The Future Simple Hack hackathon became a place for Ukrainians from different cities and industries to create innovations together for the second time. 140 IT specialists, teachers, designers, and business representatives joined teams to work on ideas for interactive solutions for learning English for 10 days.
The hackathon from Europe’s largest championship for IT professionals DEV Challenge as part of the Future Perfect language program is dedicated to tools that will encourage the development of children aged 3 and younger.
According to the new law on the use of English, preschool children will have to learn English in kindergartens. So the goal of Future Simple Hack is to realize the educational goals set by the law.
The importance of English
“The future belongs to countries with strong human capital. That is why we launched Future Perfect together with ICIP and the Ministry of Education and Science. The language program offers educational opportunities to learn English, which is an indispensable component of progress today,” says Valeria Ionan, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine for European Integration.
Recently, the President of Ukraine signed an important law that enshrines the status of English as one of the languages of international communication in Ukraine.
“It assumes that in order to meet the challenges of the future, children will start learning English from preschool age to keep up with modern trends and speak the same language as the world as they grow up,” says Ionan.
Finalists of the Future Simple Hack
14 mentors and 7 jury members selected 5 teams as finalists of the hackathon with solutions that make the language learning process fun and game-like.
“Learning English creates endless horizons of possibilities, and innovative technologies make this path exciting and effective. English should be accessible to every Ukrainian, and innovative technologies are the key to unlocking limitless opportunities for everyone. Every new day is a chance to explore the world, which is getting closer thanks to modern tools and our perseverance,” comments Anastasia Bondar, Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformation and Digitalization.
To determine the winners, the jury took into account the innovation and efficiency, the level of complexity and technical implementation of the project, interface design, navigation, and presentation skills of the teams during the pitch.
The winners of the first hackathon were teams with prototypes of such solutions:
- Ghost: a web service based on the principle of learn by playing. The idea of the product is to teach English through play for children from 3 years old. The prototype involves all the senses: children watch, listen, and imitate the game. The team developed the prototype using the TensorFlow.js neural network and AI to recognize the child’s movements and voice, respectively.
- Autolayout: is an app for children aged 3 and up to learn English in a playful way with practical tasks. Learning takes place in the form of passing levels by a character whose progress the child can track. The app is available for teaching the youngest users who do not read information: a bright interface, associative elements, design with rounded shapes, large buttons, and a simple menu. The platform also contains educational cartoons with integrated exercises.
The winning teams will receive educational and career opportunities from Sigma Software Group, Ukrainian Startup Fund, SKELAR, Beetroot Academy, speakingclub.ua, and ITVDN. The prizes reflect the principle of lifelong learning, which is the basis of the Future Perfect language program, and emphasize the importance of continuous education and career development.
Future Perfect
“The modern world requires learning and popularizing the English language starting from childhood. The Future Perfect language program actively engages the younger generation of Ukrainians in this process through innovative digital solutions. Today, investing in learning English is an investment in the future of our children and the integration of the state into the global community,” said Dmytro Zavgorodnyi, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformation and Digitalization.
The hackathon finale took place on July 1 at UNIT.City and brought together EdTech innovators – participants, mentors, and representatives of partner companies.
“At UNIT.City, we are pleased to implement such great initiatives aimed at implementing government programs to attract young and creative professionals. Accessibility of English language learning and improvement of opportunities for learning it is a critical necessity, because for a modern specialist in almost any field, English is a must-have,” comments Kostiantyn Yevtushenko, Managing Partner of UNIT.City.
Get to know the world of Future Simple Hack on the website and get inspired for new EdTech innovations.
The series of hackathons is being implemented as part of the Future Perfect language program with the largest championship for IT professionals in Europe, DEV Challenge, initiated by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. The project is also supported by Sigma Software and the first innovation park UNIT.City.
The post Future Simple Hack has chosen IT solutions to study English first appeared on HiTechExpert.top.