Sustainability Hackathon: Integrating Academia …
605
“Lack of publicity” was really a problem: it was restricted to Facebook, Instagram,
the SEEDS site and emails, explaining why only a few PUCPR students, most from
engineering courses, enrolled in the hackathon. As commented by many participants,
it would be more challenging and more fruitful if students from other HEIs had
participated in the hackathon, what should be pursued in the case of another edition
of the event.
What should be highlighted about the results comes from the strong points: the idea
behind the event was to introduce the students to real socio-environmental problems,
gather them together into teams in order to find solutions in about 50 h with the
mentoring of teachers and the support from companies’ representatives. Most strong
points are related to the engagement of students, teachers and companies during the
projects development, confirming that the hackathon reached its goal.
Results from interviews and questionnaires revealed that the hackathon was
successful. Students learned from both academic (talks, mentoring) and companies’
representatives guidance, and enjoyed the event dynamics. Teachers and companies’
representatives were impressed with the students’ engagement and overall results
and, especially, enthusiastic about the projects with potential for patent application
and/or startup mentoring. Despite all the hard work, the organizing team considered a
possible second edition of the event, with more publicity for engaging more students
from different courses, including the ones from other HEIs.
The Sustainability Hackathon was reported in different media (TV, radio, newspaper, blog, post) from the first to the third day of the event, making it possible to
communicate, to the general public, values and attitudes essential to a sustainable
society.
5 Conclusion
This article presented the planning, execution and evaluation of a gamified hackathon
with a focus on socio-environmental problems. During about 50 h, academy and
companies gather together to find solutions using residuals that otherwise would be
discarded. A game was embedded in the marathon aiming at helping the 57 participant
students to organize and complete their projects. The experience showed that this
kind of event is engaging, fun and educational, and a useful tool for raising awareness
about important and complex topics that students probably will not deal with under
a traditional curriculum. It is urgent to engage all society in the sustainability theme
since the environment’s health depends on society and vice versa.
Acknowledgements This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de
Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES)—finance code 001 and by the Conselho Nacional
de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico—Brasil (CNPq)—research productivity grant PQ
310536/2015-4.
605
“Lack of publicity” was really a problem: it was restricted to Facebook, Instagram,
the SEEDS site and emails, explaining why only a few PUCPR students, most from
engineering courses, enrolled in the hackathon. As commented by many participants,
it would be more challenging and more fruitful if students from other HEIs had
participated in the hackathon, what should be pursued in the case of another edition
of the event.
What should be highlighted about the results comes from the strong points: the idea
behind the event was to introduce the students to real socio-environmental problems,
gather them together into teams in order to find solutions in about 50 h with the
mentoring of teachers and the support from companies’ representatives. Most strong
points are related to the engagement of students, teachers and companies during the
projects development, confirming that the hackathon reached its goal.
Results from interviews and questionnaires revealed that the hackathon was
successful. Students learned from both academic (talks, mentoring) and companies’
representatives guidance, and enjoyed the event dynamics. Teachers and companies’
representatives were impressed with the students’ engagement and overall results
and, especially, enthusiastic about the projects with potential for patent application
and/or startup mentoring. Despite all the hard work, the organizing team considered a
possible second edition of the event, with more publicity for engaging more students
from different courses, including the ones from other HEIs.
The Sustainability Hackathon was reported in different media (TV, radio, newspaper, blog, post) from the first to the third day of the event, making it possible to
communicate, to the general public, values and attitudes essential to a sustainable
society.
5 Conclusion
This article presented the planning, execution and evaluation of a gamified hackathon
with a focus on socio-environmental problems. During about 50 h, academy and
companies gather together to find solutions using residuals that otherwise would be
discarded. A game was embedded in the marathon aiming at helping the 57 participant
students to organize and complete their projects. The experience showed that this
kind of event is engaging, fun and educational, and a useful tool for raising awareness
about important and complex topics that students probably will not deal with under
a traditional curriculum. It is urgent to engage all society in the sustainability theme
since the environment’s health depends on society and vice versa.
Acknowledgements This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de
Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES)—finance code 001 and by the Conselho Nacional
de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico—Brasil (CNPq)—research productivity grant PQ
310536/2015-4.