Educational benefits of hackathon: A systematic literature review

Abstract

Hackathons are said to promote a variety of innovative ideas and can be traced back to the idea of problem-solving. There is little research on the use of hackathons in classes to meet course-level learning objectives, despite the emphasis given to its advantages in other human efforts. By conducting a systematic literature review (SLR), this study uses the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement criteria to better understand the advantages of hackathons in education. From an initial search result of 108 research publications obtained from Google scholar and Scopus databases and published between 2015 and 2022, 25 articles were reviewed. The findings point to three important educational advantages of hackathons: improvement of technical and soft skills, learning new things, and successful networking. The study has implications for academics and other interested parties in in adopting hackathons in an academic curriculum. It suggests a need to model and develop instruments to introduce hackathon-based pedagogies to support traditional classrooms. Keywords: Educational support, hackathon, students, systematic review, teaching pedagogy.