In late June, the 24th annual ACM Interaction Design and Children (IDC) Conference was held at Reykjavík University in Iceland, under the theme of “Hope.” IDC is a premier venue for sharing and discussing the latest findings, innovative methods, and new technologies in the fields of child-centered design, learning, and interaction. The dig!doc doctoral consortium was represented by our doctoral candidate Petra Weixelbraun, alongside her thesis supervisor Fares Kayali and TAC (Thesis Advisory Committee) member Barbara Göbl.
Central to their participation was the workshop “Pushing the Boundaries of Computational Empowerment of Children.” The workshop was co-organized not only by conference organizers Netta Iivari and Marianne Kinnula but also by Petra’s thesis supervisors, Fares Kayali and Ole Sejer Iversen. The aim of the full-day, hybrid workshop was to bring together researchers from fields such as Computing Education, Participatory Design, and Learning Sciences to develop a joint manifesto and a research ‘roadmap’ for the computational empowerment of children.
Hereby, Petra Weixelbraun and Barbara Göbl contributed a position paper titled “Reimagining Teacher Roles for Computational Empowerment.” In their paper, they argue that the success of CE critically depends on teachers. However, a significant gap exists between this aspiration and its implementation in practice, particularly in teacher education. Their paper outlines specific priorities to address this gap, ranging from curriculum reform and the development of educational materials to applied research.
The discussions at the workshop provided valuable input for the further development of these ideas. As a tangible outcome of this exchange, the position paper will be published in the “INTERACT publication series” at the University of Oulu.
