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A promising methodology. Assessing the pedagogical value of hackathons

Katharina Resch et al.

Active Learning in Higher Education2025https://doi.org/10.1177/14697874251330793article
AJG 1ABDC B
Weight
0.46

Abstract

Hackathons have become increasingly popular in higher education, although prior research about their use in the higher education sector is limited in scope and does not link the new pedagogy to learning theories. In contrast to the main literature in this field, our research adopts a conceptual rather than an empirical focus and is built on two comparative analyses. The first of these is a placement of hackathons within learning theories, in particular inquiry-based learning, experiential learning, challenge-based learning, problem-based and project-based learning. The second is a comparative analysis of hackathons with other community-based methodologies, that is, service-learning, challenge-based learning and community-based research, with which many educators already identify. Hence, our study lays the ground for assessing the pedagogical value of hackathons in higher education and provides a methodological comparison for educators, who aim to use this type of pedagogy in their applied coursework.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/14697874251330793

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@article{katharina2025,
  title        = {{A promising methodology. Assessing the pedagogical value of hackathons}},
  author       = {Katharina Resch et al.},
  journal      = {Active Learning in Higher Education},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/14697874251330793},
}

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A promising methodology. Assessing the pedagogical value of hackathons

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Evidence weight

0.46

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.37 × 0.4 = 0.15
M · momentum0.60 × 0.15 = 0.09
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.