Promoting Innovation Via a University-Organized Online Hackathon

This article presents a study of a full-day, university-organized, online hackathon that aimed at designing solutions to problems raised in remote learning and teaching. The event, with about 80 participants, was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic when many schools were closed and shifted to emergency remote teaching. The hackathon participants were challenged to design innovative solutions to authentic problems that have been raised during this situation. Using an online questionnaire, to which 28 of the hackathon participants responded, we quantitatively and qualitatively examined how the event had affected them. Findings suggest that participating in the hackathon mostly contributed to the participants' recognition of the importance of collaboration, and their thinking about academy–society relations. These contributions were driven by the way the hackathon was designed and handled, and the fact that it was held online enabled some of its unique contributions. We also show that online, shorter-than-usual hackathon still has a meaningful, multi-faceted contribution to their participants, and conclude with recommendations for planning such events.