After the stop caused by the pandemic, the University of Trento and its newly born FabLab reopened the doors to DigiEduHack (https://digieduhack.com/en/), the decentralized hackathon dedicated to the most pressing challenges of digital and innovative education. More than 30 multidisciplinary students have ventured into the design of innovative learning tools to meet the challenge thrown at them: prototyping educational board games; multimedia artefacts and installations at the intersection of big data, art and technology; co-designing festivals in a combination of art, science and fun; laboratory images to be presented in the classroom. In this short paper, as a case study one, we will outline the DigiEduHack initiative, focusing on the potential of a challenge-based approach in stimulating and strengthening introspection, creative thinking and talent’s expression. Supported by a set of qualitative data collected before and after the event, this work reports an education case study and shows the progress and preliminary reflections of the students and educators involved

Conci, Arianna

Fiore, Francesca

Montresor, Alberto

Scroccaro, Alessandra

English

UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC

50th Annual Conference in September 20221945Francesca Fiore, Alessandra Scroccaro, Arianna Conci and Alberto MontresorChall nge-based learni g as a tool for creativity and tale t expression DigiEduhack as a success-ful case study from the University of Trento - 10.5821/conference-9788412322262.1259doi:10.5821/conference-9788412322262.1259Challenge-based learning as a tool for creativity and talentexpressionFrancesca FioreUniversity of TrentoTrento, ItalyAlessandra ScroccaroUniversity of TrentoTrento, ItalyArianna ConciHIT - Hub Innovazione TrentinoTrento, ItalyAlberto MontresorUniversity of TrentoTrento, ItalyConference Key Areas: 3. Student Engagement. Building Communities andCoordination.  16. Curriculum Development, Engineering Skills, Lifelong Learning.Keywords: challenge-based learning; hackathon; creativity; participatory learning;digital educationABSTRACTAfter the stop caused by the pandemic, the University of Trento and its newly bornFabLab reopened the doors to DigiEduHack (https://digieduhack.com/en/), thedecentralized hackathon dedicated to the most pressing challenges of digital andinnovative education. More than 30 multidisciplinary students have ventured into thedesign of innovative learning tools to meet the challenge thrown at them: prototypingeducational board games; multimedia artefacts and installations at the intersection ofbig data, art and technology; co-designing festivals in a combination of art, scienceand fun; laboratory images to be presented in the classroom. In this short paper, as acase study one, we will outline the DigiEduHack initiative, focusing on the potential ofa challenge-based approach in stimulating and strengthening introspection, creativethinking and talent’s expression. Supported by a set of qualitative data collectedbefore and after the event, this work reports an education case study and shows theprogress and preliminary reflections of the students and educators involved.1 INTRODUCTION1.1 Challenge-based learningThe Challenged Based Learning approach (CBL) found fruitful context at theUniversity of Trento that is open to innovating teaching and learning, is embedded ina dynamic innovation ecosystem and is pushed to spread out stakeholders’networks. The pedagogy of CBL can be inscribed in the constructivism perspective50th Annual Conference in September 20221946where students are the main characters of their learning process: they identify,analyse, and design a solution that solves a real-world issue (Tecnologico deMonterrey, 2015). Due to the fact that students approach complex problems, thelearning experience is multidisciplinary, it includes stakeholders’ perspectives, and itaims to collaboratively find a sustainable solution (Kohn Rådberg et al. 2018).Professors are facilitators and help teams in the process of building guidingquestions, gathering the right information, processing data, presenting solutions, andeventually executing the outcomes. Improving soft skills, self-reflection, andstimulating talent expression are another important asset of the CBL approach.1.2 HackathonIn the context of CBL, hackathons are one of the most widely used formats. They arehighly engaging, limited-time competitions in which participants, divided into groups,design and develop a solution in the form of an idea or artefact to a proposedchallenge. Rosell, Kumar and Shepherd (2014) identify four constitutive attributes ofhackathons: (i) focus on activity caused by the limited nature of time and space, (ii)novelty in both doing (creating something that did not exist before) and knowing(learning something new) dimensions, (iii) collaboration stimulated by timeconstraint, and (iv) reward that can act as an incentive for participation andproductivity. Given their attributes, they represent a subclass of the so-calledInnovation Contests: competition of innovators who use their skills, experiences andcreativity to provide a solution for a particular contest challenge defined by anorganizer (Bullinger and Moeslein, 2010).2 CASE STUDY2.1 DigiEduHAck at the University of TrentoThe UniTrento Fablab joined DigiEduhack, the international initiative of the EuropeanInstitute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), for the third consecutive year, as part ofthe European Union Digital Education Action Plan that takes place worldwide on thesame dates. As stated by their website, “DigiEduHack is a global movementdedicated to solving the toughest digital education challenges organisations facetoday, which is manifested in a 24-hour hackathon taking place simultaneously inmajor cities around the world.” (DigiEduHack, n.d.).After the virtual edition of last year, the third edition of the local DigiEduHackchallenge, organized by the Department of Information Engineering and ComputerScience - DISI in collaboration with SOI (School of Innovation) and HIT (HubInnovazione Trentino), in the framework of the Boogie-U project (Boosting Innovationand Entrepreneurship through European Universities) returned again on 9th and10th November 2021 at the University of Trento. Students applied in order toparticipate in this optional initiative.More than 30 students with different backgrounds have tried their hand at designinginnovative learning tools to meet the challenge launched by the organizers:prototyping educational board games; multimedia artefacts, installations at the50th Annual Conference in September 20221947intersection of big data, art, and technology; festivals