FIRST CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
PhICER 2006
Organisers: Raymond
Lister, Anders Berglund, Ilona Box
In Association with Australasian
Computing Education Conference 2006 (Jan 16-19)
As teachers and researchers, we aim to improve
education in computing. To reach this aim, it is essential to understand how our
colleagues and students understand computing concepts and how they reason about
teaching and learning.
Until now, most computing education literature
has comprised of anecdotal accounts of teachers’ innovations. In that
literature, theories of education have been either informal or implicit. Now, the computing education literature is
changing, with greater recognition of the importance of research approaches
with theoretical underpinnings. The application of theory allows for
generalisations of experimental results, it invites comparison between experiments,
methods, and results, and it makes the limits of the research visible.
Phenomenography is one research approach with theoretical
underpinnings. Phenomenography has proven
successful as a research approach in studies of learning of computing concepts
in higher education, including networking protocols (Berglund, 2005),
programming (Booth, 1992; Bruce et al., 2004), the conceptualization of
information systems (Cope, 2000), the concepts of object and class (Eckerdal, 2005)
and data structures (Lister et al., 2004).
Phenomenographers aim to reveal the different
ways in which something (e.g. a computing concept) is experienced, perceived,
or understood among students and/or teachers (Marton & Booth, 1997). With
such an aim, the relation between the student and/or teacher and the
“something” is the focus of the researcher’s analysis. The outcome, which
consists of a description of the different ways in which the concept under
investigation is understood, can be used as a tool for enhancing education.
This workshop aims at developing the use of
phenomenography in computing education research in two ways. Firstly, the
workshop participants will jointly analyze data concerning key issues in computing
education research and together write a report that offers new insights on
aspects of the teaching and learning of computing. Secondly, the benefits and limitations
of phenomenography as an approach in computing education research will be
discussed and offered to the community.
Applications are welcome from teachers,
researchers, and PhD students within the field of computing, who have an
interest in developing qualitative, and particularly phenomenographic, research
as a tool for enhancing education in computing. We anticipate a mix of participants,
from active researchers in phenomenography to people who have no prior
experience of qualitative research. The intent of the workshop is to learn phenomenography
by doing it, in a lively exchange of ideas and experiences.
Prior to the workshop, accepted participants can
expect to interview a colleague about their teaching, transcribe the interview,
and perform some preliminary analysis. During and after the workshop, participants
can expect to contribute to the writing of a report.
Deadline for
application is
No fee is
charged for the workshop, but the participants are expected to pay their own
costs for food and accommodation during the workshop.
For
further information, contact:
Raymond Lister
Faculty of Information Technology,
University of Technology,
Broadway NSW 2007
Tel: +61 (2) 9514 1850
Fax: +61 (2) 9514 4535
Email: raymond@it.uts.edu.au
Anders Berglund
Department of Information
Technology,
SE-75105
Tel +61 (70) 425 02 11
Email:
Anders.Berglund@it.uu.se
Ilona Box
Faculty of Information Technology,
PO Box 123
Broadway NSW 2007
Australia
Tel: +61 (2) 9514 1850
Fax: +61 (2) 9514 4535
Email: ibox@bigpond.net.au