iSchool Undergraduate Student Support Program

IST337 allows students to earn academic credit by assisting an iSchool faculty member as an undergraduate student support person.  This opportunity is available in relation to a number of undergraduate courses.  Undergraduate Student Support assumes responsibility for some activity directly related to the conduct of the class, such as maintaining office hours, providing out-of-class assistance with course assignments, assisting with lab activities, or working as a consultant on team projects.  These experiences provide students with the ability to further develop their skills in a specific area, to develop their leadership skills, and to establish a close professional relationship with a faculty member.

To serve as a support practitioner, students must have earned a grade of B+ or higher in the course in which they wish to assist.  Interested students should contact the appropriate faculty member and complete the IST337 agreement.  Three signatures are required on the IST337 agreement: The prospective undergraduate student support student, the course instructor, and an academic counselor.  Training sessions are a required component of IST337.  At most, three credits of IST337 can be taken in any one semester.  Up to six (6) credits of IST337 can be counted toward fulfilling the major elective requirements of 15 credits but students may only be a support practitioner once for any particular course.

There are many benefits to having an Undergraduate Student Support:

• You can develop deeper connections with our students
• You get a fresh set of eyes (from the student perspective) on your teaching material and receive feedback before you present to class
• An Undergraduate Student Support can test the weekly labs before the class completes them to fix any bugs or alert you of any confusion
• The Undergraduate Student Support learns the material in a whole new way, helping them gain a deeper understanding often leads to them pursuing more coursework in that subject area
• Someone can help you answer questions when all those hands go up in the labs
• Undergraduate Student Support can assist with organization of projects and office hours

If you are thinking about having undergraduate student support for a class this coming semester, please reference the information below to find out more information:

1. ANY instructor (full-time or adjunct) can utilize one of our Undergraduate Student Support positions. If it will enhance your class and the student’s classroom experience, we’re all for it. Therefore, think about what you would like an Undergraduate Student Support to do for you and how they would help enhance your class instruction. You can use the documents attached at the top of the page for ideas, and talk to other professors about how they leverage their Undergraduate Student Support (we are happy to recommend some regular Undergraduate Student Support-users to you).

   
   

2. The student must have successfully completed the course for which they want to be an undergraduate student support person for (regardless of the instructor who taught the course), whom you know you can trust to be responsible, and who has demonstrated proficiency in the work.  PLEASE NOTE: Students must have received a grade of B+ or better when they attended the course as a student. 

   If you need a recommendation of someone, just let the student services office know and we can pull rosters from former class sections.
   
   

3. The student must be able to attend six mandatory classes throughout the semester. These classes are held on Wednesday nights from 5:15 - 6:35pm.
   
   
4. Once you have a student who agrees to be an Undergraduate Student Support for your class, have a talk with the student about the structure of your class. Build out the expectations (very specifically) that you have for your Undergraduate Student Support and amend the IST337 Agreement to match your goals. Make sure to go through your syllabus in detail with your new Undergraduate Student Support and let them ask questions to be sure that you’re both on the same page with how the semester will run. Both of you should sign the IST337 Agreement paperwork in the necessary spaces.
   
   
5. Send your student to Jeff Fouts in student services, Hinds Hall 114, with all the paperwork. He will keep a copy for his records and you should keep a copy for yourself for review. The only way your student receives credit for the work they are doing is if they bring in the paperwork so they can get enrolled in the IST337: iSchool Support Practicum course. The paperwork should be submitted no more than TWO WEEKS BEFORE the start of classes. Paperwork should include the IST337 agreement/form (included at the top of the page).
   
   
6. Once the paperwork is received by Jeff Fouts, the student will then be able to register for the course. They WILL NOT be able to register for IST337 until all paperwork has been received.
   
   
7. Students must register for IST337 prior to the add deadline

PLEASE NOTE: Students may not count IST337 in the IM&T or Data Science Minors

We are happy to enhance your teaching experience by providing you the ability to have an Undergraduate Student Support for your class. Hosting an Undergraduate Student Support is often really rewarding and the student finds the experience extremely beneficial as they get to connect further with a professor, have a deeper understanding of material and develop the people skills that come with serving others.

IST337 allows students to earn academic credit by assisting an iSchool faculty member as an undergraduate student support person.  This opportunity is available in relation to a number of undergraduate courses.  Undergraduate Student Support assumes responsibility for some activity directly related to the conduct of the class, such as maintaining office hours, providing out-of-class assistance with course assignments, assisting with lab activities, or working as a consultant on team projects.  These experiences provide students with the ability to further develop their skills in a specific area, to develop their leadership skills, and to establish a close professional relationship with a faculty member.

To serve as a support practitioner, you must have earned a grade of B+ or higher in the course in which you wish to assist.  Interested students should contact the appropriate faculty member and complete the IST337 agreement.  Three signatures are required on the IST337 agreement: The prospective undergraduate student support student, the course instructor, and an academic counselor.  Training sessions are a required component of IST337.  At most, three credits of IST337 can be taken in any one semester.  Up to six (6) credits of IST337 can be counted toward fulfilling the major elective requirements of 15 credits but you may only be a support practitioner once for any particular course and you can only participate a maximum of two semesters. So the breakdown is as follows:

1. 1st time being an undergraduate student support - 3 credits
2. 2nd time being an undergraduate student support for a different class - 1- 3 credits depending on hours
   1. 1 credit - 1-3 hours per week spent being an undergraduate student support
   2. 2 credits - 4-6 hours per week spent being an undergraduate student support
   3. 3 credits - 7-10 hours per week spent being an undergraduate student support

There are many benefits to being a student support person with the major one being a great experience to put on your resume. Many past student support students have found the experience very rewarding and something they wished they signed up for sooner.

So what are the requirements to being a Student Support student? Simple.

• You must have taken the course that you want to student support for
• Obtained the grade of at least a B+
• Be responsible enough to be willing to help other students
• Finally, be able to formally meet six times throughout the semester. These meetings are mandatory and count towards your final grade for this course. The meetings are not held in succession of one another, so you need to plan these meetings around your schedule for the semester. The class meetings are all held on Wednesday nights from 5:15 - 6:30 pm. We will only meet as a class six times.
  
  Please Note: If you have a class that you are attending on Wednesday nights you will be ineligible to be an undergraduate student support person
  

That’s it.

What does a Student Support person do? Well, for starters, you are available to help the instructor with whatever their needs may be. You will work a maximum of 10 hours a week both in the classroom and conducting office hours. Other tasks of being a Student Support person:

• You can develop deeper connections with iSchool students
• You are a fresh set of eyes (from the student perspective) on the teaching material and can give feedback before the instructor presents to class
• An undergraduate student support person can test the weekly labs before the class completes them to fix any bugs or alert the instructor of any confusion
• The undergraduate student support person learns the material in a whole new way, helping you gain a deeper understanding which often leads to pursuing more coursework in that subject area
• You can help answer questions when all those hands go up in the labs
• Undergraduate student support can assist in organizing projects and holding weekly office hours

If you are interested, please fill out the form below expressing your interest. You are able to list up to 3 courses that you would like to student support for following the requirements that I listed above. If you only have one course, that is fine to.

Our instructors want and need your help.  

Please Note: If selected, you will be contacted by the instructor. You will both fill out a student support agreement that is signed by both of you and you will register for IST337 iSchool Support Practicum, a 3-credit course taught by me that covers how to be an effective student support person.

The link to the form is below:

iSchool Undergraduate Student Support Interest Form