STARS Hackathon — What Happens When You Give Students Three Days to Redesign How They Learn?
Hackathons and EU research projects rarely intersect, but this one was exceptional. The LUT team hosted a 3-day STARS Hackathon in a hybrid format as part of our Erasmus+ project, STARS: Self-Regulated Learning Tool for Academic Success (2024–2026).
An exceptional student event
European students had the opportunity to register, participate, and earn legitimate credentials — including a certification and 3 ECTS credits. More than 20 students registered, the majority attended, and five active groups spent three days developing prototypes that linked self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies to their personal challenges with writing and completing assignments.
This is the core of what STARS emphasises: not just abstract theory, but students recognising their own challenges and creating tools to help themselves and others overcome them.
Two significant keynote addresses
Kaisa Vaittinen: SRL in the real world
Kaisa explained how she developed a start-up using SRL techniques, demonstrating that the prototypes students created in the event already have real-world potential.
Aman Bhuiyan: Agent AI tools
AI Engineer Aman Bhuiyan joined from the UK to give a talk on Agent AI tools — a timely and energising look at where intelligent learning technology is heading.
In addition, a group of students from the School of Engineering at Jönköping University participated online, bringing an international dimension to the event. They took part as part of their master’s thesis topic exploration and gained insights into designing and developing an SRL-enhanced peer-review AI system to measure students’ planning and reflections.
Transforming an idea into a prototype within three days
Students didn’t just discuss SRL — they actively built it. Using Figma, each group designed a prototype and submitted their work to the STARS SRL-enhanced peer-review system, developed by the SETU team. The system emphasises writing exercises and places peer feedback at the centre of the learning process.
Students connected SRL strategies to their own problems and needs, identifying hurdles in writing or completing assignments and designing tools to overcome them. At the close of the hackathon, every team presented their work in a PowerPoint pitch and submitted a demo video. The quality and creativity on show made it clear — these students weren’t just participating, they were genuinely invested.
Hackathon Photos
