Ryerson entrepreneur connects students to personalized academic support

Like many passionate entrepreneurs, Angelique Paul’s own experience served as inspiration for her online platform, In-Touch. As a student in elementary school, Paul always felt isolated. She excelled in language-based and creative subjects, but really struggled in math and science. “It wasn’t a matter of not trying hard enough,” she said. “At times I felt that I was working harder than the students who were getting very good grades. I eventually internalized that there was something wrong with me.”

In late high school, she finally had a breakthrough when her math tutor realized that in order to grasp new concepts, Paul needed to write out what she was hearing while listening to the teacher. Armed with this knowledge, suddenly her grades improved. For Paul a light went on: the key to her scholastic success was understanding her unique learning style and getting the right type of support outside of school.

She is not alone in her non-traditional learning style. According to the Learning Disabilities Association of Canada, learning limitations affect more than three per cent of all students aged four to 15—which translates to more than 121,000 children in Ontario alone who benefit from alternative teaching methods.

Getting In-Touch with students’ learning styles

When Paul attended Ryerson’s Master of Digital Media program, she decided to use her personal experience and background in design to develop an accessible online platform that pairs unconventional learners with a peer tutor in their community for personalized support. Called In-Touch, the unique service is a win not only for the mentee, who benefits from help they need in a safe, comfortable setting, but also the mentor, who receives valuable community service hours and hands-on experience they can apply to their own career.

Piloting a solution

In 2018 In-Touch received the The Chang School Accessibility Project grant, a program that supports the development, commercialization, and growth of innovative ideas, products, and solutions for people with disabilities and aging populations. This allowed her to begin user testing with a private elementary school in North York.

Using In-Touch, mentees in grades 4 to 8 are paired with mentors in grades 9 through 12 for after-school tutoring. Feedback to date has been extremely positive, with participants even requesting to incorporate the technology into the classroom. Paul also hopes to eventually introduce a step-by-step tool to help users discover their personal learning styles.

Earlier this year, Paul was accepted into the Social Ventures Zone to further develop her company. The support she’s received there, including mentorship, networking opportunities, legal advice, and more, has been invaluable. “I feel honoured to be around so many entrepreneurs that share my mindset to make social impact,” she said.

Next steps

Once the piloting phase in complete, Paul looks forward to offering In-Touch much more widely to help the many students like her get the support they need to excel academically. She’s also considering expanding the service into a university setting, and would love to connect with Ryerson professors to further explore that possibility.

Recently, Paul was nominated for a RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur Award (external link) . Although she’s not eligible to for the next round at this time, Paul still feels like a winner. “I’ve heard it said that being an entrepreneur is feeling encouraged one day, and the next asking yourself, ‘Who do I think I am?’ she said. “I’m so excited that what I’m doing is being recognized as worthwhile.”