Presentation Schedule
Inter-disciplinary Hackathon for Applied Learning (95794)
Session Chair: Thomas Goh
This presentation will be live-streamed via Zoom (Online Access)
Monday, 14 July 2025 14:20
Session: Session 4
Room: Live-Stream Room 4
Presentation Type:Live-Stream Presentation
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Educational hackathons are used to nurture students’ creativity and problem-solving ability. They are especially effective when there are meaningful engagements with diverse collaborators. In September 2024, a public university in Singapore and KPMG Singapore (a global organisation) co-organised a hackathon that focused on green initiatives. The 10 groups of participants were intentionally formed to foster inter-disciplinary and student/practitioner interactions. Each group comprised three students from different degree programmes and two KPMG employees. Each group also had a pair of faculty and KPMG partner as mentors. The 1.5-week hackathon was conducted in stages, namely: Ideation Day, Ignition Day and Impact Day when ideas were pitched to the judges. The winning team received a cash prize and the chance to collaborate with KPMG’s Digital Village to materialise their idea. Additionally, students from the winning team were offered internship opportunities with KPMG. A post-hackathon survey of the students garnered 66.7% response rate. The experience of working in inter-disciplinary teams was rated favourably. There were repeated, positive mentions of ‘interesting’, ‘insightful’ and ‘eye-opening’. Students reported that the top skills that they gained were critical thinking, innovation and adaptability. They have acquired new insights on important topics, such as the significance of considering diverse perspectives when developing solutions, and an understanding of real-world sustainability-related challenges. The event showed that the success of hackathons is dependent on certain elements such as the theme, team creation, and openness for diverse ideas. Using these learning points, more of such academia-industry collaborations could be capitalised upon for educational richness.
Authors:
Mui Kim Chu, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore
Lee Keng Ng, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore
Thomas Goh, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore
Jisu Kim, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore
Chin Moi Ricci Loh, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore
About the Presenter(s)
Ms Chu Mui Kim is an Associate Professor with Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT).
See this presentation on the full schedule – Monday Schedule
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