Call for Participation

Important Dates

Submissions have a time deadline of 23:59 AoE (Anywhere on Earth, UTC-12h) on each of the dates listed above.

Overview

The SIGCSE Technical Symposium is a forum for educators and researchers to share new results and insights around developing, implementing, or evaluating computing programs, pedagogy, curricula, and courses. We are planning to go to Canada! This will mark the first time the technical symposium is hosted outside of the US. With this momentous decision, in addition to the usual tracks, we invite submissions that seek to expand opportunities in computing education. We welcome submissions on the topics of broadening participation and diversity, K-12 and novice learners, improved and scalable pedagogies, leveraging data and analytics to improve learning, peer learning and instruction, novel outreach, events and engagement strategies, involving students in solving social and global challenges, advanced CS topics, and education research – including qualitative and quantitative, instruments, null and negative results. The SIGCSE Technical Symposium encourages many ways to share ideas, including Papers, Panels, Special Sessions, Workshops, the ACM Student Research Competition, Birds of a Feather (BoFs), Demos, Lightning Talks, Nifty Assignments, & Posters, Affiliated Events, and Pre-Symposium Events. We invite colleagues to contribute to, review for, and attend SIGCSE TS 2021.

Once papers are accepted and finalized for publication, the official publication date is the date the proceedings are made available in the ACM Digital Library. This date may be up to two weeks prior to the first day of the conference. The official publication date affects the deadline for any patent filings related to published work. At least one author of an accepted work must register and attend the conference.

Reviewing

Learn more about reviewing and sign up to volunteer as a reviewer or APC. Reviewers play an important role in providing feedback to authors and in helping to identify the works that make up the confference.

Papers

Papers describe an educational research project, classroom experience or pedagogical tool, novel position or curricular initiative. All papers should explicitly state their motivating questions, relate to relevant literature, and contain an analysis of the effectiveness of interventions (if any), including limitations. Initial submissions must be anonymous and must be in the appropriate track. Note that an ABSTRACT SUBMISSION is required for all papers one week before the full paper is due.

  • Computing Education Research. Papers should adhere to rigorous standards, describing research questions, methods, results, and limitations. These normally focus on topics relevant to computing education with emphasis on educational goals and knowledge units/topics; methods or techniques; evaluation of pedagogical approaches; studies of the many populations engaged in computing education, including (but not limited to) students and instructors; and issues of gender, diversity, and underrepresentation.
  • Experience Reports and Tools. Papers should carefully describe a computing education intervention, its context, and provide a rich reflection on what did or didn’t work, and why. This track accepts experience reports, teaching techniques, and pedagogical tools. All papers in this track should provide enough detail for adoption by others.
  • Position and Curricula Initiatives. Position papers should engender fruitful academic discussion through a defensible opinion about a computing education topic, substantiated with evidence. Curricula Initiative papers discuss new and revised curricula, programs, degrees and include position papers. Papers about curricula, programs, and degrees should describe the motivating context before the new initiative was undertaken, what it took to put the initiative into place, the impact, and suggestions for others wishing to adopt it.

Papers may contain up to 6 pages + 1 page for references. Accepted papers will be included in the proceedings. Authors of accepted papers will have a presentation of 20-minute video + 20-minute live time slot at the conference.

Panels

Panels present multiple perspectives on a specific topic. Panel proposals include a topic description, panelists, affiliations, panelist position statements, and a plan for audience participation. An abstract is included in the proceedings.

Panel proposals are 2 pages maximum and accepted panels will be included in the proceedings. Panels will be provided a session of 75 now up to 105 minutes at the conference.

Special Sessions

Special Sessions are your opportunity to design a unique 75 now up to 105 minutes session in a standard conference space, but distinct from papers, panels, posters, or BoFs. An abstract is included in the proceedings.

Special session proposals are 2 pages maximum and accepted special sessions will be included in the proceedings. Special sessions will be provided a session of 75 now up to 105 minutes minutes at the conference.

Workshops

Workshops engage participants in learning new techniques and technologies designed to foster education, scholarship, and collaboration. Proposals must include an abstract, advertisement, intended audience and size, as well as equipement needed. Workshops do not have schedule conflicts with the technical sessions.

Workshop proposals are 3 pages maximum. Accepted workshops will have their abstracts included in the proceedings. Workshops will be provided a session of 3 hours hours.

ACM Student Research Competition

Undergraduate and graduate student ACM members are invited to submit individual research contributions from all areas of computing to the ACM Student Research Competition (SRC). An abstract is included in the proceedings.

SRC proposals are 3 pages maximum. Accepted SRC abstracts will be included in the proceedings. SRC posters are presented during a poster session. Authors of selected posters will be invited to give a 10-minute presentation during an SRC session.

Birds of a Feather

Birds of a Feather (BoFs), provide an environment for colleagues with similar interests to meet for informal discussions. A/V equipment will not be provided for BoFs.

BoF proposals are 2 pages page maximum. Accepted BoF abstracts will be included in the proceedings. BoFs will be provided a session of 45 now up to 75 minutes.

Demos

Demos showcase the relevance, potential, and innovation of a tool and allow time for discussion with its creator in the exhibition hall. Proposals include an abstract as well as power, A/V, and space needs. An abstract is included in the proceedings.

Demos proposals are 2 pages maximum. Accepted demo abstracts will be included in the proceedings. Demos will be provided 20 now 17 minutes during a session.

Lightning Talks

Lightning Talks describe works in progress, new and untested ideas, or opportunities for collaborative work. Lightning talks are an excellent way to spark discussions and get feedback on an idea.

Lightning Talks proposals are 1 page, 500 words max.. Accepted lightning talk abstracts will be included in the proceedings. Lightning Talks will be provided a presentation of 5 minutes.

Nifty Assignments

Nifty Assignments promote and share successful assignment ideas with enough materials available for others to adopt and adapt for their use. Proposals must include a short writeup describing the assignment, target population, strength and weaknesses, and what computing concept it teaches.

See the detailed Nifty Assignments author guidelines for the required material that needs to be submitted as a Zip archive.

Accepted Nifty abstracts will be included in the proceedings as part of the Nifty paper.

Posters

Posters Posters describe computing education materials or research, particularly works in progress. Posters enable one-on-one discussion with conference attendees.

Posters proposals are 2 pages maximum. Accepted poster extended abstracts of 1 page will be included in the proceedings. Posters will be provided a session of 2 2.75 hours (poster session).

Pre-Symposium & Affiliated Events

Affiliated organizations are invited to submit proposals for events, including target audience, # participants, duration, topic, schedule, power, A/V, space needs, and organizers. Event organizers are expected to cover the cost of the room, food, and/or A/V through attendance registration fees or event organizer budgets. Cost information will be available on the conference website. Early submission is encouraged. Events will be considered on a rolling basis until either the due date (Friday, August 21, 2020) or we run out of space. More details are available on the author guidelines: