Hacktivate for education
A complete computing platform for the classroom.
Introduce AI with the controls your school needs, turn cybersecurity into safe investigations, and teach Python through real code. Hacktivate is free for schools.
No licensing fees, installations, paid upgrades, or per-learner limits.
main.pyOutput
def top_score(scores):
best = 0
for score in scores:
if score > best:
best = score
return bestAll checks passedYour function also passed the hidden test data.
A broad practical curriculum
Three full courses. Start wherever you like.
Each course is deep enough to support sustained classroom use, but flexible enough for a club, enrichment day, independent study, or team competition.
AI literacy
Interactive AI education that goes beyond prompting.
Learners explore capabilities and failure modes across language, image, speech, video, code, and multimodal systems, then examine datasets, bias, security, governance, and responsible use.
Use it
Prompting, constraints, tool choice, media generation, and multimodal work.
Question it
Hallucinations, confidence, deepfakes, errors, bias, and verification.
Understand it
Tokens, context, data, labels, retrieval, tools, and agents.
Use it responsibly
Privacy, copyright, security, oversight, governance, and knowing when to stop.
Cybersecurity
Safe investigations that turn curiosity into technical understanding.
Cybersecurity challenges cover cryptography, passwords, web concepts, files, metadata, networking, logic, Linux commands, and packet analysis across five adjustable difficulty levels.
Codes and evidence
Ciphers, encodings, hashes, archives, images, audio, and hidden metadata.
Web and networks
Browsers, cookies, headers, DNS, protocols, ports, and packet captures.
Command line
A realistic simulated Linux terminal with files, users, processes, and networks.
Problem-solving
Logic, research, pattern recognition, and multi-stage challenge recipes.
Python coding
Eleven structured modules from first output to advanced algorithms.
Learners run real Python in the browser. New ideas begin with working code, move through modification and debugging, then finish with independent problems and checkpoint blocks.
Foundations
Input, output, variables, maths, conditions, loops, and text.
Building programs
Functions, modules, collections, files, errors, and object-oriented code.
Working with data
JSON, CSV, APIs, validation, and practical data processing.
Advanced problem-solving
Recursion, backtracking, dynamic programming, searching, and sorting.
- Starter code and focused tasks
- Hidden inputs that check how code actually runs
- Targeted feedback for common mistakes
- Saved code for returning learners
Fits the way schools teach
Use one lesson, one module, or the whole platform.
Hacktivate is self-marking and browser-based, so it can support structured teaching or give learners room to explore independently.
Administrator controls
Set the boundaries. See the work. Support the next step.
Administrators can shape access without building a course from scratch, then review progress at organisation, class, and individual level.
What teachers say
Built for the energy of a real classroom.
“Hacktivate has allowed me to easily incorporate practical activities into the program which was something that was time consuming and difficult previously.”
“My students enjoyed the challenges, and don't want to move on to anything else.”
“Students were buzzing with collaborative energy as they strived to top the leaderboards!”
“Using Hacktivate with my sixth form students was a fantastic success that the students really enjoyed.”
“The introductory videos are excellent, providing context and delivering key information to get students started on the challenges.”
“All learners have raised their awareness through the different cybersecurity topics that are challenged within Hacktivate.”
Getting started
From request to first challenge in three clear steps.
- 1
Request a school account
Tell us who you are and which school you represent, then verify your email address.
- 2
Set up your learners
Create classes and accounts, or let learners join using your secure invite details.
- 3
Choose the courses
Enable AI, Cybersecurity, or Python and direct learners to the right starting module.
Free for schools
Bring practical computing into your classroom.
All current courses, challenges, administrator controls, reports, and tools are included.