paced is a learning companion built on the science of how learning actually works, drawing on cognitive science, self-regulated learning research, Universal Design for Learning, and consilient traditions of knowledge. This page is for educators, learning support staff, and institutional leaders who want to understand what informs paced.
paced was built by Dr. Deena Kara Shaffer, award-winning learning strategist, CEO of Awakened Learning, author of two bestselling books on how to learn, TEDx speaker, and former president of the Learning Specialists Association of Canada, alongside co-founder Vidur Kalive, former AI Lead at York University.
What a student is studying is distinct from how to learn the material, remember content when stressed, and perform well on exams. paced takes a fuller view of academic work: energy, focus, memory, wellbeing, schedule, and life circumstances.
Other planning tools show students what's due. paced makes that due date doable. paced shows them how to begin, how to keep going, and how to recalibrate when setbacks happen.
A student's capacity, commute, and part-time job all impact how they learn and what feels doable. paced is built on that reality, not in spite of it.
Learning skills save student careers, and the data is consistent across decades of research. Structured learning-skills courses for first-year students produce higher GPAs after one year and meaningfully higher three-year retention rates compared with matched controls. First-year success courses report similar patterns, with stronger effects for students who arrived with weaker academic preparation. A recent university-wide initiative combining engagement, study skills, and support services reported improved retention across the whole institution at scale.
The mechanism is consistent across all of this research: when students learn how to learn, they are more equipped and more likely to persist. paced delivers exactly this, personalized and available to every student the moment they need it, without a specific diagnosis, without wait time, without a referral. Just ready at hand.
One in five post-secondary students leaves before completing their degree, representing not just lost tuition revenue but a student who didn't get what they needed. At a 20,000-student institution, a conservative 3% improvement in persistence among struggling students means approximately 120 additional students completing their degrees.
paced functions simultaneously as a retention tool, an accessibility support, and a counselling offload, provided free to every student through institutional licensing so that access is never contingent on a student knowing to look for help or on service availability. The students most at risk are exactly the learners paced was built for.
"The most helpful aspects about paced is how detailed and clear the questions are at the start to understand who the person is, what they're struggling with, and what's making it hard for them."
"The comfort is really there, I love it."
"Comforting, calm, minimal, perfect."
Universal Design for Learning means you were considered before you arrived, so good design carries more of the load, and you spend less energy retrofitting your way in. Accommodations remain welcome on top, always.
Information in text, visual, audio, and structured formats. Colour-coded with shapes and labels, never colour alone. Clear no matter how your brain processes.
Choose your entry point: start with how you're feeling, with what's on your calendar, or with the next task. paced adapts to how you start, not the other way around.
Log your progress by typing, speaking, or choosing from gentle prompts. Your reflection looks like you, not a template.
Interested in piloting a paced rollout across your campus? We work with learning support offices, accessibility services, student affairs teams, and libraries.