Education Research Working Group

Motivation

Since 2012, Informatics Europe has been proactively working on the matter of  Informatics education in schools. Beyond the publication of several reports, IE is a founding member of the  Informatics for All Coalition  and a member of the Steering Committee of the ACM ITiCSE conference. The IE Education Research Working Group started in 2022, aiming to move ahead and establish a more formal forum for collaboration across Europe particularly regarding Informatics Education Research. 

Long-term Goals

• Establish informatics as a fundamental discipline to be taken by all students in school, recognized by all as a truly foundational discipline that plays a significant role in education for the 21st  century. 
• Build and maintain a European network of informatics education researchers. 

WG Operation

• Chair: Michael Kölling, King's College London, and Jan Vahrenhold, University of Münster
• Secretary: Stefan Pasterk, Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt
• Monthly online meetings (10:00 to 11:00 am CET. On every second Monday on odd month and on every second Tuesday on even month) and one annual physical meeting/workshop in association with the ITiCSE conference (agenda will be provided the Friday before).  
• Onedrive for exchange of information, including meeting minutes 

2024 - 2025 Objectives and related Activities

• Organize an International summer PhD school on Informatics Education Research (first cohort on Sept. 2-6, 2024. Further details here).
• Report on Academic / industry collaboration in Informatics Higher Education, including a description of the status quo and good practices, as well as a framework and contact points for implementation. (Concrete goals and timeline to be defined during ECSS Education WS, October 29, in Malta).
• Collaborate in joint EU project proposals, aiming at strengthening the Informatics Education Research Network and related policies.
• Promote the Informatics Reference Framework for School (IRF4S) 
• Advisory support to the European Commission and other international organisms 

Would you like to join us in our current education research initiatives or suggest a new task force to promote informatics education research? Join our Working Group here.

Visit our Education Webpage to know more about initiatives and outcomes on the topic by the Informatics Europe community.

• WG Members
• Outcomes

• Current members:

  • Michael Kölling, King's College London, UK (Chair)
  • Jan Vahrenhold, University of Münster, Germany (Chair)
  • Stefan Pasterk, University of Klagenfurt, Austria (Secretary)
  • Oana Andrei, University of Glasgow, UK
  • Erik Barendsen, Radboud University, the Netherlands
  • Géraldine Brieven, University of Liège, Belgium
  • Michael E. Caspersen, It-vest – networking universities
  • Morgane Chevalier, Haute école pédagogique (HEP) du canton de Vaud, Switzerland
  • Camelia Chira, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
  • Ana-Belén Gil-González, University of Salamanca, Spain
  • Matthias Hauswirth, Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland
  • Juraj Hromkovic, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
  • David Lamas, Tallinn University, Estonia
  • Janika Leoste, Tallinn University, Estonia
  • Michael Lodi, University of Bologna, Italy
  • Violetta Lonati, University of Milan, Italy
  • Ugo Lopez, Università degli studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Italy
  • Luca Andrea Ludovico, University of Milan, Italy
  • Estefanía Martín-Barroso, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain
  • Kim Mens, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium
  • Enrico Nardelli, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Italy
  • Keith Quille, TU Dublin, Ireland
  • Gabriel Parriaux, Haute école pédagogique (HEP) du canton de Vaud, Switzerland
  • Magda Tsintsadze, Iv.Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Georgia
  • Matias Valdenegro-Toro, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
  • Ángel Velázquez, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Sociedad Científica Informática de España (SCIE), Spain
  • Tatjana Welzer, University of Maribor, Slovenia
  • Abuzer Yakaryilmaz, University of Latvia, Latvia

  Past Chairs:

  • Michael E. Caspersen, It-vest – networking universities (2022-2023)
  • Enrico Nardelli, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Italy (2022-2023)
• • October 2024 - Informatics Education Workshop with the theme "Academia/Industry Collaboration in Higher Education" held on 30 October 2024 in Malta, as part of the ECSS 2024. Workshop slides can be found here.
  • September 2024 - First International Summer School on Informatics Education Research (first cohort on 2-6 September in Zurich, further details can be found here).