From Fables to Frameworks: A Faculty-Led, Open-Source Hackathon Model for Engineering Education

Abstract

The study examines the pedagogical value of combining cultural storytelling with open-source animation in an undergraduate Computer Graphics setting. A cohort of 65 second-year engineering students, with no prior animation experience, participated in a practice-based learning activity associated with the national Synfig Studio 2D Animation Hackathon hosted by FOSSEE, IIT Bombay. Students accessed an extensive digital collection of Panchatantra narratives and collaboratively reinterpreted a selected tale into a 2–3-minute animated production using exclusively free and open-source tools Synfig Studio for animation, Inkscape for vector illustration, and Audacity for audio editing. The activity was positioned outside the formal syllabus and was supported through structured scaffolding, including a faculty-facilitated orientation workshop, senior-student mentoring, and self-paced tutorials delivered through the Spoken Tutorial platform. Each completed animation was submitted both to the hackathon and to YouTube, enabling students to encounter authentic evaluation through competition results and public viewership. A mixed-methods analysis involving pre/post surveys, contest outcomes, and YouTube analytics demonstrates measurable progression in multiple domains: self-reported animation skills increased by 32%, cultural interpretation improved by 44%, and confidence toward public dissemination grew by 39%. The findings suggest that integrating cultural computing with FLOSS-based media production offers a scalable pedagogical approach that expands creativity, reflective engagement, and civic participation within engineering education.