Structured Study Groups
at the
University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Law

Professor Barbara Glesner Fines, Director

The Structured Study Group program can be described best as an inclusive, non-remedial program of academic support, which integrates study skills instruction into the context of one or more targeted classes. It has been a successful component of the UMKC Law School academic support program since its inception in 1991.

Study group leaders prepare for and attend the targeted first-year class as though they were taking the course again (with the sole exception that study group leaders do not participate in class discussion). The goal of the study group leaders is, however, NOT to tutor the students in the subject of the course. Research suggests those tutoring relationships do not promote transfer of needed academic skills (Martin, D.C.; & Arendale, D.R. Supplemental Instruction: Improving student performance, increasing student persistence," ERIC Document Reproduction Service. ED 327 103. 14 p. MF01; PC01.(1991). Rather the study group leaders promote more effective learning by the first year students by modeling effective student behavior and attitudes and by using the course material as a focus for assisting the first-year students in developing efficient and effective learning techniques. The targeted course to which study groups are assigned may be chosen based on a number of factors: the perceived or actual relative difficulty of the course; the perceived or relative difficulty of the professor; the effectiveness of the study group leader in using that course's materials rather than other materials for developing learning strategies; and pragmatic concerns such as scheduling or enrollment. In no case are study groups or study group leaders assigned to a course without the course instructor's permission.

The SSG program is open to all students on a first-come, first-served basis. The program can accomodate approximately sixty percent of the class; thus far, enrollment in SSG has been between thirty-five and sixty percent, so that no student has ever been denied the opportunity to participate in the program. Should more students request the program than it can currently accomodate, the participants would be chosen on a random basis, with those not chosen being given first priority for the program the following semester. Out of a class of 60 students, three study groups are formed of no more than 12 students each. Each of these three groups is led by a second-year student who sits in on a designated course with the first-year students and facilitates their study sessions one hour for each study group per week.

The program is directed by a faculty supervisor (Professor Glesner Fines) with assistance from a third-year student assistant and members of the UMKC Center for Academic Development. The faculty director trains the study group leaders (both before the semester begins and throughout the semester in weekly meetings), monitors the study group leader's study sessions and class attendance, and administers the program. The third-year student assistant provides administrative assistance and visits some of the study group sessions to provide feedback and evaluation. The faculty teaching the targeted courses do not attend study group sessions and play no role in administering the program. They may, as with any of the other students in their classes, answer the study group leader's questions about substantive material or provide assistance in approaches to the subject matter.
 

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