able to combine art, science,and fun; laboratory activities to be conducted in the classroom.The five competing teams co-designed tools and activities, with the support ofmentors from the SOI, HIT and the two FabLabs of the University of Trento and theUniversity of Bolzano.For the second, consecutive, year the winning team from the Trento edition also wonin the global competition, this time with the project Hachi(https://digieduhack.com/en/solutions/hachi), an application for smartphones andtablets that can facilitate the understanding of abstract concepts thanks toaugmented reality (AR).2.2 DigiEduHack survey methodologyCBL, as a new model of learning, requires new assessment tools that monitor theself-reflection capabilities and soft skills acquisition process. Specifically, reflectivelearning tools can support this assessment through the process of remembering actsand events and then exploring why things went a certain way, and finally, takingpossible actions for further experiences. In this context, we provided an online15-question survey through which we explored, in three parts, the quality of thelearning experience, the level of awareness about students’ soft skills and thefollow-up of the ideas developed during the hackathon. The soft skills’ awarenesswas measured through the use of the IMI scale (Intrinsic Motivation Inventory), amultidimensional measurement device intended to assess participants' subjectiveexperience (Ryan and Deci, 2000). The instrument assesses participantsInterest/Enjoyment, Effort/Importance, Perceived Competence, Relatedness. InParagraph 4, we discuss the main findings for each part of the survey. 12 out of 30students answered the questionnaire.3 FINDINGSAnalysing the results of the questionnaires, we found out that most of theparticipants (75%) judged the contribution of the mentors as really useful and 25%as useful. During the hackathon they succeeded in boosting team working leveragingtwo types of personal assets: expertise and charisma. Mentors have indeed beenassociated by some participants with the word “passion” and their presence hasbeen labelled as “tangible and inspiring”. These findings further underline thepositive role model embodied by mentors during hackathons (Nandi and Madernach,2016). More in details, students also evaluated in a positive way:● the teamwork, the cooperation and collaboration among students coming fromdifferent disciplinary backgrounds;● the friendly competition vibes;● the creativity shown by every group;● the positive and playful learning atmosphere – still remaining serious andchallenging.50th Annual Conference in September 20221948In fact, also from the IMI scale, most of the students found the activity pleasant butalso empowering, due to the collaborational aspects with their team and the feelingof competence given by their work mixed with the guidance received by the mentors.They felt challenged, but not under-challenged, during the activity and this leaded toa full commitment to the task they were performing, “losing track of time”.With regard to what could be improved in the future, suggestions were mainly relatedto the event duration and its expected outcome. Despite time constraint being a keyfactor in hackathons, participants would have preferred to have at least 24 full hoursfor solving the proposed challenge, which means starting earlier in the morningor/and staying overnight. Moreover, they would have appreciated more preciseindications on what the expected outcome should have been (e.g. tangible vsintangible artefacts), even using real examples of previous hackathons.4 CONCLUSIONSThis short paper illustrates some results of the DigieduHack initiative, as aneducation case study. In designing the activity we focussed on creating aparticipatory learning experience for the participants. Our goal was to providestudents with the tools to reflect upon their soft skills, strengthen creative thinkingand best express their own potential.This result was achieved by mixing the topic of the challenge, apparently verystimulating for them, but also the support given by the mentors during the challenge.The informal - but challenging - climate made students feel challenged but alsoempowered by the results they managed to obtain, perhaps initially unexpected evenfor them given the limited time available. Reading their feedback in thequestionnaires was very helpful for the research team, also in view of future eventswith this format. We believe that this combination has been successful in stimulatingtheir creativity but at the same time increasing their awareness about the abilitiesand the results they can obtain.5 ACKNOWLEGMENTSThe researchers wish to acknowledge some colleagues that have been instrumentalin developing the DigiEduHack event in our University:- the FabLab UniTrento and all its staff for the space and the great effort andcontribution;- HIT - Hub Innovazione Trentino;- SOI - School of Innovation;- Boogie-U project funded by HEI Innovate;- ECIU (European Consortium of Innovative Universities) for the research onCBL;- all the mentors and students who participated.50th Annual Conference in September 20221949REFERENCES[1] Observatory Tecnológico of Educational de Monterrey (2015, October), EduTrends: Challenge Based Learning, Observatory Tecnológico of Educationalde Monterrey.[2] Kohn Rådberg, K., Lundqvist, U., Malmqvist, J., and Hagvall Svensson, O.(2020), From CDIO to challenge-based learning experiences–expandingstudent learning as well as societal impact? European Journal of EngineeringEducation, 45(1), pp. 22-37.[3] Rosell, B., Kumar, S., and Shepherd, J. (2014, May), Unleashing innovationthrough internal hackathons, 2014 IEEE Innovations in TechnologyConference, pp. 1-8.[4] Bullinger, A.C., and Moeslein, K. M. (2010), Online innovation Contests –Where are we? Proceedings of the Sixteenth Americas Conference onInformation Systems (AMCIS), Paper 28, Lima.[5] DigiEduHack (n.d.), What is DigiEduHack?<https://digieduhack.com/it/faq/hosts/general-information-about-the-digieduhack/what-is-digieduhack>[6] Ryan, R.M. and Deci, E.L. (2000), Self-determination theory and thefacilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well being,American Psychologist, 55, pp. 68–78.[7] Nandi, A., and Mandernach, M. (2016, February), Hackathons as an informallearning platform, Proceedings of the 47th ACM Technical Symposium onComputing Science Education, pp. 346-351.

Challenge-based learning as a tool for creativity and talent expression

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Challenge-based learning as a tool for creativity and talent expression

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