Learning Strategist

Amber Pakkala, M.S., Disability Services in Higher Education
City University of New York, School of Professional Studies

About The Learning Strategist

As the Learning Strategist for the Disability Resource Office at SUNY Cortland, I work one-on-one with students who identify with the office as needing academic accommodations to reduce barriers.

In this role, I draw on skills I gained as:

a special education teaching assistant
a direct support professional for people with intellectual disabilities
graduate degree in disability services in higher education from CUNY School of Professional Studies
ongoing continuing education on academic coaching for students with disabilities through the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD)

As a Learning Strategist, I strive to help students develop skills that are individualized based upon their needs and accommodations Topics include:

organizational methods
goal setting
self-monitoring
problem solving
time management
decision-making
resource utilization

What is a learning strategist?

A learning strategist supports college students to achieve academic success by helping them organize academic schedules, learn new study skills, and develop time management strategies and tools to prepare them for exams, quizzes, and assignment deadlines. A Learning Strategies may help other students who need less executive function support and more help to understand the academic assignments and what is being asked of them. This is where help with how to use academic resources for academic tasks, such as using assistive technology, or tutoring services is taught.

Mental Health?

For students experiencing mental health challenges, a learning strategist partners with the student to identify strategies that support both learning and wellness. The Learning strategist provides supportive check-ins focused on both academics and well-being, encouragement, and accountability while understanding how academic pressures can affect mental health.

Executive Function?

Some college students also work with a learning strategist to develop their executive thinking skills which helps them adopt a growth mindset, prioritize academic work, and set short- and long-term goals that are realistic and attainable.

Is working with a Learning Strategist an Evidence-Based Practice?

“A growing evidence base explores ADHD coaching processes and outcomes. While the robustness of findings varies, outcome studies across the age span suggest that ADHD coaching supports the development of executive functions, functional outcomes, and in some cases, well-being, including self-determination” (AHEAD, 2023).

Since the start of academic coaching in the 90s the concentration was to help students with ADHD, learning disabilities, and executive function challenges (AHEAD, 2023). Students who need help with executive function skills such as organization, planning ability, goal achievement, and managing obligations have benefited from these self-management skills being developed with a coach.

What have others gained from working with a Learning Strategist?

Below are testimonials of students who previously worked with our learning strategist.

"It was a great feeling to figure out that Amber Pakkala also had ADHD. I felt like it was much easier to talk to her because she knows what it is like to have ADHD. Any time I needed to ask Amber a question she would always have the answer. It was great to have a person to talk to at the end of the week because anytime I had questions she would give me great Advice."
"Amber has a wide variety of tools and strategies to support executive function skills, but most importantly she does it with kindness. Having a supportive person on campus who understands how my brain works made my first semester at SUNY Cortland much more manageable."
"I greatly benefited from meeting every week to discuss upcoming assignments and how my classes had been going. We’d tackle each class individually, writing due dates for the whole semester in my planner. Just having someone there to remind me about certain assignments and check in on my progress weekly helped me stay organized throughout the semester. She even went the extra mile in providing a space where I could discuss challenges and activities outside of my academics. It made a world of a difference! I didn’t fall behind and I was able to adapt successfully to SUNY Cortland because of it."
"Through meeting with Amber Pakkala, I discovered new ways to organize myself in preparation for classes and personal experiences, new ways to retain information and have someone hold me accountable. Checking in with Amber allowed for a kind motivational boost to not compare myself with other students but rather see how my own learning skills could be improved."
"With the help of academic coaching, paired with other educational supports and services, I can start identifying patterns of where I am struggling and then begin to address important issues such as timing, planning, creating and maintaining smaller (realistic) goals, reevaluating or fine-tuning my processing, then implementing changes one at a time.
I want to thank my academic coach, Amber Pakkala, for her commitment to supporting students in the most genuine way possible. Sincerely”