Part 1. What is a Learning Strategist?

From the Psychology Dictionary,  http://psychologydictionary.org/learning-strategy/ – What is LEARNING STRATEGY?

A strategy used primarily during the process of learning such as forming a mental image of a process.

So, is a Learning Strategist someone who facilitates the development of learning strategies?

How does that strike you? Does it ring true? Does it capture some kind of essence of what you do for a living? To me, the fact that both the words “strategy” and “learning” appear in the definition, renders it a bit weak, or at least begs the question. But I grant that it’s a tough thing to define.

What would be your definition of a learning strategy? Think about that now and finish this sentence:

A learning strategy is________________________________________

Or this sentence:

Learning strategy work involves_________________________________________

Or this one:

A Learning Strategist is________________________________________________

What do you say when people ask what you do for a living? Is the term Learning Strategist enough? Does that elicit a knowing response from your listener, or does it require further explanation?

These are pretty foundational questions to answer, or at least contemplate, for those of us doing this work. This is the primary aspiration of this book, in fact – to begin codifying for ourselves the art and science and practice of what we do. We have some material to work with, but it’s a bit of a blank page, something related to “tutoring” “supplemental Instruction” and coaching, and advising, and the work of libraries and writing/math/language centres, and teachers, and student affairs, and educational development, – each of these domains with its own history and evolution. But there is something distinctive about learning strategy work, right? So, what is it?

This section will begin those explorations a bit, beginning with a brief description of the Learning Strategist role, some history and context to the work, some of the critical debates and scholarship of the field, and some considerations around the broader Learning Strategists professional community.