Alicia-
Hackathons can be a useful way for engineering students to work together applying their skills to solve problems- see for example the February MIT-Harvard Hackathon https://canva.link/d70apb6uh5zh3mf , as well as for learning hands-on tool skills in a supportive social environment, such as use of a lasercutter, machine tools, and soldering.
However, my experience is that hackathons are NOT an effective environment for teaching basic engineering skills.
In the EDW session just finished, many students effectively applied prior computer-aided design skills such as Fusion 360 and Onshape for 3D design, and others displayed prior skills in design for lasercutting, and several of your students such as Iman displayed strong skills in electronics and coding. However, I do not think students acquired basic skills in electronics and microcontrollers. Even teaching the use of a simple Microbit program was an uphill battle.See ITP's Physical Computing Course( https://itp.nyu.edu/physcomp/ ).
More attention needs to be devoted to researching design precedents- tools such as Gemini Notebook(https://notebooklm.google/ ) can be useful.
Documentation is another area that could use improvement- none of the projects were documented in such a way that others could build upon their work.
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