Learning Skills Specialist

Primary Purpose

The Learning Skills Specialist will provide educational assessments to evaluate and track student progress and learning effectiveness across the four years of the Doctor of Optometry Program; develop educational support resources to ensure student academic success, on-time graduation, and licensure exam readiness; and counsel students in learning and study skills essential to success in the curriculum.

Description of Duties and Tasks

Essential Job Functions

• Assess, identify, evaluate, and resolve learning issues of students of diverse educational backgrounds using validated psycho-educational assessment tools; devise and recommend strategies to aid individual students in the process of correction and make the appropriate referrals when needed.
• Design personalized student academic services and interventions based on best practices for learning mastery and retention; implement strategies and programs specific to the academic and personal needs of the optometry student.
• Support and guide students in adopting evidence-based study strategies; apply the cognitive science of learning to support students’ metacognitive skills development.
• Maintain organized records of performance and individual improvement of students over time; complete and submit regular reports delineating progress to date.
• Make recommendations and referrals for learning assessments, screening, testing, or other support services (as needed).
• Support the Student Performance Committee and faculty by rendering services to students in the remediation process.
• Assist individual students in the development of licensure examination study plans.
• Collaborate with other departments within the University such as the Center for Disability & Health Policy (CDHP) and the Learning Enhancement & Academic Development (LEAD) Office to provide comprehensive support to optometry students.
• Perform other duties as assigned.  The University/College reserves the right to add or change duties at any time.

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Individuals must possess the knowledge, as well as the following skills and abilities or be able to perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation, using some other combination of skills and abilities.

• Familiarity with a variety of psycho-educational measures, standardized exams, and test-taking strategies and possess an ability to analyze learning outcomes and identify underlying reasons for individual differences in learning.
• Adeptness and comfort toward working as a team player and exhibit a strong, collaborative spirit.
• Ability to interact and communicate in an effective manner with individuals of diverse backgrounds, including students, staff, faculty, administration and outside constituents.  Excellent communicator who is skilled in keeping a calm and professional attitude and demeanor during all interactions.
• Ability to work autonomously and productively. This includes the effective management of time, collection of data, and completion of tasks/projects with diverse floating deadlines, in a high paced environment.
• Experience in working in an academic environment with students under performance pressure.
• Ability to collaborate with faculty to support at-risk students. This includes responding to faculty concerns and communicating with faculty members and/or content experts when needed to better support a student’s academic progress.
• Ability to oversee the administration and interpretation of assessments utilized to identify potential obstacles to student achievement and retention.
• Ability to develop and facilitate innovative workshops and small group activities to promote academic success of new, at-risk and enrolled students in both didactic and clinical education.
• Ability to provide personalized, in-person as well as online support services to students. Services provided may include knowledge and skill development in the following areas: metacognitive awareness, learning for retention, test-taking strategies, study planning and time management.
• Strong presentation and facilitation skills. This includes a solid background in public speaking, group and/or workshop facilitation and audience engagement/interaction.
• Adaptive and willing to reach students on innovative platforms, including ability to research and develop interactive modules that can be deployed to students.
• Ability to effectively collaborate with university support services to assist learners who may have learning challenges and help find creative solutions to help individuals overcome barriers to academic success.
• Knowledge of the cognitive science of learning and its specific application in the graduate health sciences education context.

Qualifications Standard

• Education: Master’s degree in Educational Psychology, Medical Education or a related field required.
• Experience: Three to five years of related experience in educational support, preferably in learning skills service or equivalent combination of education and experience; experience providing educational assessment and intervention strategies to diverse adult learners, preferably in health sciences or STEM education.

Physical Demands

WesternU Policy requires persons employed by the University to provide proof of vaccination against the SARS-CoV2 (COVID-19), subject to limited exemptions, regardless of whether the employee is on-site or working authorized to work remotely. Exempted employees, or those whose status of full vaccination is pending, will be required to submit to regular COVID-19 testing for in-person/on-campus work assignments.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by any employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear, sit, stand, use hands to grasp objects, and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally walk, stoop, and lift and/or move up to 10 pounds. No specific vision abilities are required. No other specific physical demands are required.

Work Environment

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Duties of the Learning Skills Specialist are normally performed in a typical office setting.  Occasionally the employee is exposed to outdoor weather conditions. The noise level in this setting is usually moderate due to telephone calls, office equipment, student/faculty interactions, and normal traffic.