1. SLICCs Student-Led, Individually-Created Courses DR SIMON RILEY
SLICCS ACADEMIC LEAD
DR GAVIN McCABE
EMPLOYABILITY CONSULTANCY, SLICCS CO-LEAD
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Outline
Drivers, challenges and success factors
What is a SLICC?
The SLICCs process
The student experience
The tutor experience
Structure and support package
Current and future developments
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3. Drivers, challenges and success factors
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Delivering student-led experiential learning at scale
Key drivers
Learning models (portfolio learning, interdisciplinary teams); student agency (learning design and personal development); shifting from accrual of knowledge learning; ‘every student a researcher’
Challenges
Scalability, limited resource, yet meaningful experience for all involved
Critical for success
Design for the long-term aim from the outset
Students at the heart of experiential learning
Supporting reflection and surfacing growth, including learning from mistakes
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What is a SLICC?
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What is a SLICC?
An empty course
We define:
The process to receive academic credit
The Learning Outcomes (LOs)
The assessment criteria
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What is a SLICC?
An empty course
We define:
The process to receive academic credit
The Learning Outcomes (LOs)
The assessment criteria
Students define:
The content (their learning experience)
How the LOs relate to their content
How they will evidence completion of their LOs
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The SLICCs Process
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9. Experiencing Reflecting Capturing Reporting Acting
Students PLAN their learning experience
and submit their proposal
Students UNDERTAKE
their learning experience,
REFLECTING and CREATING throughout
Experiencing
REFLECTIVE BLOG (in PebblePad)
undertaken at least weekly
Reflecting
WEBFOLIO (in PebblePad) – contains evidence of learning e.g. documents, reports, photos, video, audio
Capturing
Student DEFINES own Learning Outcomes
FORMATIVE
Tutor APPROVES Proposal to progress
Midway Report
FORMATIVE
Final Report
SUMMATIVE
Reporting
Student ACTS on tutor feedback
Student ACTS on tutor feedback
Student & tutor DISCUSS
SLICC outcomes
Acting
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The SLICCs Learning Outcomes
LO1 ‘analysis’: I am able to demonstrate how I have actively developed my understanding of the context/setting of my SLICC.
LO2 ‘application’: I am able to draw on and apply relevant skills and attributes (academic, professional and/or personal) in order to engage effectively with my SLICC, identifying where I need to improve these and/or develop new ones.
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The SLICCs Learning Outcomes
LO3 ‘skills’: I am able to demonstrate how I have used experiences during my SLICC to actively develop my skills in the focussed area of [select one of]…
…research and enquiry
…personal and intellectual autonomy
…personal effectiveness
…communication
LO4 ‘mindsets’: I am able to demonstrate how I have used experiences during my SLICC to actively explore my mindset towards [select one of]…
…enquiry and lifelong learning
…aspiration and personal development
…outlook and engagement
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The SLICCs Learning Outcomes
LO5 ‘evaluation’: I am able to evaluate and critically reflect upon my approach, my learning and my development throughout my SLICC.
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The Student Voice:
Tobias
Open video:
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19. The Student Experience
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Students’ reported gains
Enhanced skills
Ability in reflection and increased self-awareness
Connecting past and present learning experiences
Developing a "mindset for learning"
Assessment literacy
Deeper and more diverse learning from their experience
Can make mistakes, but in learning from them can still get a good grade!
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The Tutor Experience
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The SLICCs Tutor experience
Staff particularly valued:
Cross-disciplinary working
Meaningful and personal engagement with the student’s experiential learning
Enabling Widening Participation students to build capital
Students strengthening assessment literacy
Academic rigour
Staff and External Examiner see high level of academic rigour
Time demands
For most, staff comment favourably on the time required as a tutor
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23. Structure and support package
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Structure and support package
Current set-up:
Webfolio resource pack that contains all guidance and instructions for students ( and an equivalent one for tutors
Workbooks that capture all of students’ work: proposal, reflective blog, evidence collection, Interim and Final Reflective Reports
Assignments fully managed through ATLAS, including tutor allocations
In future will be exploring:
Hidden self-assessments by students revealed only once staff have completed their marking
Team-based SLICCs managed within Pebble+ and ATLAS
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25. Current and future developments
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26. Summer SLICCs, enables students to be co-creators of their own curriculum, and gain academic credit for co- and extra-curricular work …..what we are as interested in is embedding this reflective framework in existing programmes, and exploring its use for interdisciplinary learning

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For academic credit in an existing degree programme
Learning Outcomes that are generic and directly aligned with University of Edinburgh ‘Graduate Attributes’
Reflective e-portfolio, study information and resources, assessment rubric
All levels: Foundation, pre-Honours, Honours, Masters
Stand alone course or a reflective element of assessment in an existing course
Assessment will also be the final reflective report drawing on the evidence in their portfolio
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Current developments
Students can create their own elective – pre-honours Business School
Medicine group projects (year 2, 200+) – open opportunity to do something inter-disciplinary – architecture, art school, education, engineering, music
Community outreach – teaching languages in schools – School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
Short international experiences – Edinburgh Global
Honours project – reflection on learning gains and future – Medical School
Online Masters in vocational fields (eg Masters in Public Health, Surgery etc) students can apply their learning in their own professional role
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Future directions
Online and On Campus – using a portfolio – does a reflective e-portfolio surrounding some experiential learning offer a solution? E.g. ‘disciplinary toolkit’, vocational training, ‘old-school art school’
Project experiential learning – as part of the Honours or other project, fieldwork, etc
Skill acquisition – for instance teamwork, a valuable experience and an essential skill
Group projects – even students in different years working to same framework - efficient for tutoring and assessment
Inter-disciplinary – staff see using same framework enables this
Out-of-Class activities – credit for community engagement and volunteering
Going abroad for short period or a year – surfacing depth and breadth of learning
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DR SIMON RILEY
SLICCS ACADEMIC LEAD
DR GAVIN McCABE
EMPLOYABILITY CONSULTANCY, SLICCS CO-LEAD
© University of Edinburgh