Fundación Alberto Baillères

Through hackathon, upper secondary students reflect on uses of technology

The Alberto Baillères Foundation organized a hackathon for third-year students at Escuela Preparatoria Oficial 94 (EPO 94) [Upper Secondary School] in Ecatepec.

Mediante un hackatón, jóvenes de preparatoria reflexionan sobre el uso de la tecnología

In order to encourage young people to become familiar with digital-era issues and the use of technologies, the Alberto Baillères Foundation, in partnership with senior staff and educators at EPO 94, organized a hackathon for sixth-semester upper secondary school students. The hackathon comprised a series of intensive workshops to reflect on technology use and its impact on society. Educators invited the young people to choose from one of the following topics: the Olimpia Law, grooming, fake news, the digital gap, the formation of public opinion, and social media.

15 teams were organized, each of which was advised by an educator who, based on the content they teach, helped students pinpoint the topic of their choice. The dynamic consisted of using the Scratch platform to program comics that reflected the various issues and proposed possible solutions.

On April 19, each team presented their project drafts to the rest of their classmates and some Foundation collaborators in the auditorium of EPO 94. To support and orient the development of the projects, experts from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM) delivered lectures over the next weeks on the digital gap, digital literacy, and public opinion, in addition to offering workshops on how to propose transformative projects and pitch projects.

The closing event was held on June 29. During this event, the eight finalist teams (chosen based on their progress and commitment) presented their finished projects to an evaluation committee made up of EPO 94’s principal, vice principal, and educators, as well as collaborators from the Foundation, the SECOBAL Systems Director, and members of partner organizations. Throughout the presentations, it was clear that the education community had made the proposal its own.

The winning teams were:

“Cuentos que no son secretos,” advised by Selene Prado Pérez. The group’s members addressed the issue of grooming and proposed an informative platform that will allow young people to express their experiences.

“Ciervos dorados de la dialéctica,” advised by Roberto Farfán Rodríguez. The team chose the issue of public opinion. In addition to creating an Instagram account to keep the EPO 94 community informed, the team created a template for making a newspaper.

“Scratchitos,” advised by María Aidé León Silva. The group created a comic strip that recreated EPO 94’s settings and examined social media and the risks these pose.

The awards ceremony took place on July 10. In addition to prizes for the three top teams, the Foundation delivered a projector for the EPO 94 auditorium in recognition of the entire education community’s commitment in this first edition of the hackathon. Some of the winning projects will continue into the upcoming school year, whether in collaboration with civil society partner organizations or as the transformative projects of the “Transforming as a Community” program of educational grants.