Transition to distance education comes together with lots of challenges and opportunities for both educators and students. At the end of April, Sigma Software University’s partner – Lviv Polytechnic National University – conducted an All-Institutes hackathon of ICSIT startups. Its main purpose was to give students the opportunity to find solutions to problems that arise during online learning.
For the organizers of the event – students’ union of the Institute of Computer Science and Information Technologies – and teams, the transition to online became a good solution in the conditions of all-Ukrainian quarantine. For teamwork, participants chose GitLab and ZOOM, so it was convenient for everyone.
During April 20–22, eight teams were working on solutions designed to make student life easier during distance learning.
Traditionally, the teams had only 48 hours to prepare and implement their project. On April 22, they presented their work to an expert jury. Among the jury members Sigma Software was represented by Natalia Melnykova, a training manager, who shared her impressions:
– Participants presented eight cool ideas. In their projects, teams used game solutions, full-fledged applications, platforms and even Telegram bots. Some projects helped to motivate students to study, to solve the problem of finding the necessary educational materials or university activities; others offered solutions for organizing distance learning and receiving feedback from companies and educators. A smart calendar, a bot finder, an app that recognizes students who cheat on exams, and a game that explains the basics of programming – those are the team startups that impressed the jury.
Among the key criteria for evaluating the works were: the uniqueness of the idea and qualitative analysis of the market and competitors, a clear and understandable presentation of the project and demonstration of the product and its main functionalities.
The winners of the All-Institutes hackathon of ICSIT startups received an invitation to participate in Agile internship from Sigma Software University. The official award ceremony will take place after the end of quarantine.