Who we are
Part of St. George Student Life, the Centre for Learning Strategy Support (CLSS) is a campus-wide network of learning strategists and peer mentors who help students sharpen their study skills, untangle academic challenges, learn how to learn and (re)discover their motivations to tackle everything from deadline crunches to dissertation defenses. We’re passionate about helping everyone learn at their best and unlock the time, energy and community available to them.
Our offerings include a resource library, noncredit course, coworking groups for students at all levels, and a range of learning skills programs.
What we do
The workshop on reading in graduate school was outstanding and it has totally changed how I approach my reading lists and notetaking. That was really helpful.
Our primary function is to cultivate in students an improved relationship with their experience of learning. We do this by providing opportunities for them to identify effective, relevant approaches to their studies, to practice them, talk about them and reflect upon them. We guide them in these efforts towards greater proficiency and confidence so they can better experience the joy and satisfaction of learning, the resourcefulness that develops as they face learning challenges and a feeling of belonging in the academic community.
We also aim to serve students’ own developmental goals, to meet them where they are in their academic adventures. We serve students at all levels directly—in one-on-one appointments, group workshops and cohort programs—and indirectly, as collaborators with fellow educators across campus.
Our values and mission
Our mission is to cultivate greater academic resourcefulness and belonging in students. We believe that education is a force for good, for transformation, for wisdom and that learning is complex, idiosyncratic, planned and serendipitous. We believe that the conditions for learning matter and that our work is best rooted in compassion, empathy, patience and care. We believe that there remain many systemic barriers to learning and that education is a holistic experience that involves the physical, the emotional, the spiritual and the cognitive. And we believe learning is best when it is connected to community.
How we work
We offer one-on-one learning strategy appointments, both online and in-person, to students in all fields, at all levels of study. In these sessions, we work directly with students to listen, apply the strategies most needed at any given time, coach and advise on effective learning habits. While one-on-one sessions aren’t intended as academic “crisis” support, we are always available to offer strategies within a broader support system for students facing academic challenges.
We also offer group programming and bespoke workshops by request, including classroom visits and pedagogical consults. Reach out to arrange a partnership or to float an idea.
Partnership in office-wide concerns and thinking through issues of student service and student experience. Partnership in our note-taking principles and integration in our technological change and change management.