Capstones of Academic Health
What 250 real students are doing to measure their success
Each year, I have the immense privilege of teaching SSH102: Learning and Development at Toronto Metropolitan University. This semester, I'm teaching 250 students, and we are halfway through.
I want to tell you what we're doing in that course, because I think it matters for every learner in your life, whether they're in a university lecture hall or in grade 9.
SSH102 is a learning strategies course. That means we go underneath the courses students are taking, underneath the content, underneath the grades, and we tend to the how of learning. How to focus. How to study. How to manage time, not with willpower, but with actual tools. How to begin a task when everything in you is resisting. How to stay in the work instead of spinning out of it.
And this semester, alongside all of that, my 250 students are doing something a little different: They're doing a semester-long experiential capstone, and here's what it asks of them:
Protect their sleep.
Engage in physical activity, particularly before cognitively demanding work.
Nurture belonging and friendship, because learning doesn't happen in isolation.
Practice mindfulness to reclaim focus when it drifts.
Establish boundaries with social media.
Integrate small rest practices during the day.
None of these are “new” ideas. But what is new is weaving them into the day-to-day of academic life, all semester long.
We're at the halfway mark now, and the students are sharing what’s unfolding.
Anonymous Comments From Real Students
"I started doing activity before my classes, this helped my brain get going during class so I am more active in class participation"
"Starting the quiz from a place of mindfulness felt different than my usual approach. Instead of rushing into the questions, I paused for a moment and focused my attention on the present. That helped me feel calmer and more grounded. I noticed I was reading the questions more carefully and not letting stress take over if something felt difficult."
"My time management feels so good this semester. I have not entered a single exam feeling worried that I don't know enough."
What Academic Health Actually is
Movement before class. Mindfulness before a test. A semester of actually managing time rather than surviving it.
These aren't luxuries; they're not extras to get to once the "real" work is done. They are the real work. They are what makes all of it possible, and sustainable.
This is what I mean when I talk about academic health. It isn't just about grades. It's about building the conditions that let a learner actually show up, take in information, remember it, use it, and walk out of the semester feeling okay rather than hollowed out.
I want, so much, for students to leave behind the ‘high cost’ of inefficient, all-night studying. Of hours and hours without connecting with someone. A long afternoon of toggling between tabs and texts and TikTok, frying concentration.
My SSH102 students are learning time management tools alongside task initiation strategies, procrastination-healing practices, and the cognitive science behind why sleep, movement, and rest aren't nice-to-haves. They are the foundation.
And halfway through the semester, they're feeling it.
Doing The Real Work
If any of this resonates, whether for your student, your child, your learner, or honestly for yourself, this isn’t just for SSH102 students. This is the work we do at Awakened Learning.
And, it's the work I've been doing for nearly two decades. It's in Feel Good Learning and Raising Well Learners. It's what our workshops are built from.
More to come as the TMU semester unfolds; I can't wait to share what my students teach me.
