hackathon competition

ID: 12

Name: Hackathon Competition

Summary: Conduct a Hackathon competition to encourage ATL students to hone their problem-solving skills.

Need / Challenge

Problem-solving is one of the key 21st-century skills that is sought-after in today's world. It is important that students develop problem-solving skills at an early age so that they can develop a solutioning mindset. However, many ATL students don't have strong problem-solving skills since they haven't had the opportunity to hone these skills in the traditional schooling system. The need of the hour is to provide a variety of opportunities for students to develop or enhance their problem-solving skills.

Solution

A Hackathon is a workshop where students are brought together, often in teams of 2-4 to solve problems or create innovations. The aim is generally to create a proof of concept within a set time limit.

Conduct a Hackathon competition in your ATL to encourage ATL students to come up with innovative solutions for a given problem statement and present a proof-of-concept prototype to jury members. The best innovations presented will receive the top honors and win the Hackathon competition. In the process, students learn various aspects of problem-solving - researching the problem domain, defining the problem-statement, ideating to come up with innovative solutions, and building a proof-of-concept model or prototype of the solution.

Tools

The following online tools can be used for conducting the Hackathon:

Google Forms for creating a registration form for students to register to the Hackathon.
Google Sites for building the Hackathon website.
Canva for creating Hackathon posters and promoting the event among students.

In addition to the above tools, Design Thinking approach can be used as a problem-solving tool by students during the Hackathon. See the below section for more details.

Design Thinking approach to Problem-solving

Design Thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation and a creative problem solving technique that integrates the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for market success. It is a 5-step process that involves empathizing with user needs, defining a problem-statement, ideating to come up with an innovative solution to the identified problem, prototyping to demonstrate the working of the solution, and testing the prototype with end-users to gather feedback for improvement.

Understanding Design Thinking approach to problem-solving is key for students to participate effectively in the Hackathon competition. The following slide decks on Design Thinking can be used to conduct a few sessions for ATL students before the commencement of the Hackathon:

Introduction_Design_Thinking-Presentation.pdf

Different_Stages_of_Design_Thinking-Presentation.pdf

Example: Student Hackathon

Here is an example of a Student Hackathon conducted by an ATL in the year 2020 to develop problem-solving skills among ATL students. The Hackathon saw participation from ATL students from several schools across Karnataka. Students worked in small teams of 3 or 4 during the event. Mentors were assigned to guide & assist every student team via Google Meet sessions. The themes of the Hackathon was Re-imaging life in the times of Covid19. The sub-themes were Re-imagine Learning & Education, Re-imagine Health & Hygiene, Re-imagine Transportation & Mobility, Re-imagine Social life, play and sports, and Re-imagine Retail and public spaces. Students participating in the Hackathon were asked to choose any theme and sub-theme of their choice, conduct detailed research to define a problem-statement, ideate to come up with an innovative solution, put together a working-model or prototype of the solution, and finally present the same to jury members. The top 3 innovations received the honors. Check out the Hackathon website for more details.

Visit Hackathon Website

Tips for conducting Hackathon event

Come up with Hackathon themes and sub-themes for the students to tackle.
Publish details of the Hackathon to all students in your ATL or school.
Invite student teams to register for the Hackathon.
Let students form teams and choose the theme and sub-theme of their choice.
On the day of the Hackathon, explain the Hackathon process to the registered participants - including themes, sub-themes, time available, expected outcome and mentoring support available.
Provide mentoring support for each student team by engaging the services of Mentors.
Let students work in small teams.
During the first stage of the Hackathon, students need to choose one of the Hackathon themes & sub-themes of their choice, explore & research the same to understand the problem-statement better. They have to then come up with a problem-statement to tackle.
During the second stage of the Hackathon, students need to ideate within their teams to come up with an innovative solution to the identified problem-statement.
During the third-stage of the Hackathon, students need to utilize the tinkering resources available in the ATL to build a model or working prototype of the innovative solution that they have come up with earlier.
During the fourth and final-stage of the Hackathon, students need to present their solution to the jury members.
The top 3 pitches with the most innovative solutions to the identified problem will win the Hackathon.

Role of Stakeholders

Role of School Management: Organize a Hackathon event in your ATL.

Role of Students: Form teams of 3 or 4 to participate in the Hackathon. Work collaboratively, research the problem domain & define the problem statement, ideate to come up with an innovative solution, build a model or prototype of the solution, and pitch the same to jury members.

Role of Mentor(s): Mentor student-teams participating in the Hackathon.

Role of ATL In-charge: Encourage students to register for the Hackathon in teams.

Submit your Initiative

Conduct a Hackathon event at your ATL. Submit the link / screenshot(s) / video-recording of the Hackathon event held at your ATL.

How-to Videos

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