Koli Calling

Doctoral Consortium 2017

This year, Koli Calling will organize a Doctoral Consortium with a focus on Computational Thinking aimed at students and researchers in computing education, under the supervision of Professors Matti Tedre and Markku Tukiainen.

Koli Calling 2017 will organize a two-day pre-conference doctoral consortium (DC) on computational thinking from Wednesday 15th (morning) until Thursday 19th (afternoon), November at Koli, Finland.

Theme

Computational thinking (CT) refers to a constellation of ideas and habits of mind that people in computing disciplines develop through their work in designing software, systems, simulations, and all other kinds of machine computations. Since the 1950s computing pioneers have tried to capture those unique patterns of thinking and practicing that constitute CT, but the concept has turned out to be elusive and hard to define, measure, or isolate from other kinds of thinking. This doctoral consortium provides opportunities for Ph.D. students to explore various perspectives to CT and to discuss and develop their ideas with a number of active researchers and students in the field, and to get constructive feedback on their drafts on the topic. We welcome submissions from participants at any stage of their doctoral studies.

Participants

The consortium is designed primarily for students who are currently enrolled in a doctoral programme with a focus on computing education research or educational technology, and whose topics are related to computational thinking. Students who aim to carry out research in the field and who have a research plan but not yet a formal doctoral student researcher status, may apply as well.

Objectives

To further the research agenda of the participants by providing supportive feedback within a friendly forum
To provide a space where the participants are able to practice their communication skills by interacting and giving constructive feedback to their peers
To create and strengthen a solid network and research community among doctoral students working on similar topics
To foster interesting collaboration ideas/opportunities among the participants
To support young researchers with the necessary advice regarding research and career paths

Tentative Schedule

Tue 14th November

Evening transfer from Joensuu to Koli for early arrivers
Social program

Wed 15th November

Morning transfer from Joensuu to Koli
Doctoral consortium starts: Introductory remarks
Presentations of individual research
Group and individual work
Evening programme

Thu 15th November

Working with expert facilitation
Q&A panel
Afternoon transfer to the conference venue

Accommodation and Meals

Free accommodation and meals are preliminarily arranged in shared twin rooms at vaarinkallio.com. For private rooms at the participant’s cost, there’s a wide variety of choices in Koli National Park from which transport can be arranged; please contact the organizers for a list of nearby options.

Proposal Submission

Each candidate should submit:

1. A two-page description of their research using the submission templates*

2. Include in the same file a brief 1-page bio including information about previous studies, previous research topics, publications if any, and possible teaching experience or pedagogical studies

3. Include in the same file a max 1-page list of questions and topics related to your own study that you would like to discuss with the other participants and get feedback on in the doctoral consortium

Accepted DC research descriptions will be distributed as posters alongside the Koli Calling 2017 conference proceedings through the ACM Digital Library, where they will remain accessible to researchers and practitioners worldwide. The posters will also be presented at the main conference poster session. See note below*

*Submission templates

Submission Deadline and Procedure

Submissions to the DC follow the the main conference deadlines:

Official submission deadline: Friday 04 August at noon EET (GMT +3h)

Extended submission deadline: Friday 11 August at noon EET (GMT +3h)

Notification of acceptance: Friday 08 September at noon EET (GMT +3h)

Contributions should be submitted to the following email address KC2017DC (@) cs.uef.fi. When submitting your proposal, please write “Koli Calling 2017 DC – <Last Name>” in the Subject line.

Review Process

The review and decision of acceptance will take into account the following factors:

Novelty of the proposal
Quality and clarity of the contribution

Confidentiality of submissions will be kept throughout the review process. Notification of acceptance/rejection will be sent out with conference paper acceptance notifications or earlier.

* Note: the review process implies that not all participants attending the DC will see their descriptions published.

For more information please contact Matti Tedre (firstname dot lastname, domain uef dot fi)