The Voice of Practitioners

All of the preceding can be considered a kind of foundation, some of the things that are helpful or essential to know something about as a Learning Strategist. But it is incomplete. Incomplete, because it is still a thing being invented. Others will see things differently – they might quibble with how I’ve presented things, or they might quarrel with what I’ve included or what I’ve emphasised as important. And most readers, especially those who have been in the profession for a while, will see things missing from my coverage. That’s as it should be. This is my treatment of the subject, a start, admittedly fragmentary, and unfinished. It is a loose weave, made up of a selection of strands that have been important to me, and a weave that will benefit over time from the addition of new threads, the perspectives and critiques of others.

One thing glaringly missing so far is the voice of others, actual Learning Strategists who are going hard in the paint every day, doing the work, wrestling with the problems, working things out, reflecting on their practice, and developing as practitioners. If some of what I have said in the preceding sections is thought of as the structural apparatus of learning strategy work, then the voices of the practitioners are the interstices –filling the spaces with the nuance of the job, the myriad intangibles that give it life, the artfulness of the practice. It’s the more important content and begins to get at, not just what Learning Strategists think about, or know, but what they actually do. 

So, I extend an invitation to others working as Learning Strategists to submit short essays on their craft. Consider this as the prompt:

In no more 500-750 words, write an account of your Learning Strategy practice – how you do it, why you do it,  and what spirit is moved in you in the act of doing it.

Submit to me at john.hannah@utoronto.ca and I can consider including it here with your permission.

In this way, we can as a collective, start filling in those spaces.