Call for papers

We invite you to submit a paper or poster for the 26th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research (Koli Calling 2026), to be held in Koli, Finland, November 05-08, 2026.

Koli Calling is one of the leading international conferences dedicated to the scholarship of teaching and learning and to education research in the computing disciplines. It is a single-track conference for original and novel work with research, practice, and systems presentations as well as a keynote and invited talks. The conference is known for its moderate size, intimate atmosphere, and lively discussions.

As in previous years, there will be a doctoral consortium before the main conference. See below for more details.

There will be a pre-conference workshop in Joensuu, Finland, on November 4th, and the conference itself will begin on November 5th in the morning (travel from Joensuu will be organized in the afternoon/evening of the 4th).

All accepted submissions need to be presented in person at Koli Calling. At least one author has to attend the conference in person for the paper to be included in the proceedings.

The Koli Chairs have always made every effort to accommodate the presentation of all high-quality papers accepted to the conference. However, due to venue and scheduling constraints and a growing number of submissions, the availability of traditional presentation slots has become increasingly limited. To maintain a high-quality and engaging program while continuing to include papers that foster meaningful discussion among Koli participants, the organizing committee may adopt more flexible presentation formats. As a result, some accepted full papers—while still being published as full papers in the ACM Digital Library—may be presented in alternative formats or time slots (e.g., as posters, panel contributions, lightning talks, or similar formats). At this stage, it is not possible to determine whether these alternative formats will be used or which specific formats may be selected. We wish to be transparent and inform authors in advance of this potential program adjustment.

ACM has recently introduced the new ACM Open Access publishing model for ICPS (such as Koli). Please check the author guidelines from ACM Open and more details on the SIGCSE Bulletin.

We welcome submissions in the area of computing education: the teaching and learning of computing topics. Within that broad scope, contributions may involve one or more of the following:

Empirical studies of computing education;
Teaching approaches and assessment in computing education;
Development, use, and evaluation of tools to support computing education;
Theory in computing education;
The learning of computing in any context; e.g., higher education, K-12, informal learning, lifelong learning, teachers’ professional development;
Distance, online, and blended learning of computing topics;
Learning analytics and educational data mining in the area of computing education;
Methodological development and instruments for computing education research;
Reviews to support computing education or computing education research;
Artificial intelligence in computing education, including the teaching and learning of AI concepts, the use of AI-based tools, and critical perspectives on their pedagogical, ethical, and societal implications;
Any other aspects of the teaching and/or learning of computing topics.

Please note that generic educational technology and applications of computing for educational purposes are not in scope, except where they are used for computing education.

Submission Categories

Koli Calling 2026 will accept submissions of three types, in various categories. Each category of paper will be reviewed using a reviewer template specific to and appropriate for the submission category by reviewers interested in papers of that type.

Please submit your work through Koli Calling’s EasyChair page – https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=kolicalling26

Full papers up to 10 pages in length in the double-column format, excluding references and, optionally, supplemental material in either of the two categories:

Research papers present high-quality research. These submissions will be evaluated on the quality of the contribution, its contextualization in the literature, and the sound application of methods appropriate to the topic of investigation. Most research papers can be described as empirical, theoretical, or review papers.
- Empirical papers report on studies that collect and analyze empirical data and employ methods rigorously, whether qualitative, quantitative, or mixed.
- Theoretical papers formulate, extend, apply, critically evaluate, or otherwise discuss theory for the purpose of improving computing education or computing education research. The discussion is grounded in the research literature and advances the field.
- Review papers survey the literature on a particular topic.

System and tool papers present a software system or other tool of value in a computing education setting. They will be evaluated based on the potential contribution of the system to the community, the effectiveness of the comparison to and differentiation from existing similar systems, and the quality of the evaluation and/or discussion of the design of the tool. We expect contributions in this category to present tools that have a certain degree of maturity and matching empirical evaluation! Papers featuring a system or tool can also be submitted to the research paper category if the evaluation is the emphasis. This category focuses on the contribution of the system/tool, as supported by evidence of its unique contribution (differentiation from other tools), efficacy, and/or quality of design.

