Invited Speakers

Paul Behan, National Council for Curriculum and Assessment

Paul Behan is Education Officer at NCCA for Computer Science since 2017. Previous to this he was a Deputy Principal (2012 – 2017) and a teacher of Post-Primary Mathematics and Applied Mathematics Teacher from 2000 – 2012 (including 1 year secondment to SLSS, now PDST.)

Paul is co-author of the ‘Text & Tests’ post-primary Mathematics text books series and was a member of the Computer Science NCCA Development Group.

His current role as Education Office in the NCCA is in relation to the curriculum and assessment, working across inter-agency groups in regard to Computer Science implementation.

Dr. Claire Conneely, CS Education Programme Manager at Google.

Dr. Claire Conneely is a Programme Manager on the Computer Science Education team at Google (g.co/csedu), a position she has held since joining the company in 2014. In her role, Claire works to prepare students for the future workforce by getting them excited about where computer science can take them. She is part of a global team that develops programmes and supports partners that reach thousands of students and teachers every year, with a focus on girls and others who are underrepresented in the tech field today.

A qualified teacher, Claire has also held positions in secondary schools and at Trinity College Dublin, where she co-founded and developed Bridge21 (bridge21.ie) into one of the college's flagship education outreach initiatives. Claire holds a Ph.D. in Technology and Education, M.Sc. in Technology & Learning and Bachelor of Music Education from Trinity College Dublin. Claire was a proud member of the Board of the tech education NGO Camara Ireland from 2014 - 2018.

https://edu.google.com/computer-science

Dr. Cornelia Connolly, Lecturer, School of Education, NUI Galway.

Cornelia Connolly is a lecturer at the School of Education, National University of Ireland, Galway. Her teaching and research interests centre principally on STEM education, with a particular emphasis on the Technology (T) aspect of STEM.

Dr Connolly is jointly responsible for the BA Education (Computer Science and Mathematical Studies) and the BA Mathematics and Education initial teacher education degree programmes. Cornelia was a member of the NCCA Development Group for Computer Science Senior Cycle specification, and along with her PhD students pursues research in this area.

Joe English, Computer Science, Professional Development Service for Teachers

Joe English currently works as an advisor for the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) for whom he provides professional development support to post-primary teachers of Leaving Certificate Computer Science. He was the QQI representative on NCCA’s LCCS Computer Science development group. Prior to taking up his current position Joe spent over 15 years teaching in Cavan Institute where he also held positions as Deputy Director, Director of Adult Education and Head of School of Computing, Engineering and Science. Joe has a M.Sc. in Computer Science and worked for 15 years in various development roles in the private software sector. Joe’s current areas of professional interest are programming pedagogies, professional development and computational thinking.

Prof. Peter Hubwieser, Technische Universität München

The research activities of Professor Hubwieser (b. 1955) focus on the empirical investigation of learning processes in the subject area of computer science (definition, measurement and evaluation of competencies, skills and knowledge structures). His novel didactical approach triggered the introduction of computer science as a compulsory subject at Bavarian college preparatory high schools (Gymnasium) in 2004. After studying mathematics and physics Professor Hubwieser taught at high schools until 2001. In 1995 he completed his doctoral studies (Dr. rer. nat.) at LMU Munich and in 2000 acquired his postdoctoral teaching qualification (habilitation) at TUM. In 2003 he was appointed to a professorship position at TUM. He has been visiting professor at the universities of Klagenfurt, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Within the German Informatics Society (Gesellschaft für Informatik – GI) he set up the special interest group "Teachers of Computer Science” in 1998. He has been a member of various boards including the steering committee of GI and the working group 3.1. of the International Federation for Information Processing. Several times, the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (KMK) commissioned him with the development of a core curriculum for teacher education in computer science.

Professor Michael Madden is Professor of Computer Science at NUI Galway.

Michael Madden is the Established Professor of Computer Science in the National University of Ireland Galway. He joined NUI Galway as a lecturer in 2000. He leads the Data Mining & Machine Learning Group, working on theoretical advances in machine learning, applied to problems in health, security, and scientific domains. He has over 90 publications, four patents, and spun out a company based on his research. He has spent time as a Visiting Research Scientist in University of Helsinki, University of California Irvine, and UC Berkeley. He has been learning to program for the past 30 years, and helps all ages to learn about coding and computer science: at primary and secondary level, as the founder and lead mentor at CoderDojo Athenry and with computing summer camps; at third level, lecturing in undergraduate programming; and at fourth level, carrying out research in Machine Learning with his PhD students.

Stephanie Wortel-London, CSforALL.

Stephanie leads the Research and Equity research agenda at CSforALL. She has worked for more than a decade to reinforce the sharing of knowledge and strengthen connections between K-12 STEM education and higher ed STEM research. Prior to joining CSforALL, she developed and led enrichment and mentoring programs serving under-represented youth through in-person and virtual programming at the New York Academy of Sciences. She has taught in Germany, Malaysia, China, and across the United States, and her career in science education began as an Earth Science teacher in a South Bronx public school. She was also a curriculum writer and educator at the American Museum of Natural History. Her research interests include the development of science identity in groups historically under-represented in STEM through informal learning experiences. She is preparing to defend her PhD dissertation in Science Education Research at Stony Brook University’s Institute for STEM Education, and has served as an Adjunct Professor for the Space Systems course in the AMNH Master of Arts in Teaching Residency graduate program. She also serves on the Associate Board of the Red Hook Initiative and on the board of the 1000 Steps Fellows.

www.csforall.org

Dr. Aman Yadav is a Professor in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology Program and Director of Master of Arts in Educational Technology at Michigan State University.

His research and teaching focuses on improving student experiences and outcomes in computer science and engineering classrooms at the K-16 level. Within this line of inquiry, he studies: 1) how to prepare pre-service and in-service teachers to teach computing ideas, such as how to integrate computational thinking ideas within subject areas; and (2) how to implement problem-based learning approaches to improve student outcomes in undergraduate computer science and engineering. He is a principal investigator on a National Science Foundation grant to design, implement, and assess a high-quality, integrated curriculum, and professional development that supports elementary school teachers in embedding computational thinking (CT) into their classrooms. His work has been published in a number of leading journals, including ACM Transactions on Computing Education, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Journal of Engineering Education, and Communications of the ACM. He serves as an associate editor for The ACM Transactions on Computing Education and Computer Science Education.