The Africa’s leading edtech platform, GoMyCoDE, rewarded three young developers at the Upside Education Hackathon for proffering solutions to the needs of the country in the education sector on Saturday.
Babatunde Olaifa, the General Manager of GoMyCode Nigeria, said in a statement that the awards recognised the top three participants with the most viable ideas that would solve e-learning challenges in Nigeria, Africa and beyond.
According to Olaifa, the winners emerged after a rigorous 36-hour hacking session and a presentation to a distinguished jury made up of industry experts, three organizations that supported the Hackathon.
He said the first prize winner Confidence Bassey, created an immensely collaborative study app that could be a game changer for undergraduates just returning to schools after a protracted strike.
Uwabunkeonye Ijeoma, the second prize winner, created a program for kids of all age group to learn coding concepts.
Olaifa said that the design reflected a deep understanding of her target audience and took into cognisance issues that parents and guardians worry about when their children are online.
Abudullahi Fahm, the third prize winner created a video learning platform that could aid collaborative learning.
Africa needs change makers, pioneers, future thinkers and dreamers.
We need people that can make a difference in whatever sphere they find themselves in.
The hackathon, which happened simultaneously in five countries during the weekend of Oct. 15-16, was built around the theme ‘Upside Education’.
The theme encouraged participants to explore ways of using new technologies to create a parallel universe of educational methods that could merge virtual and face to face learning methods.
It is in order to optimise learning and make it effective, beneficial and enjoyable for both instructors and students, said Olaifa
However, he urged the participants to keep finding new ways to use technology to solve Africa’s most pressing problems, particularly in education.
The general manager said that the prizes for the winners included cash, scholarships at GoMyCode and paid internships.
He said that the participants worked on and presented different ideas comprising apps that foster greater learning collaboration.
While others worked on platforms that rethink assessments and testing, innovative learning tracks for kids to learn coding, virtual learning assistants and a social learning platform.