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Hackathon events are severely time constrained events (24-36 hours consecutively) where engineers dive deeply into solving design challenges. Part of the learning experience is to learn as much as you can in a short amount of time. This work explores how participants learn enough to complete a project during the limited amount of time given about s...
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... were asked based on the interview protocol to gather personality characteristics, motivational reasoning, and proof of adaptability. Examples of some pre and post hackathon questions are below in Table 2. This was to gather introspective data on whether they felt they had to adapt at any point during the hackathon. ...
Citations
... Similarities to long-standing instructional approaches and learning paradigms, for example, Project-based Learning PBL and problem-based learning, indeed support the idea that hackathon-like events can facilitate and foster learning (La Place et al., 2017;Horton et al., 2018;Nolte et al., 2020). For example, Chounta et al. (2017) argued that events such as hackathons and dev camps can be used as a blueprint for re-inventing PBL in Higher Education and to foster the acquisition of soft skills such as problem-solving, collaboration, and communication. ...
This paper presents an analysis of the current research landscape around hackathons and hackathon-like events as opportunities and means for learning. In particular, we aimed to explore how hackathon-like events are utilized to promote learning, what systematic approaches are used to orchestrate learning in such events, and to what extent knowledge is systematized and standardized in this context. To that end, we conducted a Systematic Literature Review following established guidelines. In this review we studied 39 research papers published over a 10-year span. Our findings indicate that no standardized setup for hackathons to promote learning and to assess learning outcomes has been investigated exhaustively. We did not find a systematic approach to reliably produce or measure learning effects in hackathons. Most of the reviewed papers relied on perceived learning for the assessment of learning. Based on the consulted literature, this does not provide comprehensive proof of positive learning outcomes from hackathons. We, therefore, conclude that additional research is needed to gather insights and consequently work toward solidifying the role of hackathons as learning tools. This work contributes to exploring the landscape and proposing research directions for capitalizing on the potential of hackathons and similar events for learning.
... Hackathons are project-based events exposing participants to design (Komssi et al. 2015;La Place et al. 2017). Since the term "hackathon" (a combination of "hack" and "marathon") was first coined in 1999 (Briscoe & Mulligan 2014;Kollwitz & Dinter 2019), the popularity of these events has multiplied. ...
Design education prepares novice designers to solve complex and challenging problems requiring diverse skill sets and an interdisciplinary approach. Hackathons, for example, offer a hands-on, collaborative learning approach in a limited time frame to gain practical experience and develop problem-solving skills quickly. They enable collaboration, prototyping and testing among interdisciplinary teams. Typically, hackathons strongly focus on the solution, assuming that this will support learning. However, building the best product and achieving a strong learning effect may not be related. This paper presents the results of an empirical study that examines the relationship between product quality, learning effect and effort spent in an academic 2-week hackathon. Thirty teams identified user problems in this course and developed hardware and mechatronic products. This study collected the following data: (1) effort spent during the hackathon through task tracking, (2) learning effect through self-assessment by the participants and (3) product quality after the hackathon by an external jury. The study found that the team effort spent has a statistically significant but moderate correlation with product quality. The correlation between product quality and learning effect is statistically insignificant, suggesting that for this setting, there is no relevant association.
... Diving deeper into the educational dimension of hackathons, studies have highlighted their transformative learning potential. La Place et al. (2017) study highlighted how students quickly adapt and learn new skills on the fly. Warner et al. (2017) found that many students join hackathons to boost their skills and for social reasons, though some feel intimidated. ...
Hackathons and software competitions, increasingly pivotal in the software industry, serve as vital catalysts for innovation and skill development for both organizations and students. These platforms enable companies to prototype ideas swiftly, while students gain enriched learning experiences, enhancing their practical skills. Over the years, hackathons have transitioned from mere competitive events to significant educational tools, fusing theoretical knowledge with real-world problem-solving. The integration of hackathons into computer science and software engineering curricula aims to align educational proficiencies within a collaborative context, promoting peer connectivity and enriched learning via industry-academia collaborations. However, the infusion of advanced technologies, notably artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning, into hackathons is revolutionizing their structure and outcomes. This evolution brings forth both opportunities, like enhanced learning experiences, and challenges, such as ethical concerns. This study delves into the impact of generative AI, examining its influence on student's technological choices based on a case study on the University of Iowa 2023 event. The exploration provides insights into AI's role in hackathons, and its educational implications, and offers a roadmap for the integration of such technologies in future events, ensuring innovation is balanced with ethical and educational considerations.
