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The skills required to realise the potential of technological transformation to preserve humanity and our fragile world ecosystem in the next decade will centre on the development of digital solutions. This paper discusses the issue of characterising these competencies, since a definition is needed in order to ensure an adequate supply of cutting-edge scholars and a highly educated and agile technological workforce. The paper takes a mixed methods approach combining insights distilled from a rapid literature review, with interviews with leading practitioners and industry leaders. The validity and reliability of the results have been ensured through expert workshops and focus groups. The outcome is a robust definition of what digital excellence entails as well as a road map guiding educational policy and the future supply of digital excellence in national workforces.

IEEE/ASEE Frontiers in Education turned 50 at the 2020 virtual conference in Uppsala, Sweden. This paper presents an historical retrospective on the first 50 years of the conference from a scientometric perspective. That is to say, we explore the evolution of the conference in terms of prolific authors, communities of co-authorship, clusters of topics, and internationalization, as the conference transcended its largely provincial US roots to become a truly international forum through which to explore the frontiers of educational research and practice. The paper demonstrates the significance of FIE for a core of 30% repeat authors, many of whom have been members of the community and regular contributors for more than 20 years. It also demonstrates that internal citation rates are low, and that the co-authoring networks remain strongly dominated by clusters around highly prolific authors from a few well known US institutions. We conclude that FIE has truly come of age as an international venue for publishing high quality research and practice papers, while at the same time urging members of the community to be aware of prior work published at FIE, and to consider using it more actively as a foundation for future advances in the field.

This course is a project course that offers outcomes both within learning of the students’ disciplines and as development of professional competencies, so called generic competencies including inter‐ cultural competence. Creating international teams can enhance learning, as the students need to learn how to collaborate in a more structured way. 

The course has been run with smaller variations for more than 20 years, so the concept is sustainable 

Computing Education Research (CER) is an example of Discipline-Based Education Research (DBER) that has developed substantively over the last few decades. This is especially true for the Uppsala Computing Education Research Group (UpCERG). In this paper, we use UpCERG as a lens to see how a conscious use of theory can enhance the quality of STEM education. This is accomplished through presenting our use of the concept “theory” in the paper and by using the theses produced by the group as a way to illustrate the increased importance of theoretical development.

Att Sverige ska vara “bäst i världen på att utnyttja digitaliseringens möjligheter” är sedan 2011 regeringens övergripande digitaliseringsmål. Regeringens digitaliseringsstrategi från 2016 bryter ner målet i fem delmål, där digital kompetens är det som lyfts först och innehåller största andelen förslag. För att möta näringslivets och offentlig sektors behov måste matchningen av kompetens och behovet av en ökad digitalt kompetent arbetskraft tillgodoses enligt digitaliseringsstrategin. I “Smart industri”, regeringens nyindustrialiseringsstrategi, lyftes digitalisering av industri och ökade kompetensbehov, i regeringens nationella strategi för informations‐ och cybersäkerhet måste Sverige stärka behovet av kompetensförsörjning inom området. Det betonas även i regeringens nationella inriktning för artificiell intelligens från 2018 att om Sverige ska vara ledande i att tillvarata AI:s möjligheter för ökad välfärd och stärkt konkurrenskraft, behöver vi öka andelen personer som har de kunskaper som behövs för att använda och utveckla AI. I OECD:s analys “Going Digital in Sweden” från 2018 av vad Sverige behöver göra för att vara bäst i världen på att utnyttja digitaliseringens möjligheter, konstateras att bristen på digitala specialister och digital spetskompetens är en flaskhals för innovation och tillväxt i Sverige och behovet kommer att öka när digitaliseringen utvecklas och nya teknologier som AI får genomslag. Även Digitaliseringsrådet efterfrågar ett gemensamt agerande från arbetsmarknad, näringsliv och utbildningssektorn för ökad matchning mellan utbud och efterfrågan på digital kompetens samt för ökad jämställdhet i IT‐ branschen.   Begreppet digital spetskompetens har flitigt använts i media och rapporter, utan att ha haft en gemensamt överenskommen definition eller betydelse. Denna rapport har analyserat och penetrerat digital spetskompetens för att förstå hur begreppet uppfattas av näringsliv och offentlig sektor, av de som anställer och de som utbildar, av de som själva besitter digital spetskompetens och de som har behov av att anlita sådan. Vi har diskuterat vad utbildning spelar för roll, huruvida det krävs en bred digital förståelse eller djup unik spetskompetens inom ett specifikt område, vad färdigheter har för betydelse, huruvida attityder och värderingar spelar någon roll och huruvida det krävs en konstant vidareutveckling av kunskapen för att kunna sägas besitta digital spetskompetens. Rapportens titel “Digital spetskompetens – den nya renässansmänniskan” är vald för att belysa de många krav och förväntningar som läggs på den digitalt spetskompetente i att vara såväl högutbildad och allmänbildad, vara ansvarstagande, föränderlig och stadigt i vidareutveckling, etc. Vi ser en förväntansbild som visar på komplexiteten att faktiskt kunna definiera begreppet på ett heltäckande sätt. Begreppet renässansmänniska avses inte tolkas maktstrukturellt.   Arbetet har genomförts under perioden januari‐april 2020 av undertecknande forskare vid KTH och Uppsala universitet. Förutom huvudförfattarna har även Jeffrey Buckley, postdoktor i teknikvetenskapens lärande, bidragit med sammanställning och analys av litteraturen och rapid reviewprocessen. Vi vill härmed tacka alla som bidragit genom intervjuer, workshops, analyser och diskussioner och framför allt våra uppdragsgivare från UKÄ och Tillväxtverket för stöd och diskussioner under projektets gång. Tack också till Helena Bernald som korrekturläst och bistått med transkribering. För rapporten svarar dock huvudförfattarna.   

