Learn AI together,
side by side
Build skills and exchange ideas with other educators through peer-powered learning and badging.
What we do
sideby is a free learning community where educators meet one-on-one to figure out how AI can make their everyday work easier, faster, and more impactful.
Whether you’re teaching, leading, or coaching, you’ll grow your practice alongside others actively testing what works.
For Teachers & Professors: Connect with other classroom educators to make planning, instruction, and feedback more manageable — and more student-centered.
For School & Organizational Leaders: Think through real decisions about communication, scheduling, pilot design, and policy with peers navigating similar constraints.
For Coaches & PD Leads: Refine how you model and implement AI with the educators you support and empower.
*Our open community is currently focused on AI for deeper learning in education. In closed community partnerships, we can focus on organizational goals or topics relevant to your cohort. Our learning platform can ultimately accelerate any learning and innovation across any organization. Contact us for more info about partnerships.
How it works
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Match
We match you based on your role, context, and goals to ensure strong alignment from the start. Your reflections and past sessions help us continually improve the quality of your matches. AI supports the process, and we oversee it.
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Talk
Your one-on-one session lasts about 18 minutes. We provide specific prompts to guide the discussion. You’ll talk through what you’re trying, what’s working, and what’s not — and hear how another educator is approaching the same challenge.
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Learn
After each session, AI helps reflect your key ideas back to you. Insights are captured and organized automatically, so you can see what stood out and decide what to try next. Apply new strategies in your work, reflect on what happened, and share small wins inside the sideby community.
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Grow
Each conversation builds toward a larger learning journey. Follow curated pathways, track your progress over time, and earn competency-based badges grounded in educator practice.
Current badge offerings
Our story
We met as educators building a school from scratch — sitting side by side at a picnic table, imagining what learning could look like.
Erica led and supported nationally recognized schools grounded in student-centered learning. Mike brought early energy for edtech and went on to teach AI globally through NVIDIA’s Deep Learning Institute and co-found Upduo, later acquired by Arcade.
In 2025, we launched sideby to bring AI-powered, peer-led learning to the people shaping the future of education: educators.
Built by educators, for educators
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Monique Cabellon, Regional Math Coordinator, Puget Sound Education Service District
"Connection and reflection time for teachers is so important, but teachers’ time is scarce. Meeting opportunities need to be high-quality or else they’re doing damage control. Good intentions and good people often aren’t enough either. sideby lets leaders be intentional by gathering members of their incredible teams to grow school systems and sustainable networks that lead to action, empowerment, and growth.”
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Dale Berry, Special Education Teacher, Madison East High School
“I get to talk about what’s really happening in classrooms and how we’re all trying to figure this out in schools. These short conversations on sideby move me forward in how I’m applying AI in my work. I’m sharing, I’m learning, and connecting with educators who are willing to get into the mess as we work out what actually helps students.”
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Peter Liljedahl, PhD, Professors of Mathematics Education, Simon Fraser University Creator of Building Thinking Classrooms
"My favorite form of professional development consists of two teachers on the same journey, having opportunities to talk with each other about their teaching.”
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Scott Friedman, Associate Director, Association of Washington School Principals
As an education leader, I've felt and seen firsthand how isolating education has become. Strange to say that in such a connected society, but with the demands of the job, the pace of change, and the fragmentation of our professional networks, we have lost our professional connections. I'm so glad I found sideby. It has reduced my isolation and connected me with other educational leaders, but it's more than a connection. Collaborating, sharing insights, and discussing what truly matters is motivating. It has become my lifeline to a community of leaders that think deeply and want to take action.”
Trusted by
Chosen by
FAQs
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No catch. It’s 100% free for individual educators. We believe access shouldn't be a barrier. For organizations that want to run with sideby across their team, we can offer enterprise packages. Just email us to learn more: info@sideby.ai.
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sideby connects real humans. Everyone verifies with a short reflection video before joining. No bots, no performative posts. Just quick, guided convos with people you’ll actually want to talk to because they get it.
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Because learning = making mistakes. The eraser reminds us to try, tweak, toss what doesn’t work, and keep going. That’s how educators (and innovation) grow.
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Between our founders, we’ve taught and led in K-12 schools, districts, and universities and facilitated adult learning in a variety of spaces. Mike was still a high school math teacher in 2025. Erica continues to coach principal interns and was a principal herself until 2022. We built sideby because we’ve been where you are, and we hire teammates who get it because they’ve been there too. We want to scale the best professional learning we’ve ever experienced.
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Yeah, we get that. We approach AI with curiosity and a critical lens. It’s a powerful tool, but not a replacement for educators. We believe educators should be shaping how this technology evolves, not sitting on the sidelines while it happens. We believe in engaging critically with the possibilities of this technology in service of AI for deeper learning in education.
