In 2012, Gretchen Huebner and Jon Mattingly co-founded Kodable, a fun way for kids to begin to learn programming ideas. She created Kodable to be an online way for kids of all backgrounds to learn to code. Now, Gretchen is a Westly Prize winner and member of the Forbes 30 under 30.
Gretchen had always been interested in design and even taught herself web design. however, she always felt she was bad with technology, and only got the chance to begin learning when she went to the University of Louisville. After focusing on design and technology in college, she was able to use these skills to support herself. Wishing she had learned these skills sooner, she got the idea for Kodable, a way kids can be exposed to technology much earlier than she was. Her co-founder, Jon Mattingly, also believed strongly in kids exposure to computers since started to teach himself at age 6.
The thing that makes this educational program stands out is its use of games and activities to teach elementary students the basics of programming at an early age so they are better equipped to use it sooner. It now has very positive reviews and is used by many U.S. schools. It advertises benefits such as “Problem Solving”, “Grit”, “Communication”, and “Creativity”.
Website: Kodable.com
This backstory is so interesting! I find it inspiring how, although she had doubted herself and had only learned coding skills later in life, she chose to make that difficulty into something that could support kids and teach them earlier in life. Kids are always eager to learn at young ages, and it comes as no surprise that her easy-to-understand program would spark interest in children everywhere.
I love how she solved the problem in reverse. She had the problem but didn’t know it, was able to solve it, and then went back to provide the solution at the time of need. Kids are like sponges and this seems like a great way to teach computer literacy and life skills!
I think this story is very inspiring! It is awesome she overcame that adversity of not knowing how to code but kept at it and learned and then took that learning and applied it to teaching others. I think it is also very interesting that she focused on teaching elementary school kids. It is awesome she is giving back to the younger community so when they grow up they’ll already be versed in code.