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What happens when a former Director of AICTE, professionals from OpenAI, and engineering aspirants meet to discuss the future of artificial intelligence? On October 10th, Polaris School of Technology hosted the DevDay Exchange Community Meetup & Hackathon, bringing together students, developers and technology professionals for a day of learning, hands-on AI experimentation and innovative projects.
Among the prominent speakers was Prof (Dr.) Manpreet Singh Manna, Former Director, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) who participated in a fireside chat on the future of engineering education in India. His session dealt with an important question, How can Indian engineering colleges re-invent themselves for the age of AI?
We had Karan M. V. from Developer Experience, OpenAI, and OpenAI Codex Ambassadors Tushar Mehta and Kushal Vijay at the event as well. The meetup was a good opportunity to discuss the future of education and to get hands-on experience with emerging technology, from exploring new AI development tools to building working prototypes.
Dr. Manpreet Singh Manna at Polaris School of Technology
On the DevDay Exchange Community Meetup, one of the most remarkable part was the insightful chat with Dr. Manpreet Singh Manna who shared his knowledge about technical education management and digital learning.
The discussion was based on the transformations that AI brings to the process of engineering education and what Indian colleges need to consider as AI becomes more popular in the software development and professional activities. The debate did not only touch upon the potential of AI tools, but also on wider aspects of engineering curriculums and students’ development.
Rethinking What Engineering Students Should Learn
Another significant theme raised by Dr. Manna was the evolving nature of technical education.
With AI technology getting more advanced and helping humans in writing codes and developing applications and solving technical problems, engineering universities are left with new questions on what kind of knowledge students must gain.
The talk revolved around the question of how to relook at learning of students when AI is affecting the work of engineers and the development of software. The talk directly related to the interest of students in AI development.
Who is Dr. Manpreet Singh Manna, Former AICTE Director?
Prof. (Dr.) Manpreet Singh Manna is an Indian academician, engineering researcher and ex-Director of AICTE. He is known for his contribution in SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds), the national online learning platform of Government of India.
Dr. Manna started teaching in 1997 at Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology (SLIET). He was deputed to AICTE in September 2014 and was Director till 2018, looking after the responsibilities of administration of technical education and national education initiatives.
Among his major contributions was his work on the development and implementation of SWAYAM. For his contribution to the platform, he was awarded a Commendation Award by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 9 July 2017. Dr Manna has also been Vice-Chancellor of Chandigarh University. His background in engineering education, digital learning and institutional leadership was the context for his talk at Polaris on how Indian colleges can prepare for an AI-driven future.
OpenAI Professionals and Codex Ambassadors Join DevDay Exchange at Polaris
In addition to the chat with Dr. Manpreet Singh Manna, the DevDay Exchange Community Meetup brought together technology professionals and developers to discuss recent developments in AI-powered software engineering.
The event was graced by Karan M. V. from the OpenAI Developer Experience team and Tushar Mehta and Kushal Vijay, the OpenAI Codex Ambassadors. Attendees were given the opportunity to interact with people involved in AI development technologies and find tools used in modern software engineering. The meetup gave students already playing around with AI applications a peek into the developer ecosystem around OpenAI’s technologies.
The event covered developments associated with DevDay, including Codex, AI agents, plugins and AI-powered workflows. These technologies also became part of the hands-on experimentation taking place during the hackathon.
Students Build AI-Powered Projects During the DevDay Exchange Hackathon
Beyond the speaker discussions, the DevDay Exchange Community Meetup at Polaris School of Technology included a hands-on hackathon where participants experimented with AI development tools and worked on practical applications.
Students and developers explored OpenAI Codex, AI agents, plugins and AI-powered development workflows. The activities encouraged participants to move beyond understanding these tools conceptually and experiment with their capabilities through working projects.
From AI Experiments to Working Prototypes
In the hackathon, the participants employed their laptops to study the new developments in AI technology and convert their concepts into prototypes. Some participants were getting familiar with what was possible with the new technologies, whereas some were exploring more complicated implementations and capabilities of these technologies.
- OpenAI Codex: AI Coding and Software Development Workflow.
- AI Agents: Testing AI systems that can do things by following multiple steps.
- Plugins and Integrations: Using AI capabilities for development workflow.
- AI Applications: Making prototypes based on emerging AI technologies.
Project Demonstrations, Judging and Hackathon Winners
The hackathon concluded with participants presenting their working prototypes and project demonstrations. The final activities included project judging and the announcement of winners, bringing the day’s development work into focus.
Another highlight was the opportunity to win 10 tickets to the official DevDay Exchange in Bengaluru. The tickets added a further incentive for participants to showcase their technical ideas and development skills during the event.
A Day of AI Discussions, Innovation and Learning at Polaris School of Technology
The DevDay Exchange Community Meetup & Hackathon gathered speakers, developers and students to discuss artificial intelligence from an educational and technical perspective.
A highlight of the event was the visit of Dr Manpreet Singh Manna to Polaris School of Technology. A former director of AICTE associated with the development of SWAYAM, he brought with him experience of the national digital education initiatives to a discussion on the next phase of learning in engineering.
His chat raised questions about what engineering institutions should do as AI changes the skills students need and the work engineers do. Alongside these discussions, participants explored the development technologies of OpenAI, created working prototypes and presented their projects during the hackathon. The event was an example of the kind of discussions that can happen about the future of engineering education at the same time as hands-on experimentation with the technologies that will shape it.