Read the stories behiding founding the Huddle Up Learning Platform

Whereas most companies stem from an idea that was developed in someone’s garage, Jetlag Learning’s development might be traced back to passport stamps and Skype calls. As an international educator for 25 years in American-accredited schools in Egypt, Taiwan, China, and Hungary, founder Derek Luebbe took his classroom experience and gradually turned it into the interactive platforms you see today.

As an economics teacher, Derek wanted to teach investing through some of the popular simulations at the time, allowing students to use fictional money to purchase shares in companies. Frustrated with the fact that he felt students were just throwing darts on a board and not really understanding investing, he started a paper and pencil simulation of his own by allowing each student to create his/her own company. Those companies entered a classroom stock market, and then each student – with fictional investment dollars – could buy and sell shares in each other’s company. With a burst of activity, students not only wanted to hand in their “buy” or “sell” slips, but they also started changing their company’s business plan in an attempt to prove to others that their ideas had merit.

The future of learning will be more purposeful and interactive. ––Derek Luebbe, Founder/CEO

It was the power of that interactive learning experience stuck with Derek, and he knew that he had tapped into a much more dynamic model of learning (if only he could get it programmed). In 2011, Jetlag launched its first product, simCEO (Class Economy Online).

From there, simCEO won the SIIA award in 2013 as the Most Innovative Ed Tech start up, and continues being used in 1000s of classrooms in over 50 countries. A few of those users sparked an idea that was even bigger…

Through conversations with users, it became clear that some classrooms were less interested in the interactive stock market, and more interested in the broader concept that students could create solutions (business plans) and then give each other feedback on those solutions. They were frustrated by the current model of (online) education that simply advocated knowledge and recall – most visibly seen in the repetitive videos and quizzes that their students were experiencing. They wanted creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration. They wanted their students to learn more like the real world. Those conversations led to something much bigger.

And so, in 2020, from his laptop in Shanghai (and in the midst of the beginnings of Covid!) – and via the laptops of teammates around the world – the idea for Huddle Up took shape.

After initial pilot testing, we feel confident that the world in the 21st century is ready to move beyond the passive learning model of videos and quizzes. We look forward to the impact that Huddle Up will have to help change online learning for individuals and organizations through a more purposeful, interactive experience.

We invite you to be a part of our story.