Discussion papers up to 6 pages in length in the double-column format, excluding references and, optionally, supplemental material, which disseminate and discuss new ideas and promising initiatives in computing education practice or research. They will be reviewed based on the quality of the discussion, their use of appropriate evidence or argumentation, and their potential to be of interest to the community. Examples of discussion papers include:

Short empirical papers, which are limited in scope or produce tentative results but are nevertheless of interest to the computing education research community, and suggest paths for future research.
Proposition papers, which propose an innovation, debate a theoretical issue, or advance a cause. The argumentation must be solidly grounded in the research literature. A discussion paper must provide fresh perspectives or insights and present a compelling case to indicate how it promotes discussion and raises questions for future research to answer.

Poster/demo papers up to 2 pages in length in the double-column format, excluding references, are presentations of emerging ideas for research, teaching practice, or tools. These presentations are typically interactive with the participants.

We expect that all empirical submissions adhere to one of the reporting standards of SIGSOFT (https://acmsigsoft.github.io/EmpiricalStandards/docs). Authors can indicate upon submission the category that they have chosen as most appropriate for their work and follow the respective checklist to ensure that their submission fulfills the required standard. The standards will also be suggested to reviewers as a basis for their decision. We will evaluate the appropriateness and usefulness of this approach in the context of our community afterwards.

For all accepted works, instructions for the in-person presentation will be given closer to the time of the conference. We expect at least one author from each accepted paper to participate in the conference to present their work and be available for discussion.

All papers will be evaluated prior to review to ensure that they are submitted to the right category, have been correctly anonymised, and are ready to be reviewed by the program committee. Each paper that goes to review receives at least three reviews, with senior PC moderation of the review process.

Papers may be accepted, conditionally accepted, or rejected. Papers in the second category will receive an opportunity to make requested revisions or to explain why revisions are not needed prior to undergoing final review by a shepherd, and will be moved to the accepted or rejected categories based on the shepherd’s review.

As Koli Calling is a single-track conference that emphasizes close interaction and collaboration among participants, the number of available oral presentation slots is necessarily limited. Consequently, some accepted full papers may be invited to be presented in an alternative format (such as a poster or interactive session), while still being published as full papers in the conference proceedings.

Doctoral Consortium

The Koli Calling Doctoral Consortium will be organized before the conference, November 03-04, as an in-person event at Koli. A separate Call for Applications will be released later in 2026.

Important Dates

All deadlines are Anywhere on Earth (AoE), which is UTC-12.

Submission deadline (full papers and discussion papers): Midnight Sunday, July 12
Extended submission deadline (see below): Midnight Sunday, July 19
Notification of acceptance (full papers and discussion papers): August 30
Re-submission deadline for conditionally accepted papers: September 6
Submission deadline (posters and demo papers): September 6
Notification of acceptance (conditionally accepted papers, posters, and demo papers): September 20
Final submission of revised manuscripts (all categories): September 27
Registration opens: August 27
Early Bird and Author registration deadline (at least one author from every accepted paper): September 25
Conference registration deadline: October 09 for in-person participation
Conference: Thursday, November 05 to Sunday, November 08

Extended submission deadline: For full papers and discussion papers, we offer a resubmission slack of exactly one week. If the metainformation (authors, title, abstract, keywords, and submission topics) of the paper is submitted by the first deadline, it will be possible to submit the full version of the paper by midnight on July 19. Papers that are not first submitted by July 12 will not be considered.

Special Author Notes

The official publication date is the date the proceedings are made available. This date is expected to be up to one week before the first day of the conference. The official publication date affects the deadline for any patent filings related to published work.
The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture has released a policy recommending a freeze on cooperation with Russian institutions. The sponsoring university has forbidden the creation of new research collaborations with Russian and Belarusian scholars. As a result, if any author only has status at a Russian or Belarusian institution, we are unable to welcome you to Koli this year.

