Blu.

Describe the problem your solution addresses? (150 word limit)

“Younger students need help to learn online - lots of help.” A recent article from the New York Times highlights the urgency to solve the difficulty of bringing the elementary school environment into each home. Parents are working from home and don’t have time to spend logging into devices, clicking in the right places and directing the attention of all their kids. Teaching young kids through remote platforms has not been a walk in the park either. According to a study conducted in April 2020, 74% of teachers are feeling overwhelmed during the transition to online instruction. A staggering majority of these teachers also say students are having an even harder time switching to remote learning especially when adult supervision is not physically present. Our solution provides a seamless tool for teachers that allows them to grab and hold the attention of young students with minimal supervision required from home.

Why did you pick this solution and how does it address the problem? (150 word limit)

Meet our lovable stuffed teddy bear Blu. Blu is a teaching assistant that helps serve as a supervisor directly in the student’s home. Blu can help alert students when class is about to start, provide encouraging messages to stay on task, or any other customized message the teacher wants to send. Not only is Blu a great assistant, the app interface provides the student with parent-free set-up and navigation. Just a click of “Let’s Go!” and the student is off for the day. On the other side, teachers can now seamlessly distribute their content to connect more fluidly with their students. Education is dependent on the relationship between the student and the teacher, and the quality of this interaction can really shape the development of the student. Our platform provides interactive learning experiences for students while simultaneously deviating teachers from complex platforms and parents from persistent supervision.

Challenges we ran into

At the end of last night, we all took a step back and looked at our prototype on Figma. We came to a group consensus that what we had currently just wasn't it, so we scrapped it. We spent the next 18 hours working together and coming up with the new interface that is being submitted today.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Coming in, nobody on the team had any experience with Figma, or has participated in Ideate before. We are very proud of the final product that we were able to put together.

What we learned

Like Erin said in the first keynote, the first idea is probably the worst. We were set on doing something related to AR or creating a virtual environment, until we realized fully the problems students, teachers and parents are facing. We shifted course and ended up with Blu.

Built With

• figma