Areas Of Difficulty Learning Strategists Can Help With
Learning strategists are professionals who offer support to students, assisting them with their learning difficulties. They are similar to instructional coaches, are commonly seen in K-12 schools, and provide direct coaching to both students and teachers. These professionals may be utilized for learners with disabilities, athlete students, graduate students, those on academic probation, anyone returning from failed standing, or those who have engaged in misconduct. They should be skilled enough to help organize learning plans and help with goal-setting. They might also assist learners with their study habits so that they take down necessary notes to manage their time effectively and prepare for exams with the lowest level of anxiety possible. If someone lacks the motivation needed to perform all these tasks, strategists can also help them drive up their engagement and deal with any personal matters that may be standing in the way.
Their Key Responsibilities
Identify And Recommend Training Opportunities
Strategists begin their journey by identifying the potentially troubling areas an institution needs to improve on while being aware of its objectives. To achieve that, they can use focus groups, interviews with students and faculty, surveys, assessments, and observation. Then, they may carve out a series of recommendations that assist learners with their difficulties and help tutors communicate effectively. By spotting gaps, they use the feedback they receive to design programs and courses that accommodate everyone. Their recommendations must align with the faculty's skillset and each learner's needs and goals.
Build Functioning Solutions
Learning strategists must be aware of the technological advancements and instructional methods that best serve learners and their experiences. After gathering enough input, they can start curating functional and engaging material that serves the unique needs and preferences of learners. For example, they may organize seminars directed at specific learners who share the same difficulties. Or they may train staff on how to integrate skill development into their classes. Additionally, they build online content delivered in a variety of ways to attract learners' attention. For instance, they may add infographics, videos, images, and other interactive multimedia solutions.
Offer Personalized Help To Students
This may be one of the most important responsibilities of learning strategists. Since they work closely with individuals, they help them understand their reading material and proceed with their written projects. They can even edit their work and offer them techniques on how to take down meaningful and useful notes while in class. Additionally, students learn how to manage their time efficiently, attend all classes on time, finish their projects, and attend extracurricular activities. For those who have a hard time understanding texts, strategists may offer them ways to interpret information and questions during their exams. Lastly, these professionals are great problem solvers and offer learners ways to get unstuck from troubling situations and difficult tests.
The Different Types Of Analyses
Whether you are a learning strategist in the education or corporate sector, you must ask certain key questions and determine your course of action. With rapid analysis, there isn't a lot of time for deep searching since immediate results are needed. On the other hand, performance analysis focuses on individual learning gaps that must be addressed with extra care. Strategists may also do content and curriculum analyses on existing learning content to check how efficient and accurate it is and whether it matches the ever-changing learning needs. Additionally, professionals must assess the technology used to deliver learning material. They may compare their technological tools with other institutions' technology to see what has worked for others. Furthermore, strategists may analyze how they can train teachers and faculty so they are ready to support learners no matter their difficulties. Lastly, the Return On Investment (ROI) can be utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of the learning technology and initiatives an institution invests in.
Benefits Learning Strategists Have For Learners
Understand The Scale Of The Problem
Learning strategists must have analytical and strategic thinking skills to successfully identify problems in learning. This happens after conducting interviews and gathering feedback from learners and teachers. They should clearly understand the gaps a learner has and their possible barriers, and then come up with unique and creative solutions. As such, they must have highly developed problem-solving abilities and flexibility to adjust their strategies depending on someone's needs. To do that, these professionals must observe the outcomes of each strategy and listen to learners' opinions. Based on their experience, they can try out alternate tools that accommodate people's preferences.
Design More Effective Courses
Strategists are not only good at listening to learners' and teachers' struggles and offering verbal guidance. They also have Instructional Design knowledge that helps them curate engaging and effective digital content and learning courses. These learning experiences can be tools learners access at their own pace or material teachers use during class. Based on an institution's needs and objectives, they must choose the appropriate technology. For example, they may use videos, podcasts, gamification, and even social media. These features can be exceptionally successful in keeping students active and engaged.
Maximize ROI
Academic ROI can serve as a valuable tool for institutions and school districts to evaluate how effective their educational programs and courses are. A learning strategist is the primary one doing the research and proposing the available and most appropriate programs. After a purchase is made, strategists must evaluate the progress learners make and check whether the program is responsible for the improvement. It's possible students wouldn't have improved as much had they not invested in the program. If strategists don't see progress at first, it doesn't mean that they should discard the program. Instead, they should notice what causes issues and make adjustments.
Conclusion
Regardless of formal diagnosis, many learners can face struggles that feel impossible to overcome without assistance. Teachers often already have a heavy workload with organizing and communicating knowledge effectively and in an engaging way. Learning strategists can step in and work closely with those who have trouble focusing and executing their tasks. Keep in mind that they don't need to know the teaching material. All they need to do is help someone navigate through their struggles and boost their decision-making and organizing skills.