Important note to authors about ACM’s new open access publishing model

ACM has introduced a new open-access publishing model for the International Conference Proceedings Series (ICPS). Authors based at institutions that are not yet part of the ACM Open program and do not qualify for a full geographic waiver will be required to pay an article processing charge (APC) to publish their ICPS article in the ACM Digital Library. To determine whether or not an APC will apply to your article, please follow the detailed guidance here: https://www.acm.org/publications/icps/author-guidance.

Further information may be found on the ACM website, as follows:

Full details of the new ICPS publishing model: https://www.acm.org/publications/icps/faq
Full details of the ACM Open program: https://www.acm.org/publications/openaccess

Please direct all questions about the new model to icps-info@acm.org.

Important note to authors about ACM’s new open access publishing model

Further information may be found on the ACM website, as follows:

Full details of the new ICPS publishing model: https://www.acm.org/publications/icps/faq
Full details of the ACM Open program: https://www.acm.org/publications/openaccess

Please direct all questions about the new model to icps-info@acm.org.

ACM Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence

Over the past few years, the computing community’s use of large language models to support research and authorship has evolved rapidly, becoming a mainstream practice. ACM embraces any new technologies that have the potential to improve the efficiency and productivity of the research enterprise and assist with the authorship process.

At the same time, the use of such technologies, especially when in their infancy, introduces significant risks, including the risk of text and idea plagiarism, the potential for factual inaccuracies, fabricated or unverifiable research artifacts and citations, and the unintentional propagation of bias. These concerns raise questions about transparency, attribution, trust in scientific results, and the integrity of the scholarly record, underscoring the need for clear standards and responsible use of these technologies.

However, as with the use of any technology, especially new technology, it is incumbent upon the user of that technology to ensure its responsible use, and to be accountable for the misuse of that technology.

Rather than attempt to limit the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to conduct research or report on the results of that research by placing expectations on authors to disclose all uses of large language models in their Works, this updated Policy attempts to set clear expectations for their responsible use, as follows:

When using Artificial Intelligence to conduct research, including the design and methodology of the research project, creation and selection of data sources, designing experiments, generation and collection of data, coding, implementing models, running simulations, data analysis, testing, validating results, deploying software, archiving data and code for reproducibility, or any other aspects of the research lifecycle that are directly relevant to the conclusions of the research underlying the Work, the specific use(s) of AI tools must be described in detail in the methods section of the Work. This includes the creation of artifacts that are directly relevant to the conclusions of the research, such as code, datasets, and charts or figures that rely on the AI tools.
When using Artificial Intelligence to assist with writing an ACM submission, ACM no longer requires the disclosure of information regarding the use of AI (as distinct from AI used in the conduct of the research itself, addressed in item 1 above).

All named authors on an ACM submission will be held responsible and accountable for any problematic content contained in the submission regardless of the source of that problematic content:

In the event content integrity issues stemming from the use of AI during authorship are identified prior to publication or posting in the ACM Digital Library, ACM reserves the right to reject submissions in their entirety and impose additional penalties.
In the event content integrity issues stemming from the use of AI during authorship are identified after publication or posting in the ACM Digital Library, ACM reserves the right to retract the published Work in its entirety.

A retraction notice will be published on the citation page of the published Work, indicating the Work has been retracted because of integrity issues identified after publication, including the inclusion of fraudulent material. ACM may or may not include any reference to the use of Artificial Intelligence in the retraction notice.

Further details regarding the interpretation of ACM’s policy on the use of AI tools and illustrative examples are provided in the FAQs.

Paper Formatting and Length Requirements

For full information on formatting and Koli policies, see the submission guide.

We look forward to welcoming you to Koli!

Organized by

Federal Institute of Brasilia

University of Eastern Finland