research-article

Hosting hackathons a tool in retaining students with beneficial side effects

Editor: John Meinke Author:

David MunroAuthors Info & Claims

Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, Volume 30, Issue 5

Pages 46 - 51

Published: 01 May 2015 Publication History

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Abstract

Research into factors related to retaining students in computing and technology programs has shown that the students sense of community and their personal sense of identity to be factors that matter. To proactively address these issues students and faculty of a Midwestern university came up with the idea of hosting their own hackathon in 2010. In general a hackathon event involves the collaborative development of software projects in a concentrated time period. Having hosted five hackathons we have developed a body of knowledge through experience, which we hope will encourage other schools to hold their own hackathons. This paper describes the issues related to retention in computing and technology programs, some of the factors and decisions that have to be made in hosting a hackathon, and some of the side benefits that hackathons produce.

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Cited By

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Falk Olesen JHalskov KWakkary RAndersen KOdom WDesjardins APetersen M(2020)10 Years of Research With and On HackathonsProceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3357236.3395543(1073-1088)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3357236.3395543
Kos B(2019)Understanding Female-Focused Hackathon Participants' Collaboration Styles and Event GoalsProceedings of the International Conference on Game Jams, Hackathons and Game Creation Events 201910.1145/3316287.3316292(1-4)Online publication date: 17-Mar-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3316287.3316292
Salinas MEmer MNeto ADittrich YFagerholm FHoda RSocha DSteinmacher I(2019)Short datathon for the interdisciplinary development of data analysis and visualization skillsProceedings of the 12th International Workshop on Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering10.1109/CHASE.2019.00031(95-98)Online publication date: 27-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/CHASE.2019.00031
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Index Terms

Hosting hackathons a tool in retaining students with beneficial side effects
1. Applied computing
  1. Enterprise computing
2. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Computer science education

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Information

Published In

cover image Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges

Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges Volume 30, Issue 5

May 2015

168 pages

ISSN:1937-4771

EISSN:1937-4763

Editor:
John Meinke
UMUC Europe

Issue’s Table of Contents

Publisher

Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges

Evansville, IN, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 May 2015

Published in JCSC Volume 30, Issue 5

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Falk Olesen JHalskov KWakkary RAndersen KOdom WDesjardins APetersen M(2020)10 Years of Research With and On HackathonsProceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3357236.3395543(1073-1088)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3357236.3395543
Kos B(2019)Understanding Female-Focused Hackathon Participants' Collaboration Styles and Event GoalsProceedings of the International Conference on Game Jams, Hackathons and Game Creation Events 201910.1145/3316287.3316292(1-4)Online publication date: 17-Mar-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3316287.3316292
Salinas MEmer MNeto ADittrich YFagerholm FHoda RSocha DSteinmacher I(2019)Short datathon for the interdisciplinary development of data analysis and visualization skillsProceedings of the 12th International Workshop on Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering10.1109/CHASE.2019.00031(95-98)Online publication date: 27-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/CHASE.2019.00031
Kos BMalmi LKorhonen AMcCartney RPetersen AMalmi LMcCartney R(2018)The Collegiate Hackathon ExperienceProceedings of the 2018 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research10.1145/3230977.3231022(274-275)Online publication date: 8-Aug-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3230977.3231022
Platt A(2017)TechapaloozaJournal of Computing Sciences in Colleges10.5555/3055338.305534732:4(50-56)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/3055338.3055347
Filippova AChapman BGeiger RHerbsleb JKalyanasundaram ATrainer EMoser AStoltzfus ALee CPoltrock SBarkhuus LBorges MKellogg W(2017)Hacking and Making at Time-Bounded EventsCompanion of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing10.1145/3022198.3022658(363-370)Online publication date: 25-Feb-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3022198.3022658

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What Do Hackathons Do? Understanding Participation in Hackathons Through Program Theory Analysis

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