Say Hello to Eddy 🌀
Guided at-home projects, created by expert teachers. Project-based learning for you and your preschooler, made easy.
This past year, the world changed. COVID-19 revealed a monumental shift for families and teachers as they were prompted to change the ways in which they shared knowledge. We set out to solve the fundamental issues of how young learners were experiencing education at home and how we could help get parents more involved.
From my earliest days, I’ve been surrounded by project-based learning. I come from a family of educators with roots in project-based learning and Montessori education. My mom, who was a teacher for 30 years, cared deeply about the process of learning. During the summer I would tag along with her to a rustic camp in Vermont where we built our own cabins and slept in canvas stretched beds; moments like these are where projects met education.
Given my background, I have a deep appreciation for creative, hands-on projects — projects that encourage problem-solving and curiosity. This last year, more people spent time at home and there was a resurgence in craft. Everyone seemed to be a sourdough expert overnight. I was reminded of my own self-taught journey into what became my career in design. The tools I used to sharpen my skills were YouTube, shared Photoshop files, and most importantly, the experience of creating.
Parents as Early Learning Partners
We believe teaching shouldn’t be restricted to a background in education. Creative projects are all around us. The order of “how” to create a project is what’s important.
Starting in the toddler years, problem-solving activities are the most important educational tool parents can provide their children. The data shows how certain kinds of activity, playing with blocks in particular, prepares children to problem-solve.
We know that doing project research, coming up with great ideas, and gathering all the materials takes a lot of time. We also know that parents don’t have a great deal of time and Netflix is just one click away. At Eddy, we take a different approach to learning, centering our projects around making problem-solving at home easy and fun.
Today we’re launching the first phase of our journey which starts with preschool projects.
The Future of Home Education
To prepare for the future, it helps to look at the patterns of the past. What’s clear is technology won’t completely transform all of education overnight. Shocking, maybe, but education is complex and technology won’t entirely replace an old system. Massive change won’t come from individual schools, designers, developers, or governments. It will come from all of us — we need villages, not heroes. That being said, there is a lot we can build, and together with our community, we believe technology as a tool can be an entry point into transforming teaching and learning.
Our marketplace is for teachers and parents. On the platform, teachers develop their own projects and collaborate with other peers in the Eddy Community. Parents can browse each project and discover more about the teacher’s background, experience, and various project details.
We think it’s important to cultivate these direct relationships so you can focus on areas of education you want to explore with your learner.
A Creator Economy for Teachers
Teachers are creators. Creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration will always be their advantage. Unlike computers, they know what the interesting problems are. They know how to ask questions, identify problems, and frame those problems for both humans and computers to understand.
Yet, in this rapidly evolving creator economy, lesson plans haven’t changed much throughout the years. Lessons are largely created by teachers, for other teachers. But if you take something apart you can figure out anything. That’s what we did. Our innovation comes in translating content so that it can be easily understood — at Eddy, anyone can be a teacher.
What’s Next
We have an incredible team that has come together to make Eddy a reality. We will continue to publish more content from our amazing teacher community.
At Eddy, we provide the blocks for you. With Eddy, we want to be a small movement, within a much larger pool of education. With your help, we can cause a whirlpool.
Shop now at 👉 Explore projects
🌀 Get Involved
If you’re excited about our vision and our product, reach out to hello@eddy.education — we’d love to meet you.
Follow us on Twitter @EddyEduHQ
Follow us on Instagram @CreatewithEddy
