Allowing a Hackathon to Provide Megalomanic Answers to Childlike Questions

Creating the ideal space for innovation to occur is a challenge (as well as a hopeful wish) for most industries today. Where? How? Who? There is no shortage of “guidelines” and “experts” on the subject, but the spark that triggers the fire of innovation is not often found.

A daring experience was attempted on June 1-2, and the results blew the minds of all the participants – a Hackathon that allowed for megalomanic solutions to basic educational questions. The recipe, created by the vision of Avi Warshavsky, included very interesting ingredients. The place chosen was an oasis at the heart of the Negev Desert (called Yeruham). The participants were a diverse group of people (120 educators, artists, programmers, students, scholars, politicians, philosophers, craftsmen…) from different countries, backgrounds and generations, meeting for the first time. The technological resources included cutting-edge products like drones, VR goggles, brain sensors, 3D printers as well as low tech as Lego blocks or wood saws. The task was to collaborate in order to create amazing EdTech products. The benchmarks were wisely defined by the choice of the judges –a panel of kids. The participants’ creativity and beliefs were given a green light, while their expertise was challenged by the power of the Hackathon method – 36 intensive hours of teamwork.

During the process, the awkwardness of the scary unknown (where a mistake hurts, especially one’s pride) was slowly transformed into strength to dare towards the exciting unknown (where trying allows one to create). Walking around, one could enjoy the dynamic and optimistic atmosphere of voices articulating their visions, of hands drawing, building, of laughs, and of excited people trying out things: “People are very focused on what they are doing and yet there is a lightness about the possibilities” (Peggy Weil, interactive designer); “…you are kicking the tires, you have this critical dialogue with the other people, and then you have this opportunity for reflection” (Walter Bender, programmer); “…very different backgrounds, experiences and points of views, and becomes very interesting when you merge these people” (Philippe Bertrand, artist).

After a very intensive one and a half days, a panel of young students commented and chose their favorite project from: VR goggles to help students “walk in someone else’s shoes” and build empathy; AR glasses providing an experiential opportunity for students to interact with atoms and easily understand science; digital storytelling based on Google Street View to enable immersive journalism; makers’ platform specially designed for students; learning how to code using drones; collaborative learning of physics through a VR rollercoaster experience and biofeedback response; creating a community of students-coders who collect data through sensors and make sense of it; robot-car race to enable students to learn physical laws; building a flexible and relevant learning space; among others. The most exciting result was the optimism generated that will hopefully turn into innovative EdTech practices.

This story and more are part of our special EdTech Mindset magazine, dedicated to the Shaping The Future 3 events we held in June 2015. Read the complete magazine here.