Slice Definition

Slice
The term "slice" is used in the Pick&Mix model to denote a subset of a whole institution which is analysed for benchmarking (usually as well as the complete institution). Similarly, in eMM, a slice is a discrete part of the institution which is assessed against all 35 processes. A slice might be a Faculty, a School, a Department, or some other coherent subset of the institution such as Postgraduate Programmes, Foundation Degrees, or Distance Learning. The purpose of benchmarking slices is to check the uniformity (or otherwise) of e-learning capability in different parts of the institution. It provides us with a ‘sharper’ or more accurate picture of e-learning capability at the chosen level than the more aggregated assessment of the whole institution. Although a whole-institution assessment can be useful in demonstrating trends across the organisation, sometimes deficiencies in particular areas can be masked by exceptional work in other areas. Assessing a single, discrete portion of the institution may be thought of as a ‘vertical slice’ – .i.e. assessment of a part of the institution against all 35 processes. eMM can also be used to create a ‘horizontal slice’ where the whole institution is assessed against a selected area of the eMM framework. For example, in order to assess an institution’s capability in Support, evidence could be collected from samples across the organisation for just the processes in this one process area.