Jellybean Academy

Home Page
Leaderboard (compete with coworkers)
Profile
Activities
Education Centre
Admin Panel: Users
Admin Panel: Companies
Admin Panel: Analytics
Company IT Manager

The Spark: Why Another Cybersecurity Training?

The inspiration for Jellybean Academy sprang from a simple, frustrating truth: traditional cybersecurity training is broken. We've all sat through those mandatory, droning videos or clicked through endless, dry PowerPoints. The result? Employees and even savvy customers still fall for basic phishing scams, click suspicious links, and reuse weak passwords. The critical human element, often the weakest link in security, is routinely neglected by boring, ineffective education. We wanted to change that. We envisioned a world where protecting yourself and your data wasn't a chore, but an engaging, even fun, journey. That's how Jellybean Academy was born – a mission to make cyber education stick, not just tick a box.

The Build: Bringing Fun to Functionality with Bolt

Building Jellybean Academy on Bolt proved to be an incredibly efficient and effective choice for this hackathon. Its streamlined development environment and powerful tooling allowed us to focus squarely on innovation rather than setup complexities. We started by outlining key cybersecurity threats – phishing, malware, strong passwords, data privacy – and brainstormed how to transform each into an interactive challenge.

Our approach focused on:

Gamified Learning Paths: Instead of linear videos, we designed "levels" or "missions" where users actively participate. For instance, a phishing module isn't about watching a video on what phishing is; it's about identifying fake emails in a simulated inbox, making choices, and seeing immediate consequences.

Interactive Scenarios: We used front-end technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) to create dynamic quizzes, drag-and-drop exercises, and mini-simulations that mimic real-world cyber threats. Think "spot the scam" games or "build a strong password" challenges with instant feedback.

Progress & Rewards: We integrated elements like points and achievements to motivate users and provide a sense of achievement, moving far beyond just a completion certificate.

The agility of Bolt allowed us to quickly spin up different module ideas and test user experience without the usual setup friction, proving invaluable during this hackathon sprint.

Lessons Learned: Beyond the Code

This project wasn't just about coding; it was a deep dive into user engagement and pedagogical design. We learned that simplicity and immediate feedback are paramount in gamified learning. Overly complex scenarios can overwhelm users, while quick, clear explanations for correct and incorrect answers reinforce learning effectively. We also gained valuable insights into structuring educational content into digestible, enjoyable "chunks" rather than overwhelming information dumps. Crafting realistic, yet safe, simulations of cyber threats also presented a unique design challenge, requiring a careful balance between educational value and user experience.

Facing the Jellies: Challenges Along the Way Of course, no hackathon project is without its "jelly-sized" challenges!

Balancing Education with Entertainment: The biggest hurdle was ensuring that the "fun" aspects didn't overshadow the critical cybersecurity lessons. We constantly asked ourselves: "Is this genuinely teaching, or just distracting?"

Content Creation at Speed: Developing engaging, interactive content for multiple cybersecurity topics from scratch within the hackathon timeframe was intense. This required rapid prototyping of UI elements and efficient resource management.

User Interface for Simulation: Designing intuitive interfaces for simulated environments (like a fake email inbox or a login page) that felt realistic but were clearly part of the learning platform required careful thought and rapid iteration on UI/UX.

Despite these "jelly-sized" obstacles, pushing through them has solidified our vision for Jellybean Academy. We believe we've laid the groundwork for a platform that genuinely makes a difference, turning a once-boring necessity into an enjoyable and effective shield against cyber threats for everyone.

NOTE: When you visit the website, click login at the top right and login with the following credentials, Testing Email: [email protected] Testing Password: St4ckBl!tz

NOTE (again): Hi! We just want to say that this isn't our final project, there's minor bugs that need fixing but we have people really interested in this so we thought that it could be a cool opportunity to enter this competition, even if we don't win anything, we still had fun making this for our business and will continue to improve it further :)

Built With

Submitted to

World’s Largest Hackathon presented by Bolt

Created by

My primary contribution to the Jellybean Academy project was focused on developing the front end and creating an intuitive, engaging user interface. I helped design and implement the overall layout, ensuring that the navigation between educational portals and activities was clear and user-friendly. I worked closely with my teammate to choose the colour scheme, typography, and interactive elements to make the platform visually appealing and accessible to a wide range of users. Throughout the process, I also conducted user testing and gathered feedback to refine the interface, aiming to deliver a seamless and enjoyable learning experience for everyone using Jellybean Academy.

Thomas Bailey
On the Jellybean Academy project, I was instrumental in several key areas. I handled the crucial database configuration, ensuring all the data was structured and managed efficiently. I also contributed significantly to the user interface, helping to create a visually engaging and intuitive experience. Furthermore, I was responsible for implementing the various interactive training activities, building out the core learning modules. My work extended to developing the administrative panel, providing essential oversight capabilities, and defining the different manager roles within the platform.

Fin Baumber