What is an Eduathon – and what is it not?

Photo of a people in communication before a laptop

Dieses Lernmaterial wurde von der Teacher Education for a Future in Flux (teff)-Akademie entwickelt. Mit diesem Material wollen wir Lehrende und Lernende bei der Entwicklung ihrer digitalen Kompetenzen unterstützen.

Die Anforderungen an Lehrberufe ändern sich rasch und erfordern neue, umfassendere und anspruchsvollere Kompetenzen als bisher. Insbesondere die Allgegenwart digitaler Geräte und Anwendungen verlangt von den Lehrkräften, dass sie ihre digitalen Kompetenzen weiterentwickeln.

What is an Educathon?

What is it not?

a combination of the terms “education” and “ideathon”
it combines main characteristics of an Ideathon with prominent Design Thinking principles

a structured space and time-boxed, collaborative learning format where diverse participants work together on real-world challenges
a “playground” for participants to explore questions, test ideas, and reflect on their process
an opportunity to focus on learning, experimentation, and shared understanding
an iterative process, meaning that it is allowed to repeat steps if needed – but do not skip a step ahead! Trust the process!

a classic hackathon

⟶ there is no pressure to deliver a “perfect” technical solution or a market-ready product
just ”yet another workshop”

⟶ active participation is key; participants are not passive recipients of expert knowledge.; they actively shape the process, the questions, and the outcomes
a competition

⟶ even though you may want to choose a “winning pitch” at the end, the competition should serve as a motivating factor only; the pitches at the end will show that comparing them is almost impossible, and that shared learning is more important than ranking teams
a lecture

⟶ there are no long or one-way presentations. Input is short and purposeful, leaving most of the time for hands-on work
about predefined answers

⟶ uncertainty, iteration, and reframing the problem are part of the process
about individual performance

⟶ the focus is on team learning and collective intelligence, not on showcasing individual expertise
a one-off event with no follow-up

⟶ ideally, it is to spark ongoing learning, collaboration, or action beyond the event itself (see also p. 7 “Results & Impact”)