> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://bigecho.co.uk/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Ada College Co-creates Gamified Innovation Day - URL: https://bigecho.co.uk/articles/ada-college-co-creates-immersive-gamified-innovation-hackathon/ - Published: 2025-06-25T09:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-05-12T11:33:14.000Z - Description: How can colleges attract more students to digital T Levels and university-level courses? That was the challenge tackled by over 80 students at Ada, the National College for Digital Skills, during a full-day innovation hackathon designed and delivered by Big Echo. - Author: Tom Parson - Tags: News, #colour-green, #show-date **How can colleges attract more students to digital T Levels and university-level courses?** That was the challenge tackled by over 80 students at [Ada, the National College for Digital Skills](https://ada.ac.uk/?ref=bigecho.co.uk), during a full-day innovation hackathon designed and delivered by Big Echo. ### **From Classroom to Challenge Arena** After delivering Ada’s *Entrepreneurship and Innovation* module earlier this year, I was invited back to co-design an immersive, gamified experience with Ada’s leadership team - including Director of Curriculum and Quality Tina Götschi, and Director of Degree Apprenticeships Geoff Stevenson. The one-day hackathon challenged students to address a real problem within their own college: How might Ada recruit more students onto its digital and higher-level programmes? ### A Gamified Approach to Innovation To make the experience as engaging and hands-on as possible, I built a gamified design thinking format that rewarded curiosity, teamwork and creativity under pressure. Teams were given: - **Challenge artefacts** and briefing packs to build context - **Red herrings** to test their research and critical thinking - **Real-world curveballs** like changing requirements and “meddling CEOs” - **Hidden bonus materials** for those who investigated deeply - **Real stakeholders** on hand for live research and feedback The day was fast-paced, collaborative and deliberately unpredictable - reflecting the real-world challenges faced in innovation and product design. ### **Learning Through Doing** Students worked in cross-functional teams to explore the challenge, interrogate materials, come up with new approaches, and pitch their concepts to a panel of external judges. Many also built rapid AI-powered prototypes in under 20 minutes. At the end of the day, awards were handed out for categories such as *Most User-Focused Solution* and *Best Use of Data*. Feedback from students was overwhelmingly positive, and students shared with us some specific things they’d learned: - How to effectively build on others’ ideas - The importance of putting yourself in others’ shoes - How to do something in an unreasonable timeframe I think the last one is my favourite! ### Building Real Skills for the Future As well as being fun and competitive, the hackathon helped students develop skills highly valued by employers - including teamwork, communication, empathy, problem-solving and resilience. It still blows my mind how much progress can be made in a single day when egos are left at the door. Hackathons like this help people see what’s possible when we combine creativity, structure, and play. ### **Designed to Be Real** The hackathon took several weeks of co-design with Ada staff to make sure the challenge felt authentic and relevant. By grounding the task in a real organisational problem, students could connect innovation theory directly to impact - something Big Echo emphasises across all its workshops. ### **Acknowledgements** Huge thanks to everyone who made the event possible: Tina Götschi, Geoff Stevenson, Chris Collins, and all the brilliant students and guest judges who brought the day to life. > The hackathon was unlike anything we'd done before, and it was a huge success. Big Echo helped us turn an idea into an immersive, interactive day teaching creative problem solving and innovation skills. > **Tom Fogden, Co-Founder & Dean - Ada, the National College for Digital Skills** ### **Hackathons for Business** A hackathon is just a short, focussed session designed to “hack together” new ideas. And they’re not just for students. Big Echo designs and delivers tailored sessions for SMEs and teams looking to: - Address thorny challenges that won’t go away - Discover new opportunities for innovation - Align cross-functional teams around shared goals Whether it’s a recruitment challenge, a culture shift, or a product innovation brief, a hackathon can break through inertia and spark real progress. ****Do you need fresh thinking?** You can start innovating today with small steps. [Get involved ](https://bigecho.co.uk/get-involved)