#EducationHackathon
Overview
SmartUp organized #EducationHackathon as part of the national conference "Quality Education for Growth, Achievements and Better Future," bringing together educators, students, designers, developers, and education experts to co-create early-stage solutions to pressing challenges in North Macedonia's education system. SmartUp introduced human-centered design and design thinking methodologies into the education sector for the first time — the starting point for the collaborative innovation approach SmartUp has since applied across its national education programmes.
SmartUp engaged 70 multidisciplinary participants who developed five MVP concepts over a two-month innovation process, while more than 500 conference participants contributed ideas and feedback on the future of education. The prototypes developed here — including tools for character education, preschool game-based learning, and inclusive classroom design — went on to form the foundation of #Inno4Edu and, ultimately, the EDUINO ecosystem.
The challenge
Introduce game-based learning approaches into preschool education.
Help teachers continuously strengthen their pedagogical knowledge and keep pace with modern educational practices.
Explore how technology can improve student engagement and learning outcomes.
Develop practical tools that support teachers in fostering students' character, values, and socio-emotional development.
Design inclusive learning environments based on universal design principles that promote participation, collaboration, and equal opportunities for every learner.
Activities and methods
1. Engaged 70 multidisciplinary participants who collaborated to develop five minimum viable product (MVP) solutions addressing key educational challenges.
2. Involved more than 500 conference participants, who contributed ideas, feedback, and discussions around the future of education in North Macedonia.
3. Applied design thinking and human-centered design methodologies throughout a two-month innovation process, combining educators' practical experience with technical expertise and user-centered design.
4. Developed five innovative concepts, including:
- an online platform supporting teachers in developing students' character and values;
- a professional networking platform and knowledge-sharing community for educators;
- a digital library of educational games for preschool education;
- a gamified application promoting student engagement and active learning;
- a future classroom concept based on inclusive and universal design principles.
5. Created prototypes that served as the foundation for further testing, refinement, and integration into the larger #Inno4Edu programme and the future national education innovation platform.
Impact and learning
#EducationHackathon demonstrated the value of co-creation in education by bringing together educators, students, software developers, designers, and education experts to jointly develop solutions to real classroom challenges. Rather than designing innovations for educators, the project empowered them to become active innovators throughout the development process.
Several of the concepts developed during the hackathon evolved into larger initiatives within the #Inno4Edu programme, influencing the design of national digital education platforms and future innovation activities. The project also introduced design thinking as a practical methodology for educational innovation in North Macedonia, helping establish a collaborative model that SmartUp continued to apply in subsequent education projects.
By combining multidisciplinary collaboration, rapid prototyping, and user-centered design, #EducationHackathon laid the foundation for a broader culture of educational innovation and demonstrated how collective creativity can generate practical solutions with long-term potential for the education system.
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Planning similar work?
SmartUp can support research, co-creation, facilitation, digital tools, implementation, or learning documentation for related programmes.