Observation and Co-Creation: Key Components of the DigiFashTech Pilot in Athens
20 November 2025
The DigiFashTech project team conducted a major formative pilot of the educational programme during the recent Seam the Change: Athens Fashion Hackathon, held from 11–13 November 2025.
The Hackathon created a large-scale, real-world learning and innovation environment involving approximately 135 participants from the wider fashion, textile, education, technology and entrepreneurial ecosystem. The event was deliberately conceived as an experiential environment in which the emerging DigiFashTech learning themes could be tested through collaborative problem-solving and interaction with learners and professionals.
During the Hackathon, the five Module Leaders delivered dedicated pilot educational sessions of approximately 45 minutes per module in different learning spaces within the venue. The sessions were not treated simply as lectures but as formative co-creation and validation activities. Learners interacted directly with the Module Leaders, discussed the relevance and clarity of the proposed content, identified knowledge and competence needs and provided feedback on practical applications and areas requiring further development.
The face-to-face pilot was complemented by a digital focus-group and QR-code consultation, allowing participants across the wider Hackathon audience to contribute feedback concerning the emerging Green DigiFashTech Manager profile and curriculum. The consultation explored the sustainability and digital competences required by the sector, emerging technologies, professional roles, leadership and stakeholder capabilities, barriers to implementation and areas that should be strengthened within the curriculum. The feedback particularly reinforced the importance of combining digital literacy, AI and emerging technologies with circular economy knowledge, lifecycle thinking, ethical sourcing, traceability, stakeholder engagement, systems thinking and practical industry applications.
The methodology therefore used multiple sources of formative evidence:
- direct learner feedback during module delivery
- questions and discussion between learners and Module Leaders
- co-creation within the module sessions
- responses to the digital focus-group and QR-code questionnaire
- observation of how participants applied sustainability and digital concepts during the Hackathon challenges
- reflection by Module Leaders following the event
The purpose of this process was not to produce a summative evaluation of an already completed curriculum, but to enable formative evaluation and iterative improvement while the modules were still being developed.
Following the Hackathon, Module Leaders will review the evidence generated through the pilot and incorporate relevant findings into the further development of their modules. The final educational resources will then be converted into e-learning modules and published through the DigiFashTech Hub for continued use by learners in partner countries and beyond.