Things to Consider

About the Course

Required vs. Elective

How does the proposed course fit into the overall curriculum of your program? If it is a required course, you will want to consider if a student-led course is feasible for all the students in your class. Another consideration is whether the course aligns with pre-defined, program-level learning outcomes. If it is an elective course, think about the characteristics — skill level and capacity — of the students who will take your course.

New Course vs. Existing Course

Are you developing a new course, or are you redesigning an existing course with key components of a SLICC course? The purpose of a SLICC is to give students the opportunity to take ownership of their learning and co-create (with the instructor) their learning experience. With that in mind, inserting one or two key components of a SLICC may not result in a SLICC.  For example, simply adding reflections to an existing course as part of the assessment scheme does not make the course a SLICC.

Course Level

At what level is this course offered?  Student-led learning presumes a certain skill level and academic maturity on the part of the student. Upper-year students are more likely to thrive in and appreciate the benefits of student-led and reflective learning. However, there may be advantages to introducing some aspects of a SLICC in the introductory courses for your program, and to continue scaffolding self-directed learning approaches throughout the curriculum so that students are better prepared for the challenges they will encounter after they graduate.

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Course Goals

What is the purpose of your course? Although SLICCs can be used at any level from 1st year undergraduate through to master and doctoral level courses, for individuals or for groups (including inter-disciplinary groups), SLICCs are not well-suited to courses that are content heavy or ones where there is limited flexibility for students to design their own learning pathway. The SLICC framework is particularly well-suited for courses that allow students to have a degree of control over their own experiential learning experience such as practicum courses, capstone courses, major project-based courses, e-coop, entrepreneurship courses or courses/programs with volunteer, service-learning, self-directed learning, internships, work experiences and/or research project requirements.

Here are some instructors' perspectives on adapting the SLICC model to:

• independent study courses (PDF)
• a Capstone course (PDF)

Class Size

How large is the class? The role of an instructor in a SLICC course is to provide regular feedback and individualized guidance. Without adequate support it may be challenging to facilitate a SLICC if the class size is large. However, we do have examples of SLICC courses that have been designed for larger class sizes where instructors have the assistance of teaching assistants/advisors.

Frequency of Course Offering

If your course will be offered multiple times a year, you may want to consider student demand and your own ability to provide adequate support to students. Recognizing that the work of designing a SLICC is front-loaded, you will also want to consider how often the course will be offered.

Your Own Strengths as an Instructor

Role of the Instructor

The instructor’s role is to motivate and encourage students, point them in the right direction, and turn challenges and missteps into learning opportunities. This will help students reflect on lessons learned and their development. When thinking about adopting a SLICC course, consider how comfortable you are with taking on this role. If you are a tenure-track faculty member, consider having a discussion with your department head.

Time Availability

Developing a SLICC course requires setup time at the very beginning to design and map out processes, suitable milestones, and student support resources. This upfront time invested in course design is balanced by less time spent for weekly synchronous class time. With each subsequent offer of the course, lessons learned, resources created, and examples from previous terms can be shared with future students. The more you do it, the easier and more effective the teaching becomes!