This book presents a collection of meta-studies, reviews, and scientometric analyses that together reveal a fresh picture about the past, present, and future of computing education research (CER) as a field of science. The book begins with three chapters that discuss and summarise meta-research about the foundations of CER, its disciplinary identity, and use of research methodologies and theories. Based on this, the book proceeds with several scientometric analyses, which explore authors and their collaboration networks, dissemination practices, international collaboration, and shifts in research focus over the years. Analyses of dissemination are deepened in two chapters that focus on some of the most influential publication venues of CER. The book also contains a series of country-, or region-level analyses, including chapters that focus on the evolution of CER in the Baltic Region, Finland, Australasia, Israel, and in the UK & Ireland. Two chapters present case studies of influential CER initiatives in Sweden and Namibia. This book also includes chapters that focus on CER conducted at school level, and cover crucially important issues such as technology ethics, algorithmic bias, and their implications for CER.
In all, this book contributes to building an understanding of the past, present and future of CER. This book also contributes new practical guidelines, highlights topical areas of research, shows who to connect with, where to publish, and gives ideas of innovative research niches. The book takes a unique methodological approach by presenting a combination of meta-studies, scientometric analyses of publication metadata, and large-scale studies about the evolution of CER in different geographical regions. This book is intended for educational practitioners, researchers, students, and anyone interested in CER. This book was written in collaboration with some of the leading experts of the field.
Mikko Apiola received the Ph.D. degree in computer science from the University of Helsinki, Finland. He has worked in IT industry and in several teaching and research positions in Finnish universities. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the School of Computing in University of Eastern Finland, and at the Department of Computing in University of Turku, Finland. His research interests include computing education research, educational technology, and ICT for development (ICT4D).
Sonsoles López-Pernas received the bachelor’s and master’s degrees in telecommunications engineering and the Ph.D. degree in telematics engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM). Since 2015, she has been working as a Researcher with the Next Generation Internet Group (GING) in UPM. She currently works as a senior researcher at the University of Eastern Finland. Her research interests include learning analytics, technology enhanced learning, computer science education, andbibliometrics.
Mohammed Saqr received the Ph.D. degree in learning analytics from Stockholm University, Sweden. He currently works as a Senior Researcher at the University of Eastern Finland, in artificial intelligence, big data in education, network science, and scientometrics. He is particularly interested in research methods, including network analysis, temporal networks, machine learning, process, and sequence mining as well as temporal processes in general. He is also an active member of several scientific organizations and acts as an academic editor in leading academic publications.
