Learning Specialist

Job Description:

Title:                Learning Specialist-Office of Learning Enhancement

Reports To:     Director of Student Affairs

Status:             Exempt

Position Summary:

This position plays an important role in providing students with academic support and coaching they need in order to be successful in medical school.  Learning Specialists work with students in all four years of the medical school curriculum.  The Learning Specialist develops, executes, and monitors academic success programs and initiatives for KansasCOM medical students through individualized or group instruction.  This includes, but is not limited to study skill evaluation, counseling, development of a comprehensive student learning assistance program, and providing ongoing assessment of educational support services for continuous academic improvement.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Provides educational counseling to individuals and small groups of students in the development of critical-thinking skills, study skills, time management, note taking, and test taking skills in order to promote positive academic results.  Documents course of action and follow up.  Tracks student performance and evaluates whether interventions are needed in order to improve individual and/or groups of students.
• Works closely with members of the medical education team to help support curricular innovation.
• Develop workshops for students on study habits, learning styles and other relevant topics.  Conduct workshops and individual sessions for students in preparation for COMLEX and USMLE licensing exams.
• Maintain and provide oversight of a tutoring program for student in years one and two of the curriculum; evaluate existing program; implement and evaluate new initiatives to support student learning through testing.
•   Help design and implement academic support plans for students who are deficient in knowledge or skills.
• Continue to review student promotion and retention data among other learning outcomes and revise learning assistance program and strategies to achieve optimal outcome.
• Develop and maintain policy and procedure manual for KansasCOM academic counseling activities.  Ensure that all policies and procedures are consistent with FERPA and Title IX requirements.

Position Requirements:

• Demonstrated success in providing academic counseling in the following areas: study skills, learning challenges, test taking strategies, time management, board exam planning, study groups, note taking strategies, and active learning strategies. 
• Must be able to communicate well in both individual and group settings. 
• Must possess a professional personality that is welcoming, and customer focused. 
• Experience in higher education academic counseling preferred.

Education and Background:

• Master’s Degree in education with a preference for candidate with specific academic counseling experience.  2-3 years of previous experience in higher education and/or working with medical students. 

Physical Requirements:

• Physical dexterity sufficient to use hands, arms, and shoulders repetitively to operate a keyboard and other office equipment, use a telephone, access file cabinets and other items stored at various levels, including overhead.
• Ability to speak and hear well enough to communicate clearly and understandably with sufficient volume to ensure an accurate exchange of information in normal conversational distance, over the telephone, and in a group setting.
• Ability to continuously operate a personal computer for extended periods of time (4 or more hours).
• Mental acuity sufficient to collect and interpret data, evaluate, reason, define problems, establish facts, draw valid conclusions, make valid judgments and decisions.

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

Kansas Health Science Center offers a generous compensation and benefits package, as well as the opportunity to work for a leader in the field of education. Some of our key benefits include: generous paid time-off, medical and dental coverage, company-paid life and disability insurance, retirement plan with employer contribution, multiple flexible spending accounts (FSA), tuition reimbursement, professional development, and regular employee appreciation events.

Kansas Health Science Center is an Equal Opportunity Employer.