UBC’s Learning Analytics Hackathons offer students an opportunity to work with real learning data and explore how analytics can support learning and student success. Since the inaugural hackathon in 2015, hundreds of participants from diverse faculties and backgrounds have collaborated on analyzing learning data and developing data-driven solutions to complex problems.
Imagine you had data that represented all of your or your students activity in a Canvas course – what would you build?
Past Hackathons
Looking back at UBC’s 9th Learning Analytics Hackathon
November 4, 2023
The UBC Learning Analytics Hackathon is an annual event that brings together students, researchers and instructors to create, design, and explore data-driven solutions for enhancing teaching and learning at UBC. This year, the 9th edition of the Hackathon took place on November 4, 2023, with 100 UBC students from various disciplines and backgrounds participating in this all-day event.
UBC 8th Learning Analytics Hackathon – Untapping Canvas potential
November 5, 2022
The anticipation was palpable when Alison and Will kicked-off UBC’s 8th Learning Analytics Hackathon on November 5, 2022. In front of them, 100 undergraduate and graduate students coming from many departments were spread into 12 groups. The teams were then tasked with optimizing their learning experience by analyzing real course data from Canvas (UBC’s primary learning platform for delivering online course content), prototyping their ideas and presenting their findings. The only guideline? To “create, design, and explore something cool”.
Student Dashboards Hackathon
October 25, 2020
UBC’s Learning Analytics hackathon went virtual in 2020. Students were challenged to build a heatmap of their course’s discussion boards using the Canvas API and a scaffolded Github repo. To encourage student participation at all skill levels, students could either work completely independently (or with a team) or follow along with the scaffolded github repo where solutions to each “step” were regularly released.
Spring Learning Analytics Hackathon – Cancelled
March 13, 2020
UBC’s Learning Analytics hackathon was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Learning Analytics + Canvas API Hackathon
March 29 – 30, 2019
UBC’s Learning Analytics hackathon went virtual in 2020. Students were challenged to build a heatmap of their course’s discussion boards using the Canvas API and a scaffolded Github repo. To encourage student participation at all skill levels, students could either work completely independently (or with a team) or follow along with the scaffolded github repo where solutions to each “step” were regularly released.
Apps for students, by students, at the Canvas API Hackathon
October 27 – 28, 2018
UBC held its first learning analytics hackathon focused exclusively on the Canvas API on Oct. 27-28, bringing together more than 100 students who signed up to spend their weekend creating apps and dashboards for Canvas, UBC’s new online learning platform. The Hackathon gave students an opportunity to learn about and explore the Canvas API (application program interface), which allows users to write programs to interact with Canvas. Hackathon participants worked primarily with a sample course, built specifically for the event.
Learning Analytics Hackathon 3.0 explores how data can empower students
March 19, 2018
Do UBC students need a Tinder-style app that “matches” them with possible research topics? How can we design tools that help students know if they’re on track to succeed in an online course? On March 10 and 11, students, researchers and instructors came together for the Learning Analytics Hackathon to brainstorm and prototype tools to address these questions.
Learning analytics hackathon attracts over 80 participants
January 2017
In January 2017, the Institute for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and the Learning Analytics Visual Analytics group held Hackathon 2.0 at UBC. The two-day event brought together over 80 students, researchers, faculty and staff to explore educational data. Organizers welcomed participants with a range of expertise, and encouraged beginners to sign up to the event.
Students Crack Data at Learning Analytics Hackathon
March 19, 2018
In October 2015 the Learning Analytics Visual Analytics (LAVA) group held the first ever learning analytics hackathon at UBC. During the two-day event, more than 70 participants with a wide range of backgrounds and expertise applied a variety of approaches to analyzing learning-related data. Some used classroom observation data to better understand how learning unfolds, while others used data from a learning management system to identify patterns in how learners use available materials.
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