Category: Mental wellbeing

Welcome (back) to The Learning Well Blog: your evidence-informed study strategy companion!

by Dr Sue Sing, Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship

Welcome (back) to Imperial, and welcome (back) to the Learning Well blog! Whether you’re visiting this site for the first time or you’re a returning reader, it’s fantastic to see you here! As we head into a new academic year, this seems like a useful moment to share a few words about the blog: its purpose, who it’s for and what you can expect to find in our posts this year.

Purpose of the Learning Well blog: The aim of this blog is to enhance Imperial students’ learning experiences by supporting them to ‘learn well’:

‘Learning well’ is about more than good grades – it’s about how you can achieve in effective, efficient and sustainable ways.

Our blogposts will: 1) discuss key topics related to the concept of ‘learning well’, and 2) share practical evidence-informed strategies, used by other Imperial students, that can give you starting points to help you find your own path to effective, efficient and sustainable study.

Finding ways that work for you is important because a key finding in our research with Imperial students is that there is no single right or best way to ‘learn well’. It’s also not about how much work you do:

‘It’s not how smart you are. It’s not about how hard you work. It’s about the strategy you use.’ (Student Participant, Learning Well Project Focus Group)

Instead, the key thing to focus on is this: it’s about having the individual confidence to define your own strategies based on what works for you – our blogposts can support you to do this. (more…)

What’s your body telling you?

by Abby Sanderson, Move

Our bodies are incredible systems; they cope with so much on a day-to-day basis to keep us well and functioning. Sometimes we can take them for granted and forget to listen to what our body is trying to tell us. On the one hand, while student life can be busy, fast-paced and enjoyable, it can also be stressful at times, and this can manifest itself in the body as pain, fatigue or illness. On the other hand, we can experience periods of boredom or feel like we lack motivation. All of these feelings are normal, but try asking yourself this:

What would happen if we slowed down, took a minute, and really tried to listen to what our body is telling us…? (more…)

The power of taking breaks

by Laili Sadr, Imperial SCHMAS

What happens when we don’t take a break?

Focusing or hyper-focusing on a topic or a problem can be a double-edged sword. Although spending hours in the library reading and researching can make us feel as though we’re working hard, actually our brain can start switching off and we might stop processing the information in front of us. This is due to “cognitive overload” (Neurolaunch, 2024), which is when the working memory – where we retain and manipulate information in real time – is overflooded. This affects the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus in our brain and results in mental chatter, stress, inability to make decisions, impaired memory and/or an inability to focus.

But why?

The simple explanation is this: (more…)

Imperial Learning Well Resources – Co-created with students, for students

by Dr Sue Sing, Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship

“It’s not how smart you are. It’s not how hard you work. It’s about the strategy you use” (Student Participant, Learning Well Project Focus Group)

Who are the Learning Well resources aimed at?

Our Learning Well Resources have been created for all Imperial students – in any year group, any department, any faculty. They can enhance every student’s learning experiences, whether you want to refine and strengthen your approaches to learning, you feel like you’re struggling or you would simply like a bit of extra help.

Learning well is about more than good grades – it’s about how you can achieve in effective, efficient and sustainable ways. 

The concept of ‘learning well’ is relevant to every student at Imperial. (more…)