When I was first contacted by EdSense team to mentor a Hackathon for teachers, I was taken aback. Weren't hackathons for a large number of people who meet to engage in collaborative computer programming? But EdSense, an education management platform, elevated us teachers to a pedestal at par to that of the tech world. The timing was perfect, as India is under complete lockdown due to Covid 19 pandemic and the teachers are missing the high level of activity that they are used to. Edsense chose all the topics very thoughtfully. The topics were related to 21st-century skills, which are very close to a teacher's heart. The hackathon stimulated the teachers to think out of the box, collaborate, learn-unlearn-relearn, and share their ideas as they had done never before.
SMART TEACHER HACKATHON @HYDERABAD, 4TH APRIL, 2020
With excitement, physically and mentally ready to mentor the four teams assigned, I logged in, and then those 6-7 hours passed like a flash. I was delighted to witness that the teachers, who are considered pedagogical experts, rose to the occasion, and came out with astounding solutions to the assigned problems/ tasks.
@Education ministry: Don’t you want to include teachers who are involved in the nation-building activity day in and day out?
Being a teacher myself, I had always seen technical issues during annual days ranging from irregular song sequence being played to having to speak without a mike. To be frank, I was expecting a lot of commotion with 17 teams, each with three to four members, a mentor for each, submissions, evaluations et al. But it was like a fairy tale, all running smoothly for those 7 engaging hours. I was amazed at the proficiency of EdSense to conduct a virtual hackathon of this level.
SMART TEACHER HACKATHON @BANGALURU, 25TH APRIL,2020
Being invited yet again was an offer I jumped right into. My expectations were high from EdSense and they surely didn't let me down. This time with 30 teams, each 3-4 team members, tasks, the evaluation was even more challenging. As expected, all the 6-7 hours were equally engaging as the first time. This time more comfortable with my task of mentoring (reaffirming that practice makes one perfect!), I was able to witness how teachers who are most comfortable at performing in a brick and mortar set up, who are usually not tech-savvy or have apprehensions towards digital technology could break this barrier and be equally competent.
One of my favorite moments during the hackathon was when one participant was attending to her little one who was seeking attention and without getting annoyed with the child, showered the little one with kisses and hugs, while still being glued to the laptop. What are teachers made up of, was the thought that the hackathon left me with!
Thanks, EdSense for this amazing opportunity.
The picture below summarises a TEACHER:
