Social Hackathon event
“Digital Bridges & Gaps in Society”
13 November 2024
The digital transition makes the digital gaps in society more visible than ever. On 13 november 2024 11 student teams joined us in an international quest to find innovative sollutions for digital challenges provided by 9 community organizations from all over Europe.
The students were supported by a professional team of instructors and mentors and the final solutions were judged by an international jury of experts.
The SLIDE Social Hackathon ‘Digital Bridges and Gaps in Society’ took place on Wednesday 13 November 2024. It was a full-day, hybrid event involving 11 student teams, 9 community partners, and multiple international instructors, mentors and jury members.
The hybrid Social Hackathon ‘Digital Bridges and Gaps in Society’ resulted in innovative solutions created by transdisciplinary student teams. Check out the work of the students and find out who was the winner of the event!
Based on the experiences from the SLIDE Social Hackathon event, the SLIDE project team developed a guide for teachers on how to use the social hackathon method as a short-term e-service-learning project for interdisciplinary and international collaboration among students and community partners.
WHAT IS A SOCIAL HACKATHON?
A social hackathon is an event that brings together people, typically from diverse backgrounds and expertise, to collaborate on solving social issues or creating projects that positively impact society. Participants work together in teams to develop innovative solutions, often using technology, healthcare, education, poverty, environmental and sustainability challenges, and more. Social hackathons are a way to harness a community’s collective creativity and skills to drive positive change.
Social hackathons have the potential to create a tangible and meaningful impact on society by addressing social challenges and creating solutions that can benefit communities and individuals. Hackatons are known to foster innovation and entrepreneurship, and they encourage students to think outside the box, come up with creative solutions, and experiment with new technologies. Student social hackathons can address pressing social issues in local communities and beyond. By tackling these challenges, students can make a meaningful impact and contribute to positive societal change .
THE SLIDE SOCIAL HACKATHON: ‘DIGITAL BRIDGES AND GAPS IN SOCIETY’
The social hackathon provided an opportunity for participating students to work closely on selecting real social challenges and plan their transnational cross curricular e-service-learning projects in sustainable and ecologically responsible ways, addressing inclusion and diversity, and gradually moving from pilots to full-fledged e-service-learning projects.
The SLIDE Social Hackathon took place on Wednesday 13 November 2024. It was a full-day, hybrid event in the form of an e-service-learning project. Student teams worked together in multidisciplinary teams to solve social challenges focused on the topic of digital inclusion, proposed by community partners from all over Europe. During the event, students connected online with community partners and other student teams, and are coached by international mentors.
The objectives of the SLIDE social hackathon were:
- to equip students with skills to participate in digital education fully, but also with skills to make connections with local communities and sensitise students towards digital inclusion and digital empowerment of community members;
- to develop intercultural understanding and international collaboration;
- to address specific challenges or problems faced by community organisations or communities connected with digitalisation and develop innovative solutions within a defined time frame which will be transferable to other organisations or communities.
