Are hackathons the new e-learning environments? On the outcome of the #wirvsvirus Hackathon from a learning outcome perspective

Abstract

The unprecedented situation of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic holds seed grains for novel phenomena in the field of innovative learning experiences: Virtual hackathon events might represent a new form of remote co-creation, learning and upskilling. The #WirVsVirus hackathon event in Germany has been initiated by the government to compensate the lockdown-related absence of physical innovation experiences. By analyzing the data set of projects initialized during the hackathon event (n = 1,499), plus the qualitative survey feedback from 956 participants, we found that the learning curve as well as the individual learning outcome for the participates is substantial. Our findings presented in this paper lead to the conclusion that hackathons are a prosperous learning environment, even more out-come oriented than other e- Learning formats. © 2020 IEEE.