Secretaria de Relações Internacionais | Office of International Relations

Photo: EdTech Hackathon Release.

The undergraduate student in English Language and Literature  at UFSC, Vitor Pluceno Behnck, was part of the award-winning team of the first edition of German-Brazilian EdTech Hackathon – Digital Education, which took place between 22 and 24 August at the Goethe-Institut, in Sao Paulo. The event gathered  German mentors and organizers with skilled hackers from all over Brazil.

The project created by the team is called Tech_Ia and proposes the development of an application for teaching music in an accessible manner. In addition to Behnck, the team was composed by professors and students from several institutions: Igor Borges, from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas; Priscilla Prueter, from the Universidade Federal do Paraná; Johanna Kirchner, from the Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná; Alice Xavier, from the Universidade Federal de Itajubá; and Igor Niemeyer, from the Universidade Federal de Lavras.

“Tech_Ia is an educational solution to introduce music education, especially for children. It is a project of a website that has challenges and teaches you the basics of music notation and rhythm, step by step. In addition, there is the possibility of using a low-cost keyboard that we developed”, explains Behnck.

The event aimed to promote debate on news and experiences with digital transformation in teaching at universities and schools. It was organized by the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (WWU), by the start-up re:edu, by the Society for Academic Study Preparation and Test Development (g.a.s.t.), by the Technische Universität München (TUM), Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin), and by the Goethe-Institut São Paulo, in addition to the collaboration of the German Center for Research and Innovation in São Paulo (DWIH-SP).

The 29 participants proposed technological solutions to current challenges in digital education. During three days, they carried out activities such as workshops, lectures, pizza dinner, hacking sections, project pitching sections, evaluation by the jury, and an award winning ceremony on the last day of the event.  The winners received a certificate and an invitation to participate in the German-Brazilian Innovation and Sustainability Congress, organized by the German-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which will be held on 29 and 30 September, in São Paulo.

According to Behnck, the Hackathon was an enriching experience. “I was able to see my field of study intersecting with several others, which was very important for me since I am enrolled in the last semester of the program. I recommend everyone to follow SINTER’s website and social media to get to know the opportunities beyond the university walls, which was what I did”, he affirms.

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