Play to Learn: Using a Hackathon to Explore AI Chatbots in Drupal
Video Description
speaker: Jolie Dobre, Nathan Wallace
How do you get remote developers, designers, and analysts excited about AI—and Drupal's role in it? You play a game.
At our company offsite, we organized a Drupal-based hackathon focused on configuring an AI chatbot component. The twist? Each team received a unique persona, inspired by CLUE-style characters, representing simplified HHS (Health and Human Services) users. The goal: configure the chatbot experience in Drupal to meet that persona’s needs as visitors to HHS.gov.
This session explores how we used gamification to:
• Build confidence and fluency with AI concepts,
• Encourage configuration exploration in a low-stakes, high-fun environment,
• Boost team collaboration across roles and time zones,
• Show that AI can be integrated thoughtfully into Drupal user flows.
We’ll walk through how we designed the event, showcase the personas and Drupal chatbot configuration interface, and share practical insights on how to run your own “learning through play” hackathon.
What Will Attendees Learn?
• How to configure Drupal chatbot components for real-world personas.
• How AI can be integrated into viable, ethical user flows.
• How to structure a team-based hackathon that encourages collaboration, creativity, and deeper system understanding.
• How playful constraints and character-based storytelling can ease the intimidation of working with new technologies like AI.
How do you get remote developers, designers, and analysts excited about AI—and Drupal's role in it? You play a game.
At our company offsite, we organized a Drupal-based hackathon focused on configuring an AI chatbot component. The twist? Each team received a unique persona, inspired by CLUE-style characters, representing simplified HHS (Health and Human Services) users. The goal: configure the chatbot experience in Drupal to meet that persona’s needs as visitors to HHS.gov.
This session explores how we used gamification to:
• Build confidence and fluency with AI concepts,
• Encourage configuration exploration in a low-stakes, high-fun environment,
• Boost team collaboration across roles and time zones,
• Show that AI can be integrated thoughtfully into Drupal user flows.
We’ll walk through how we designed the event, showcase the personas and Drupal chatbot configuration interface, and share practical insights on how to run your own “learning through play” hackathon.
What Will Attendees Learn?
• How to configure Drupal chatbot components for real-world personas.
• How AI can be integrated into viable, ethical user flows.
• How to structure a team-based hackathon that encourages collaboration, creativity, and deeper system understanding.
• How playful constraints and character-based storytelling can ease the intimidation of working with new technologies like AI.