... Another theme identified by this study for hackathon in education is effective collaboration and networking as a benefit of Hackathon. Team members were united in the view that the Hackathon could get participants enthused into developing digital solutions, potentially inspiring them to produce great work as well as an alternative to networking where new connections are formed (Alkema et al., 2017;Cobham, Hargrave, et al., 2017;Cobham, Jacques, et al., 2017;La Place et al., 2017;Nandi & Mandernach, 2016;Olson et al., 2017;Saravi et al., 2018). The hackathon experience reported by Kolog et al. (2016) reports that collaboration among hackathon participants inspired motivation and confidence to think of creative ideas to solve. ...
Hackathons are said to promote a variety of innovative ideas and can be traced back to the idea of problem-solving. There is little research on the use of hackathons in classes to meet course-level learning objectives, despite the emphasis given to its advantages in other human efforts. By conducting a systematic literature review (SLR), this study uses the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement criteria to better understand the advantages of hackathons in education. From an initial search result of 108 research publications obtained from Google scholar and Scopus databases and published between 2015 and 2022, 25 articles were reviewed. The findings point to three important educational advantages of hackathons: improvement of technical and soft skills, learning new things, and successful networking. The study has implications for academics and other interested parties in in adopting hackathons in an academic curriculum. It suggests a need to model and develop instruments to introduce hackathon-based pedagogies to support traditional classrooms. Keywords: Educational support, hackathon, students, systematic review, teaching pedagogy.
... Additionally, prior works have also focused on in-person hackathon events in the context of traditional courses [20,42]. ...
... Hackathons should also foster a rapid learning process for educational courses. La Place et al. [20] showed how hackathons foster rapid learning-by-doing for engineering students. The research work documented the perceived learning process of the participants and the actions of their learning methods to determine how hackathons can help improve project-based learning courses in engineering to bridge the gap between self-directed active learning and formal learning. ...
... The research work documented the perceived learning process of the participants and the actions of their learning methods to determine how hackathons can help improve project-based learning courses in engineering to bridge the gap between self-directed active learning and formal learning. According to La Place et al. [20], hackathon attributes to improve learning-by-doing include creative freedom and motivation for problem-solving, team collaboration opportunities, proper team management to achieve the team goals and the constraint of time to complete the hackathon tasks. Although the research discusses valuable attributes of the hackathon format that was beneficial to improve rapid learning, it also focuses on collocated hackathons in a traditional classroom course. ...
... Considering learners' backgrounds on subject matters and familiarity with technologies, an instructor assigned individuals to multiple small groups for the in-group collaboration. The in-group collaboration design benchmarked the idea of the Hackathon, which supports all participants to be involved in each different role to complete a project goal in a limited time (La Place et al., 2017). All participants were asked to suggest various ideas and simulate feasible solutions by creating their artifacts in a hackathon project. ...
We implemented design practices for a total of 85 pre-service teachers in a teacher development course. This mixed-method study explored how design practices promoted preservice teachers’ technology-integration belief and the awareness of scientific inquiry. In teacher development courses, the goal of design practices is to enhance pre-service teachers’ awareness and capabilities of design practices and their educational applications. A recent integration between design practices and scientific inquiry in teacher-development courses aims to foster pre-service teachers’ contextual understandings of technology integration in STEM education. Despite the potential impact of design practices on scientific inquiry in teacher training, a challenge remains. Existing studies appear limited to capture in-situ data on how pre-service teachers’ technology-integration belief emerges via design practices. Also, few empirical studies explored how design practices can foster pre-service teachers’ scientific inquiry experiences.
Hence, the present study used both text mining and qualitative thematic analysis to uncover how pre-service teachers’ technology-integration beliefs and scientific inquiry experiences emerged throughout design practices. The result of this study suggests that pre-service teachers enhanced technology-integration beliefs and the awareness of scientific inquiry via design practices. This study has several implications on design practices in teacher training, as well as the viability of text mining as an alternative assessment to measure design learning experiences.
... Additionally, prior works have also focused on in-person hackathon events in the context of traditional courses [20,42]. ...
... Hackathons should also foster a rapid learning process for educational courses. La Place et al. [20] showed how hackathons foster rapid learning-by-doing for engineering students. The research work documented the perceived learning process of the participants and the actions of their learning methods to determine how hackathons can help improve project-based learning courses in engineering to bridge the gap between self-directed active learning and formal learning. ...
