Student-Led Ideation Challenge (SLIC)
News & Announcements
SLIC Regional Events and State Championship Event will be held at the following locations:
- March 2, 2017, University of Virginia, Newcomb Hall, 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- March 7, 2017, Virginia Tech, Old Dominion Ballroom, 9:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
- **April 1, 2017, SLIC State Championship Event, Virginia Commonwealth University, University Student Commons, 907 Floyd Ave., Richmond, VA 23284, 9 a.m.- 2p.m.
Student-Led Ideation Challenge (SLIC)
The Student-Led Ideation Challenge (SLIC) program, developed by the Innovative Solutions Consortium (ISC) in partnership with the VDOE, engages students to work on real world problems that impact the communities they live in as well as the global community at large, while teaching them the skills they need to prepare for college and the workforce. During the 2016-17 school year, teams of students will compete by developing real solutions to issues facing our education system, our food systems, and technological challenges related to unmanned flight systems.
What is SLIC?
The Loudoun County Public School Challenge was the first student-led ideation challenge the ISC executed, and the pilot program for the current version of SLIC. This school year the VDOE is collaborating with the ISC to launch the SLIC Program at a state-wide level.
How Does SLIC Work?
The SLIC Project presents students with a problem, and then helps them to work together as a team to brainstorm ideas, develop and architect a proposed solution, verify and validate the solution through research on similar solutions in the marketplace, develop and implement a plan with estimated costs, and ultimately build a prototype.
The problems that SLIC participants are asked to solve represent real world problems. Since, real world problems are not exclusive to science, technology, and engineering, neither are the solutions. The solution could be a product (hardware, software, etc.) or a process (methodology, reorganization, etc.), so the "prototype" can come in a wide range of formats, including detailed steps to implement a pilot program. The SLIC Program utilizes crowdsourcing by encouraging creativity and design thinking from every student, yielding a diversified set of possible solutions.
- SLIC Project – Includes SLIC challenge questions and the 2016-2017 calendar
- SLIC Module – Includes application questions for 2016-2017
- SLIC Program Training Manual, Version 2 (PDF) – Includes all documentation needed to implement the SLIC Program
- SLIC Quick Reference Guide and Student Handouts, Version 2 (PDF) – Includes all student materials and highlights from the SLIC Platform
Teacher Participation & Registration
To participate, teachers will need to register in the SLIC Portal. If you wish to attend a training session, you will be able to sign-up during the registration process. Teachers may choose between attending an onsite, in-person training at a variety of locations within your region, or an online training webinar. The content for both the onsite and online trainings will be the same, and run approximately two hours in length. Please go to: www.slic-solutions.com
to sign up.
SLIC’s History
In 2014, the ISC engaged in its first challenge. In 2015, the ISC launched the Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) Challenge in partnership with LCPS. This challenge engaged K-12 students to participate in problem-solving related to their own school system environment as an extension and learning module for the “One to the World” Program, a Project-Based Learning (PBL) approach tied to real world issues designed by Dr. Eric Williams, Superintendent of LCPS. This was the first student-led challenge the ISC conducted, and now serves as the pilot program for the current version of SLIC.
The positive results were multi-faceted. Students felt that their ideas really mattered, and were empowered to believe that they could really make a difference in their community and the world.
Who is Supporting SLIC?
In addition to the VDOE, school districts from states across the U.S. will also be auditing this challenge in preparation for participating in next school year’s SLIC program. This public-private funded initiative has support and interest from community and federal government organizations including:
- White House Office of Science & Technology Policy
- National Defense University
- Army Research Office
- Manufacturing Industrial Base Policy Manufacturing Technology Program under the Office of the Secretary of Defense
- Loudoun County Department of Economic Development
- Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce
- Dulles Regional Chamber of Commerce
- George Mason Enterprise Center
If you are interested in getting involved or helping support SLIC, please email the ISC at SLIC@isc-connect.org.