STRATEGIES FOR COLLEGE LEARNING

A strategy is a plan of action that an individual or group uses to achieve a goal. Strategies provide a framework (or structure) for making decisions, taking action, self-assessing, and adapting or changing behavior. As you work toward reaching your individual educational goals, you will develop a variety of different academic literacy strategies for different areas of college learning, including reading, writing, studying for tests, taking tests, finding information, conducting original research, completing quantitative (math) tasks, and using technology as a tool for learning. This article provides an overview of concepts that can help students think about and begin to strengthen the strategies that they use for learning.

WHAT IS STRATEGIC LEARNING?

Strategic learning means making decisions and purposefully taking action to increase academic success or achieve an educational goal. Strategic learning in college includes

• taking an active role in the learning process
• learning how to learn and study at an advanced level
• using individual approaches to learning and adapting them to different types of courses and assignments
• applying knowledge about learning for an academic purpose
• self-assessing, monitoring, and self-regulating (controlling) learning

WHAT ARE LEARNING STRATEGIES?

College learning strategies are methods that help students improve their learning and academic success. They are conscious, intentional techniques that students use to adapt how they learn based on the purpose and requirements of an academic task in a specific learning situation.

EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT LEARNING STRATEGIES

For most situations, learning strategies should be both effective and efficient. An effective learning strategy works for its intended purpose, and students are successful when they use it in a course. An efficient learning strategy doesn’t take too much time or resources. Some strategies are effective but not efficient. They might work, but students typically don’t have enough time to use them. For example, memory tricks like inventing songs to memorize facts or vocabulary might help some students remember information, but they are time consuming to create. Other strategies are quick and efficient but ineffective, including skimming through a textbook chapter without reading it, cramming for an exam, and highlighting or underlining without note taking. In contrast, annotating a textbook by taking notes directly in the margins of a book or handout is an example of a learning strategy that is both effective and efficient. Students can easily take notes while reading and then use those notes to find information later while studying for an exam.

METACOGNITION AND COLLEGE LEARNING

Metacognition is a concept that describes thinking about thinking. In “Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing,” three national organizations for writing teachers define metacognition as “the ability to reflect on one’s own thinking as well as on the individual and cultural processes used to structure knowledge” (CWPA, NCTE, and NWP 5). Metacognition is an important part of using effective learning strategies. As a college student, you need to build on your previous experiences to develop an awareness of your own learning processes. You also need to monitor (or pay attention to) and reflect on the learning strategies that you use for each course.

ADAPTING LEARNING STRATEGIES TO DIFFERENT LEARNING SITUATIONS

Perhaps the most important part of using effective learning strategies is figuring out what works (and does not work) for a particular field of study, course, assignment, and learning task. Educational researchers Melinda Burchard and Peter Swerdzewski explain that “learning strategies are not tricks or shortcuts; instead, strategic learning focuses on matching specific approaches, processes or strategies to the individual’s learning needs.” By noticing and evaluating (self-assessing) how you learn in specific situations, you will strengthen your ability to adapt your learning strategies based on the requirements and purposes of different academic tasks.

[Continue to the next section: “General Academic Literacy and Disciplinary Literacy.”]

Resources for Further Study

• Bain, Ken. What The Best College Students Do. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2012.
• Chick, Nancy.  “Metacognition.” Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching and Learning.
• Dartmouth Academic Skills Center, “Learning Strategies.”

Works Cited

Burchard, Melinda S. and Peter Swerdzewski. “Learning Effectiveness of a Strategic Learning Course.” Journal of College Reading and Learning, vol. 40, no.1, 2009, pp.14-34.

Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, and National Writing Project. Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing. CWPA, NCTE, and NWP, 2011.