It often happens that some students come to engage in their learning, and in the learning of their peers, far beyond what we, or they, would have expected. There is also ample evidence of the opposite experience, where students, even if initially highly motivated, end up unable to engage in a meaningful manner. I n this paper, we analyse three courses in order to better understand why the level of student engagement varies to such a high degree, with the aim of opening for seeing underlying factors explaining this. Further, we illustrate and discuss our framework with empirical data collected from at Uppsala University. We study the courses using different research approaches (or perspectives), based in the sociocultural tradition, namely Activity Theory (as described by Engestrom), Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky), and Communities of Practice (Lave & Wenger). These approaches serve as lenses with the aim of finding common factors in the learning environments that are collectively created by the students and their teachers during the extent of the courses. Our results point towards the need to establish a joint understanding between students and teachers at several different levels: at a course level in terms of the aim of a course and its possible outcomes, but also personal aims related to what the course could lead to for everyone involved. Further, our research suggests that the supporting and scaffolding role of the teacher is crucial to the development of a positive learning environment in a course.

This work-in-progress paper presents a study on how K-12 Computer Science teachers in Saudi Arabia have changed their pedagogy as a result of engaging in one year of professional development leading up to applying for a teacher's award. The results are based on thematic analysis of fourteen interviews with teachers that have been awarded either the `Education Excellence Award' or the `Microsoft Expert in Education'. The study focuses on how preparing for and getting the teaching award has influenced them focusing on changes in their pedagogical development and subsequent practices. The work provides an in-depth description of several aspects of the Saudi Arabian teaching culture. It explores and discusses the affordances of mechanisms used to strengthen pedagogical competence in a teacher community, paying extra attention to awards. This study identifies four main factors that motivate teachers to engage in pedagogical development in teaching Computer Science. The research suggests that awards can be an efficient motivator in establishing a culture of excellence among Computer Science teachers.

This paper explores the attitudes of Computer Sci- ence (CS) teachers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) who are confronted by the Saudi Teaching Competencies Standards (STCS). The STCS is a response to a substantial need to develop both subject-specific pedagogical ability as well as teachers subject area knowledge. The Ministry of Education in the KSA is encouraging teachers to improve their practices to achieve the new quality requirements for education. This paper presents the results of an investigation of CS teachers’ views on educational belief changes in the KSA schools. The paper addresses how and why CS teachers adopt new educational beliefs in their teaching. The paper presents the results of the investigation of the CS teachers views on educational belief changes in the KSA schools and the STCS policy document guidelines. Research in the area of changing educational epistemology in teaching CS identifies six factors that influence teachers, these are personal pedagogical beliefs, peer learning, curriculum, self-directed learning, student feedback and the STCS. A mixed method study approach was adopted in this work. Content analysis has been applied to the interview transcript and thematic coding analysis to the government policy document (STCS). The results provide a valuable case study in the KSA and emphasize the weak relationship between educational epistemology change and the STCS norms. The findings show that the STCS should provide stronger guidance for CS teachers to keep changing beliefs in teaching CS. The STCS should offer supporting official resources to CS teachers to help them in changing their beliefs in regard to teaching CS.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has recently adopted the Saudi Teaching Competencies Standard (STCS). This paper tries to answer how these competencies are achieved, how they are maintained, and what support exists to support teaching CS competently in the KSA. This paper presents the results of an investigation of teacher awareness of, and attitudes to, the STCS in the Kingdom. Through the study reported here, we address an urgent need in the Kingdom to understand teacher preparedness in terms of CS teaching competencies. The study draws on interviews with ten CS teachers in five different cities in the KSA. A thematic coding analysis approach was used. This study explores the CS teaching competencies held by teachers in three areas of CS teaching, focusing on connection to society, professional practice and professional development. The results of the study highlight the CS teaching competencies that CS teachers feel they currently grasp well in the KSA. By enhancing awareness of what teachers currently do well we contribute to the adjustment and improvement of the STCS and help to build a program which addresses the current in-service training needs of CS teachers. The outcomes also help to raise awareness of the challenges of implementing the Computer Education curriculum in KSA schools.