How we participated in the hackathon

My colleagues and Microsoft are preparing to implement one very interesting project for the educational organization of the city of Moscow. Therefore, we actively study and engage in educational initiatives.

And now, within the framework of the search for new progressive ideas for the educational system of the Russian Federation, on September 5-6, an international IT marathon was held to create innovative educational products called HAKATON EDHACKOUT 2015 . The task of the event is to create a creative concept of the National Open Educational Platform, to try oneself in building the future of our national education. Young and creative were invited to participate.
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I don’t consider myself young anymore, but there is still a bit of creativity left. Therefore, when Anna Epischeva , Alexander Arakelyan and Alexander Shukevich invited me to the team - I agreed. First, it relates to the project with the Moscow Department of Education. Secondly, we are participants in the future project team, and it would be nice to get a break in the combat situation. And, thirdly, I already heard about the mysterious word “hakaton”, but did not personally participate, and it was curious to look at the whole thing from the inside.

Initially, Hackathon (hackathon, from hack + marathon) is a developer forum, during which specialists from different areas of software development (programmers, designers, managers) work together to solve a problem. Today, hackathons no longer belong to hacking, they are just programming marathons. Usually hackathons last from one day to a week.

Since the essence of the event boiled down to brainstorming in the field of online learning, the term hackathon is quite appropriate. And when the whole of Moscow celebrated the day of the city, we worked, created, presented, created, in general, hackathones and got every kind of fan. About twenty-five teams were gathered, mostly from students from various institutes. The first day was devoted to the generation of new ideas in teams, the second - their correct presentation for the jury.

What did I take out from the event?

The first . I remembered that student life is the coolest time in my life. You can do almost everything, but practically nothing is required from you, except for studying.

The second . I liked the idea search algorithm. First, the audience and its needs are described in sufficient detail, we understand who this person is, where he lives, what he does, what he lives, what he wants, what his needs are, what he needs (in our case, it was an applicant Lesha, who is in 11A grade , the leader of the Dotu team, does not think of himself without a PC and feels the increasing pressure from the society around him, who wants Lyosha to make his life choice and the choice of institution for admission).

But in order to feel the target audience, we were engaged in digging up the situations of our hero to the fourth level: a person in a specific situation in a particular place -> what does he do? -> how does he do it? -> with what? -> fixing the conflict in the form of a phrase. For example, our hero Lyosha does not want to continue to do physics -> watching the series -> on turbo film -> Mr. Robot–> “great show, but I don’t understand half the words.” Thus, thinking through the story happens to the smallest detail. And then you come up with the idea of ​​how to use the identified issues in favor of the educational platform.

Third . In one of the modules of our community management training, there is a phrase: "How you publish is almost as important as what you publish." That is, there are certain rules of behavior and presentation of information in communities and social networks. The rules are intended to ensure that your message is heard, understood, and you and the other party understand each other. So, in the field of generating ideas, this statement can be transformed into the following: “It is almost as difficult to imagine an idea as it is to create it”. If you had a brilliant idea in your head, this does not mean that you can infect other people with it. Finding the right words, form, presentation logic, understandable images, creating a presentation is a very important and very difficult part of the work. We have been doing this all the second day.

Fourth . Corporate social network is a good platform for hackathon. I remember the story that occurred in the company Grundfos . As part of the development program for talented employees, an event was scheduled well in advance for six months to meet with management. But due to the high cost of the event, the event was canceled and the organizers were asked to find a cheap virtual alternative. As a result, a global event within 48 hours was held in a closed group on the corporate social network Yammer. The teams received instructions, solved tasks, held meetings, meetings with managers, held a question and answer session. In total, the event was attended by employees from 55 countries. As a result, Grundfos executives rated the event as extremely effective and offered to disclose the results for the entire company, which was done.

And the last . I really liked the hackathon, thanks to the organizers, curators and the jury ! I propose to conduct a virtual hackathon with the involvement of regional participants. With the choice of the platform - we will help.

PS Our work: part 1 and part 2 .

Vladimir Ivanitsa Facebook | LinkedIn