Sally Fincher
Professor of Computing Education
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Publications
My publications are available from the Computer Science department publications repository.
Research Interests
I belong to the following research groups:
I am head of the Computing Education Research Group so unsurprisingly most of my interests focus on the teaching and learning of Computer Science. The group has recently collaborated to write the book Studying Programming
However I am also particularly interested in Patterns and Pattern Languages, especially developing Patterns for HCI. I maintain The Pattern Gallery which tracks the variety of form that HCI patterns take, and co-organised a workshop at CHI 2003 Perspectives on HCI Patterns: Concepts and Tools. At this workshop we worked on a preliminary Pattern Language Markup Language (PLML).
Professional
Activities
Long term
- I am Editor (jointly with Laurie Murphy) for the Journal Computer Science Education
- I am a member of the Advisory Board of the Journal of Engineering Education, 2007-2012
- I am a member of the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching (JCMST)
- I am a Corresponding Member of IFIP WG 3.2 (Informatics Education at the University Level).
- I am an affiliate researcher to the Crucible network in interdisciplinary design
- I was invited by the trustees to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2008.
- I was recognised as Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2007.
- I was made a National Teaching Fellow in 2005. Here are some photos. Here are details of the project I undertook with the award.
- In November 2004 the Universidad Privada Antenor Orrego, Trujillo, Peru awarded me the title of Honorary Professor
- I was honoured, and humbled, to be the 2003 recipient of the IEEE Computer Society Computer Science & Engineering Undergraduate Teaching Award with the citation "for sustained contributions to undergraduate computer science education through rigorous examination of teaching effectiveness and fostering and promoting research in computer science education". Here's a photo of all the 2003/4 award winners.
- In 2002 I became a Fellow of the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA)
Current & Forthcoming (updated August 2009)
- I am running the Share project, 2008-2010, which will look at how we might best represent and share teaching practices and undertake studies into how (and why, and when) educators change their practice.
- I'm working with Richard Cooper to create a Disciplinary Commons in database education.
"Grey" Publications
- I've put together a page which amalgamates material from disperate projects on supporting Computer Science Education Researchers. It's called the Experiment Kit page
- I have been privledged to have been invited to be a keynote
speaker at several conferences. Here are some slides:
- 15th Annual NACCQ Conference in New Zealand, 3rd-5th July 2002. Project Work in the Computing Curriculum
- 10t h ITiCSE conference in Paris, 3rd-8th July 2009. Useful Sharing
- I wrote a short piece after the third CSERGI workshop in Uppsala (May 1999), which I subsequently posted to the sigcse members mailing list (October 1999) on whether CS-Ed research could be considered a "proper" part of CS. I get a surprising amount of requests for something so ephemeral, so post it here now http://www.cs.ukc.ac.uk/people/staff/saf/3csergi.html
- I took part in a panel session at the 32nd SIGCSE Symposium (Feb 2001) on "Models and Areas for Computer Science Education Research". Here are the slides of my presentation CS Education Research: Finding a Community (This piece, along with those of the other presenters in this session, was subsequently written up and published in Computer Science Education, vol 11 number 4)
I have done some work on the ideas of networks and networking over the years.
- My original paper Promotion and Dissemination of Good Practice: Discipline Networks on networking within the DfEE Discipline Networks initiative
- An invited presentation I gave at LINKS'98 Networks of Community: Educators Talking about Teaching. This talk has some additional material in the "notes" pages.
- A presentation I gave at the SEDA strategy meeting which touches on some of the same ideas SEDA "Networks and Events" Committee
- I facilitated a workshop in October 2001: The 5th SEDA Networking the Networkers meeting. Here are the materials which were generated from the event.
