Joint curriculum design through a hackathon approach

The goal is to bring together teaching staff to (re)design, evaluate and align modules in joint education. This in-person hackathon is part of the quality assurance approach, and student feedback is used as input to design the programme of the week. 

Activity plan

The Professional Development Team of the CHARM-EU Alliance developed an activity plan to organise and plan a hackathon for joint curriculum design. This activity plan consists of a guidebook that can be used to host a similar event in your own university or alliance.

Learning objectives 

After this session, participants are able to:   

• Finalize the (re)design for their modules in the MSc programme, based on the latest student evaluations  
• Improve the alignment of modules in the MSc programme 
• Onboard new KCT members into the MSc programme and their modules 

The hackathon includes professional development workshops on the CHARM-EU educational principles.

The week’s schedule balanced structured workshops with flexible work hours and cultural activities. Each day began with targeted sessions on subjects like the alignment of assessment methods with learning objectives, redesigning teaching activities for better programme alignments, and creating a more inclusive learning environment. Teaching staff worked in these sessions to brainstorm and implement improvements for the MSc programme. In addition to the academic work, participants had time for flexible working hours, allowing them to reflect, collaborate, and discuss ideas informally. This balance of structured and flexible time helped participants to work on shared goals and engage with each other. Cultural activities were added to the evening programme, to strengthen connections between staff members from different institutions.

Activity Plan Joint Curriculum Design Hackathon

Are you interested in CHARM-EU’s activity plan on joint curriculum design? See our guides.