenkula [at] med [dot] lu [dot] se)
- Faculty of Science – science.lu.se
- Department of Sociology (Faculty of Social Sciences) – soc.lu.se
If you have difficulty finding contact details, you are welcome to email si-pass [at] stu [dot] lu [dot] se.
SI leaders’ responsibility and duties
There are specific things you need to think about before the course starts, and before, during and after each SI session. These include the following:
Before the start of the course, you need to take part in the two-day compulsory SI leader training.
Read more about the training, and register:
At the start of the course, you need to inform the students about your SI sessions.
Ahead of each SI session, you need to
- communicate with the main lecturer
- attend relevant lectures
- advertise your SI sessions, for example at lectures, via email and/or social media
- prepare yourself by combining and integrating the course content with appropriate learning techniques based on cooperative learning*. You should plan specific tasks.
*You will learn more about these learning techniques and cooperative learning during the SI leader training.
During each SI session you need to
- note attendance at the beginning of the session
- listen to the students’ requests for discussion topics – if they do not have specific wishes, you can use the tasks you have prepared
- initiate different learning activities to engage the students, e.g. group work, presentations or discussions about problem solving and exploring theories
- ensure that all participants are active and engaged
- share examples of study skills that have worked for you and your peers
- summarise the discussions at the end of the session.
After each SI session, the SI leader reports attendance to the person in the department who is responsible for the SI programme, also known as the SI PASS supervisor. The SI leader also maintains constant contact with their SI PASS supervisor about how the SI sessions are going. This can be achieved through individual reports and through weekly or bi-weekly sessions with the SI PASS supervisor.