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Categorising computer science education research

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Abstract

The interdisciplinary nature of Computer Science Education as a field of study is a complicating factor when authors are choosing appropriate journals and conferences for publishing research results. This paper reports a survey of 42 such publications in order to identify the types of paper frequently accepted for publication in each. We review existing taxonomies developed for the general fields of Computer Science and Education, and from this starting point, we develop a novel faceted taxonomy, specifically aimed to help new researchers in the field understand what types of papers are published and where they appear. Our results confirm previous studies indicating the predominance of practice-based, technology-driven reports. We also observe certain differences in educational themes between those found in publications grounded in the Computer Science Education corpus and those emerging from more general Higher Education literature.

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Acknowledgements

The work reported here was sponsored by the UK’s Higher Education Academy Subject Network for Information and Computer Sciences.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK

    Mike Joy & Jane Sinclair

  2. Division of Community Health Sciences, St. George’s, University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London, SW17 0RE, UK

    Shanghua Sun

  3. School of Informatics, Walailak University, 222 Thaiburi, Tha Sala, Nakhon Si Thammarat, 80160, Thailand

    Jirarat Sitthiworachart

  4. Department of Computer Science and Statistics, University of Joensuu, PL 111, 80101, Joensuu, Finland

    Javier López-González

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  1. Mike Joy
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  2. Jane Sinclair
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  3. Shanghua Sun
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  4. Jirarat Sitthiworachart
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  5. Javier López-González
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mike Joy.

Appendix A. Publications included in the survey

Appendix A. Publications included in the survey

The following publications were reviewed in this research. All web references were accessed in October 2008.

1.1 Journals

  1. AACEJ

    Publication of the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education

    www.aace.org

  2. AJDE

    American Journal of Distance Education

    www.ajde.com

  3. ALTJ

    ALT Journal

    www.alt.ac.uk/alt_j.html

  4. BJET

    British Journal of Educational Technology

    www.becta.org.uk

  5. CAEE

    Computer Applications in Engineering Education

    www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/1061-3773

  6. CandE

    Computers and Education

    www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/347/description

  7. CSE

    Computer Science Education

    www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/08993408.asp

  8. EIT

    Education and Information Technologies

    www.springer.com/journal/10639

  9. ETRD

    Educational Technology Research and Development

    www.aect.org/Intranet/Publications

  10. IEEEToE

    IEEE Transactions on Education

    www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/es/esinfo.html

  11. IJAIED

    International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education

    aied.inf.ed.ac.uk

  12. IJCEELL

    International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Lifelong Learning

    www.inderscience.com/ijceell

  13. ITALICS

    Innovations in Teaching And Learning in ICS

    www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/italics

  14. JCAL

    Journal of Computer Assisted Learning

    www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0266-4909

  15. JEMH

    Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia

    www.aace.org/pubs/jemh

  16. JERIC

    ACM Journal on Educational Resources in Computing

    www.acm.org/pubs/jeric

  17. JETS

    Journal of Educational Technology and Society

    www.ifets.info

  18. JILR

    Journal of Interactive Learning Research

    www.aace.org/pubs/jilr

  19. JTATE

    Journal of Technology and Teacher Education

    www.aace.org/pubs/jtate

  20. MOJIT

    Malaysian Online Journal of Instructional Technology

    pppjj.usm.my/mojit

  21. SIGCSE

    Bulletin of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education

    www.acm.org/sigcse

Total number of journals: 21

Total number of journal papers: 517

1.2 Conferences

  1. ABSHL

    Agent-Based Systems for Human Learning Workshop

    agents.sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu/abshl05

  2. AIED

    International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education

    hcs.science.uva.nl/AIED2005

  3. CATE

    IASTED International Conference on Computers and Advanced Technology in Education

    www.iasted.org/conferences

  4. CITE

    ACM Conference on Information Technology Education

    portal.acm.org

  5. E-Learn

    World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education

    www.aace.org/conf/elearn

  6. EDMEDIA

    Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications

    www.aace.org/conf/edmedia

  7. FIE

    IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference

    www.fie-conference.org

  8. HEA-ICS

    Higher Education Academy Subject Network for ICS Conference

    www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/Events

  9. ICALT

    IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies

    lttf.ieee.org

  10. ICCE

    International Conference on Computers in Education

    www.apsce.net

  11. ICER

    International Computing Education Research Workshop

    icer2005.cs.washington.edu

  12. ICET

    IASTED International Conference on Education and Technology

    www.iasted.org/conferences

  13. ITHET

    International Conference on IT Based HE and Training

    fie.engrng.pitt.edu

  14. ITS

    Intelligent Tutoring Systems

    www.itsconference.org

  15. ITiCSE

    Integrating Technology into Computer Science Education

    portal.acm.org

  16. Koli

    Baltic Sea Conference on Computing Education Research

    cs.joensuu.fi/kolistelut

  17. MICTE

    International Conference on Multimedia and ICTs in Education

    www.formatex.org/micte2005

  18. ML

    IADIS International Conference on Mobile Learning

    www.iadis.org

  19. PPIG

    Psychology of Programming Interest Group Annual Workshop

    www.ppig.org/workshops

  20. TSCSE

    ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

    portal.acm.org

  21. WBE

    IASTED International Conference on Web-based Education

    www.iasted.org/conferences

Total number of conferences: 21

Total number of conference papers: 3081

1.3 Publications too recent for inclusion

As this is a rapidly changing area of research, developments and additions are inevitable. Several more recent journals are not included as they did not exist at the time of our survey. These include:

  1. IJET

    International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning

    www.i-jet.org

  2. IJMLO

    International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation

    www.inderscience.com/ijmlo

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Joy, M., Sinclair, J., Sun, S. et al. Categorising computer science education research. Educ Inf Technol 14, 105–126 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-008-9078-4

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