building student digital capability in computing and digital technologies through a hackathon...

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Dr. Thomas Lancaster

http://thomaslancaster.co.uk1

Building Student Digital

Capability In Computing And

Digital Technologies Through A

Hackathon Community


Staffordshire University Teaching and Learning Conference 2017

Tuesday 20 June 2017

http://thomaslancaster.co.uk/



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Scene Setting




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About Dr. Thomas Lancaster

Associate Dean Recruitment at Staffordshire University

Computer Science specialist by background

Best known externally for my research into academic integrity

Wider interests in innovating teaching and learning, improving

the student experience, student employability and

entrepreneurship

Twitter: @DrLancaster

This presentation refers to innovations I led

at a previous university – which have since

taken on a life of their own

Panellist in Brno – May 2017




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How can we introduce

more authenticity into

teaching, learning and

assessment?

An opening question…




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Tweet about a previous presentation




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What Are Hackathons?




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Hackathon – The Terminology

+

exploratory programmingAlternative

terminology =

“codefest”




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Hackathon Process

Most commonly, this term refers to collaborative and team

based programming, held over an extended time period,

such as 24 or 48 hours

Often based around a theme

Often involves elements of friendly competition (with prizes)




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Typical Education Hackathon Format(BCU Hack)

Day Time Activity

1 10:00 Arrival and Registration

1 11:00 Opening Speech and Theme Announced

1 12:00 Programming begins

1 13:00 Lunch

1 13:30 Programming continues

1 19:00 Dinner


1 22:00 Mini-Game


2 00:00 Midnight snack (pizza)


2 07:00 Breakfast


2 12:00 Programming ends

2 12:00 Lunch

2 13:00 Team presentations

2 15:00 Awards

2 16:00 Hackathon concludes

From Vlaytchev, O. and Lancaster, T., Exploring the Contribution of Hackathon Programming Competitions to Student Employability (unpublished)

Drawing from BCU Hack courtesy of Lesley Imgart

http://www.lesleyimgart.com




http://www.lesleyimgart.com/

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Hackathon Benefits To Students

Teamwork/Collaboration

Time management

New technologies

Presentation skills

Portfolio enhancement

“Award winning”

Employer contacts

Peer instruction

Startup company opportunities

“Safe place to fail”

Enhanced CV

Industry-like experience




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Real World Hackathons




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Hackathons Outside The University Sector

These are just a few news

stories from June 2017




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Commercial Use Of Hackathons

Internal hackathons – to foster idea generation

Hackathons open to external participants – to generate

publicity and identify potential staff

Hackathon sponsorship – to get technologies to a wider

audience

I know of several students who have gained

placements and other employment based on

their participation in hackathons




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Here’s What I Tried…




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Three Main Components

Student Led Community(peer instruction and mentoring)

Hackathons(industry style additional hands-on learning)

Employability Links(development of contacts and portfolio)




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A Few Acknowledgements

Student Academic Mentoring

Partnership (StAMP)

Oliver Vlaytchevhttp://olivlaytchev.github.io

Liam Sortahttp://www.liamsorta.co.uk

Jack Maddenhttps://twitter.com/jackfmadden

Hackathon and Computing

Society




http://olivlaytchev.github.io/

http://www.liamsorta.co.uk/

https://twitter.com/jackfmadden

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More Acknowledgements…

Lots of students, staff and

external companies who

supported the activities to

help to make them work




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The Activities

Set up a student society – to provide extra opportunities for keen students

Supported groups of students to participate in external hackathons

Developed a mentoring scheme to help students prepare for hackathons

Generated sponsorship to run internal hackathons for students

Supported the community and events through social media

These did not always run smoothly – but the overall results were successful




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Some Successes

The society has continued with

a successful life of its own




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The Future?




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Building Capability

Run hackathons that bring together students from across

multiple disciplines together as teams

Incorporate hackathons into course design as a form of

industry focused assessment

Apply the underlying principles which make hackathons

successful in Computing to other academic disciplines




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Ideas, based on activities at

Staffordshire and beyond




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What do we need to do to

more widely embed the

hackathon mentality into

higher education?

A closing question…




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Resources




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For more about how the hackathon opportunities came about and the funding, see:http://www.slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster/creating-an-engaged-student-community-through-hackathons-birmingham-city-university-learning-lab-21-april-2016 (slides)

https://youtu.be/psiqWZ4Ls_s (video - extended version)

For more about the use of social media and the development of the student community, see:https://www.slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster/empowering-student-learning-through-the-development-of-a-social-media-community-to-support-computing-students-socmedhe16-the-empowered-learner-sheffield-hallam-university-friday-16-december-2016 (slides)

https://www.periscope.tv/w/1jMJgZjoeeOGL (video - Periscope live streaming)

https://youtu.be/HXRSXLT0mNM (video - YouTube screen capture)

Earlier presentations relating to this topic




http://www.slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster/creating-an-engaged-student-community-through-hackathons-birmingham-city-university-learning-lab-21-april-2016

https://youtu.be/psiqWZ4Ls_s

https://www.slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster/empowering-student-learning-through-the-development-of-a-social-media-community-to-support-computing-students-socmedhe16-the-empowered-learner-sheffield-hallam-university-friday-16-december-2016

https://www.periscope.tv/w/1jMJgZjoeeOGL

https://youtu.be/HXRSXLT0mNM

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Further Resources

Slides available at:https://www.slideshare.net/thomaslancaster

Contact details [email protected]@thomaslancaster.co.uk




https://www.slideshare.net/thomaslancaster

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]