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Supplemental Instruction (SI) is essentially a study group that is led by a trained professional educator who actually attends the lectures. Courses supported by SI are called "gateway courses," which means that students in certain majors must take these introductory courses to continue on in their major. Such courses are very difficult for most students; some colleges call them high-risk courses.

At Penn College, SI is offered during the fall and spring semesters for Psychology 111, General Psychology and MTH 180, College Algebra & Trigonometry I. Sometimes, as staffing permits, other courses have a SI Group. If a course is complemented by SI, this is noted underneath the course listing in the scheduling booklet.

SI Groups meet for at least two hours a week. At each session, the SI Leader reviews material presented in the last lecture and reading materials assigned for the week by the course instructor. Leaders approach the material from the view of the student, asking how best to learn the information. Students who attend the sessions learn the material using various techniques used by the SI Leader and also discover that they learn from working together with the other students in the SI Group.