... The research work documented the perceived learning process of the participants and the actions of their learning methods to determine how hackathons can help improve project-based learning courses in engineering to bridge the gap between self-directed active learning and formal learning. According to La Place et al. [20], hackathon attributes to improve learning-by-doing include creative freedom and motivation for problem-solving, team collaboration opportunities, proper team management to achieve the team goals and the constraint of time to complete the hackathon tasks. Although the research discusses valuable attributes of the hackathon format that was beneficial to improve rapid learning, it also focuses on collocated hackathons in a traditional classroom course. ...
Cybersecurity educators have widely introduced hackathons to facilitate practical knowledge gaining in cybersecurity education. Introducing such events into cybersecurity courses can provide valuable learning experiences for students. The nature of the hackathon format encourages a learning-by-doing approach, and the hackathon outcomes can serve as evidence for students knowledge, capability and learning gains. Prior work on hackathons in education mainly focused on collocated hackathon events in the traditional classroom setting. These hackathon events often took place as a one-off event at the end of the course. However, one-off hackathon events at the end of a course might not be sufficient to improve learning. Instead, we focus on analyzing the integration of a series of online hackathon events into an online cybersecurity course and explore how this integration can address online education issues by encouraging collaboration and developing a practical understanding of the delivered course by solving real-world challenges. We evaluate interventions to foster learning and analyze its effect on collaboration and learning gains for students in the course. Our findings indicate that students attribute learning benefits to the introduced interventions that supported teamwork and collaboration, maintained student participation and interest in the course, and encouraged learning-by-doing.
... Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil -25 a 27 de Maio de 2022. "aprender fazendo", como citou La Place et al (2017), sendo eficiente com os prazos determinados em cada etapa. ...
... Main important component of this process is to learn as much as you can gain during the short time. This is an extraordinary event for the participant since hackathons do not know the clear direction of targeted scope of work before entering as well as not knowing required extra details to complete the work [1]. ...
Hackathons can play a vital role in discovering feasible solutions to the issues in the very dynamic field of education, especially the higher education. The demand for higher educational opportunities is increasing globally and providing access to high quality educational opportunities for all with the existing pedagogies is becoming a serious issue, especially for emerging economies. This study focuses on a hackathon, named as DigiEduHack'19 conducted recently. DigiEduHack is an initiative of European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) under the European Commission's Digital Education Action Plan, led by EIT Climate-Knowledge Innovation Community and coordinated by Aalto University. This paper investigates the insight of the event organized in Sri Lanka as a participating country of the global DigiEduHack'19, focusing on the process of organization of the event and how the participants reflected on the different aspects of the hackathon, in the context that Sri Lanka has little experience of this type events. Nearly 90% had right understanding on the purpose of their taking part in the event. About the source of getting to know about the event, the social media was found to be most effective. Thirty six percent of the participants indicated that the event was of the type they expected, whereas 14% indicated that the event was completely different to that they expected. With regard time duration of the event, 69% were found to be satisfied whereas 30% were of the view that duration is too long. A majority (84%) were found to be satisfied as being partners to the event after seeing the other groups' solutions in the final stage. Many of the participants voted for "learning novel concepts" as being the most excited about the event. The most troubling about the event was the short time given for the participants to present their solutions to the audience and evaluators. In addition, working until midnight, time duration, environmental condition, rest time periods, and rest rooms were indicated as of the most concerned. All these are related to logistic and organization of the event. No serious comments were given for technical assistance, mentoring and other academic support given to the participants. The most important outcomes of the event were that inspiration created among all that will be a stimulus to create similar actions to seek speedy solutions to the problems in the digital education arena, the experiences gained, and the lessons learnt.
... These projects are often related to real-world problems or challenges provided by industry representatives [45]. There are similarities between the PBL approach and the way hackathons are conducted [70]. In both cases project is being tackled in teams and similarly, mentors are often along with the process. ...
This thesis work is based on Systematic Literature Review on hackathon like events. Thesis research focuses on outcome sustainability and remote participation during these events. A general overview of hackathon related research topics and coverage relevance have been conducted with potential future research suggestions in mind. Selected material has been classified during the in-depth reading process and focus-related observations recorded for further analysis. The most notable observations are the following: 1) Publications on post- event walkthrough are the most common ones, 2) There is a decent amount of research on motivation during the event, although it mainly focuses on participant motivators, 3) Hackathons are commonly viewed as part of the learning process that in many cases have similarities with Project-Based Learning and/or emphasise the importance of teamwork, 4) Event outcome sustainability is little researched and has contradictory findings as well as 5) Remote participation in hackathon like event is almost not studied and is mostly limited to subjective sidenotes in research focusing on other subjects.
