This article is for SLM Leaders who are managing a course in the Service Learning Module.
A note about language overrides: A site manager has the option to override the terms SLM, user group, block, and leader. As a result, your site's terminology may not match that used in this and other SLM Leader Guide articles.
What is an SLM Leader?
The Service Learning Module (SLM) users the term SLM Leader for professors, instructors, teaching assistants, and others who are responsible for managing user groups within SLM.
SLM leaders can access their SLM Leader Portal, where they can view individual student progress, add responses and hours for a student, approve service hours, and more. SLM leaders can also access and send out a "join link" for students to join the group, and they can export important data for each user group.
What's an SLM User Group?
In short, an SLM user group is typically an academic course that has a service-learning component. If you are already familiar with standard user groups, check out this article, which explains the difference between standard and SLM user groups.
Your SLM Leader Portal
As an SLM leader, you'll manage your course, your students, and their volunteer hours from the SLM Leader Portal.
To access your SLM Leader Portal:
- Log in to your Connect site.
- From your profile menu, select SLM Leader Portal.
Note: If you don't see the SLM Leader Portal option, keep in mind that your site may be using a language override. (For example, you may see "Instructor Portal" instead. It's also possible that your site manager has not yet designated you as an SLM leader. Contact your site manager if this menu item isn't available for you.
Your Leader Portal page lists your courses. To view the courses within a particular block, select it from the Block dropdown and click Go.
Note that the Leader Portal table shows the following information:
- Block - The semester or other academic term of the course
- Title - The name of the course
- Members - The number of members (students and leaders) in the course
- Hours - The number of hours students have submitted thus far
- Goal - The set goal for volunteer hours for each student
- "Respond by" date - The last day that students are allowed to respond to a need for this user group
- Percent - The percentage of hours that have been submitted, in reference to the overall course goal
- Join link - A link that you can send to students so that they can join the SLM User Group.
To hide any of these columns, click Table Filter (just above the table, on the right-hand side of the page) and select which columns should be hidden.
Sections of the Leader Portal
Your Leader Portal has several areas, indicated by the headings shown below.
Sections are described below. For more information on a section, click the "Learn more" link to view the applicable article in the SLM Leader Guide.
| Section and Description | Link |
| Leader Portal: Displays details about courses within a selected block and includes a button for copying the course "join link" for students. Note: The hours goal and "respond by" date are entered by your site manager. | Learn more |
| Roster: Displays all SLM user group members, including SLM Leaders. Also includes options to remove someone from the group and to copy the "join link" for adding students, and to access individual student information. | Learn more |
| User Info: Displays information for a single, selected student, including their need responses, volunteer hours, and reflections (all of which you can edit). | Learn more |
| Needs: Displays all needs assigned to each SLM User Group. From this area, you can edit needs (with permission), add needs on behalf of agencies assigned to your course, and export need information. | Learn more |
| Responses: Displays student responses to the opportunities that have been assigned to a selected course. From this area, you can add, edit, or delete responses. You can also add hours for a response and export existing responses to a spreadsheet. | Learn more |
| Hours: Displays student volunteer hours by course; from this area, you can add, edit, approve/deny, and delete hours. You can also view student reflections and export hours data. | Learn more |
| Reflections: Use this area to create and edit reflection questions. | Learn more |