THE HACKATON ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN EDUCATION
Would you like pupils and/or students to receive better feedback? Would you like them to reach the right support more quickly, and do you want to make a real impact with AI in education in 2026? Are you ready to get started?
The University of Twente is organising the fifth edition of the Hackaton AI in Education on 8, 9 and 10 April 2026. This is a jubilee edition where educational innovation, technology and collaboration come together. During this edition, we invite 12 multidisciplinary teams from secondary education (VO), vocational education (MBO), higher professional education (HBO) and university education (WO) to work intensively on current educational challenges related to AI.
During the hackaton, pupils, students, teachers and other education professionals develop concrete AI solutions, guided by experienced AI experts (the Jedi’s), in the DesignLab of the University of Twente.
What is a hackaton?
A hackaton is an activity in which participants work non-stop on a specific case for a short period of time. The theme of this hackaton is AI in education. Developments in this field are happening at lightning speed and are having a major impact on learning, testing, and feedback.
Knowledge of Artificial Intelligence is an advantage for participating in this hackaton, but not required: there will also be experts (Jedi's) on hand to support the teams.
We invite teachers, school leaders, students, pupils, and other interested parties to work in teams of 6-8 people for three days (April 8, 9, and 10, 2026) on a feedback problem. Under the guidance of the Jedi (the experts), these teams will set to work developing their own AI application for the chosen case. On April 10, 2026, all teams will present their solutions to an expert jury, which will evaluate the presentations and ultimately select a winner.
Practical information
When: 8, 9 & 10 April 2026
Where: University of Twente
Time: See programme below
For whom: Teachers, school leaders, managers, students, pupils and other interested participants from PO, VO, MBO and higher education
Costs: Free of charge (catering included; a €50 fee will be charged in case of no-show or late cancellation)
Accommodation: Not included, but participants are free to book their own accommodation (e.g. U-Park Hotel Enschede or De Broeierd Enschede)
Organised by: University of Twente, in collaboration with AID-E Network, CELT, CEE, LISA, Pre-U, Pro-U, TELT, DesignLab, the CODE research group and the ELAN research group
PROGRAM
Aftermovie Hackaton 2025
Curious about the previous edition? Watch the aftermovie in Dutch below!
Want to know more about AI?
The term Artificial Intelligence (AI) was introduced in 1956 by scientist John McCarthy, who defined AI as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines.” In today’s society, increasing amounts of data are available. Combined with growing computing power and academic breakthroughs, this has led to significant advances in AI.
With AI, we can discover patterns in large amounts of data that mimic human thinking and rational reasoning. This includes the ability to generalise, reason, interpret and learn from the past.
AI also offers many opportunities for education. It can be used for scheduling, service processes, improving equal opportunities, enhancing knowledge assessment, facilitating place- and time-independent (lifelong) learning, and safeguarding quality.
Want to learn more about Artificial Intelligence? Have a look at this article:
Holmes, W., Bialik, M., & Fadel, C. (2019). Artificial Intelligence in Education: Promises and Implications for Teaching and Learning.
Organisation
The hackaton is organised by the University of Twente, in collaboration with AID-E Network, CELT, LISA, Pre-U, Pro-U, TELT, the CODE research group and the ELAN research group, with thanks to our sponsors CEE and DSI.