Design-a-thon

Similar to a Hackathon, a Design-a-thon is a day-long event where people come together and work on a broadly defined challenge statement to generate ideas for the purpose of social good. 

At the core of iTL 2023 is a Design-a-thon which aims to provide opportunities for participants to collaborate and cross-pollinate ideas using the Design Thinking framework.

Reimagining teaching and learning for future-readiness

Our objective is to cultivate an innovation mindset where our participants can be immersed in a human-centered design process to understand their learners, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions.

This will be based on the grand challenge statement of “Reimagining teaching and learning for future-readiness''. 

Before the event, participants will be grouped into teams of 5, according to their selected NIE SGA (Strategic Growth Area) tracks and interests indicated in the registration form.

On the event day, participants will be informed of their groupings. Each group will then decide and work on a specific issue that they would like to solve during the Design-a-thon.

Our facilitators will then guide participants using the design-thinking process, and give feedback on their preliminary ideas.

Finally, groups would be given time to finalise their ideas, before pitching and submitting their ideas to their assigned judge. 

Our Design-a-thon aligns to the Strategic Growth Areas (SGA) of NIE.

Participants can select from any 1 of the following SGA for the Design-a-thon:

1. Child and Human Development

2. Values and Ethics

3. Science of Learning

4. Emerging Technologies

5. Assessment and Evaluation

To read more about NIE's Strategic Growth Areas, click here. 

Some of our important judging criteria for the submitted ideas include:

• Relevance to the Grand Challenge Statement

• Originality

• The degree of learner-centeredness

Do note that participants should incorporate the use of technology meaningfully into their solutions.

More details will be shown during the event day.

Participants from the winning 3 groups will each walk away with a medal and $100 worth of cash vouchers!

Participants are encouraged to bring their own laptops and water bottles for the event. Stationery and food will be provided during the event.