Hackathon Competition

Virginia Tech’s Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology co-hosts the Blacksburg/Roanoke location of a statewide Hackathon competition with the Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council, and Techpad. The hackers’ mission: develop innovative applications that leverage existing data on Virginia public school students’ progress toward college and career readiness to help educators and policymakers build a stronger, smarter workforce. The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) and the state-chartered non-profit Center for Innovative Technology, created a software application development program, Apps4VA, to support the development and implementation of a data system that would record student progress from early childhood to postsecondary and beyond, while also protecting student privacy and confidentiality. The Hackathon is a 24-hour competition that encourages the design and development of new applications that use this data system. The Hackathon will be held simultaneously in five locations across the state. All five locations will be linked via simulcast.

A university-level research institute sitting at the nexus of the arts, design, engineering, and science, the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology is uniquely partnered with the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech. By forging a pathway between transdisciplinary research and art, educational innovation, and scientific and commercial discovery, the institute works to foster the creative process to create new possibilities for exploration and expression through learning, discovery, and engagement. This includes preparing students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade and higher education environments to succeed in a world that demands teamwork and collaboration of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines; promoting new research domains that transcend institutionalized boundaries; and participating with people of all ages in the process of co-creation.