Associate Professor in Computing Education Research - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Uppsala University’s tenure track system grants associate professors the possibility to be assessed for promotion to the position as professor. The university provides support in various areas, such as scientific and educational development, leadership development as well as patent and innovation support.

The Department of Information Technology has a leading position in research and education. The Department currently has about 300 employees, including 120 teachers and 110 PhD students. More than 4.000 students study one or more courses at the department each year. There are several interdisciplinary research groups at the department, and the department works in a purposeful and structured manner with equal conditions and equality issues. The research is organised in divisions, arenas and research groups. More information: http://www.it.uu.se.

Within the Department of Information Technology, this position is at the Computing Education Research (CER) unit at the Vi3 Division. The CER unit hosts UpCERG, one of the world's leading research groups in computing education research, with a broad international collaboration network, and leading roles e.g. in international research conferences. CER offers a broad and open research environment within computing education research. The unit's researchers have strong roots in the department's educational activities and are active in international contexts, e.g. within ACM and IEEE. More information: https://www.it.uu.se/research/group/upcerg.

Read more about our benefits and what it is like to work at Uppsala University

Description of subject area of the employment
Computing Education Research (CER) is a discipline based education research area where the study of learning and teaching in computing in a broad perspective is addressed. In addition to traditional aspects, such as learning and teaching related to computing concepts and design of computing education programs in higher education, issues include how identity, culture and gender aspects affect the conditions for conducting computing education at various academic levels. The increased spread of computing, such as programming, computational thinking and digital competence in the school system, is a development in which research in computing education is of great importance. A central question is how a computing education should prepare students to be able to constructively contribute to the development of society.

The subject is interdisciplinary where computing and educational science are inevitable components, although the emphasis between them varies depending on the topic at hand. Relevant research questions in computing education research might also call for other disciplines to be brought in.  Discipline based education research has a foundation in general educational science, but the difference between disciplines means that the different discipline based education research fields are unique and have at Uppsala University found a natural place in their respective subjects. Another relevant field of research for this position is research on engineering education, since some of the research questions in computing education research have a clear overlap with issues in engineering education contexts.

Duties

• Teaching, research and administration. Teaching duties include course responsibility and course administration and supervision of second- and third-cycle students.

• Follow developments within the subject area and the development of society in general that is important for the work at the university.
  
  
• The position may include taking on responsibilities such as head of research program, head of graduate research education in computing education research, education coordination at the Computing Education Research unit.

Qualifications Required

• PhD.
  
  
• Research Expertise and Teaching Expertise. It is necessary that the pedagogical skills, the research expertise and the professional skills are relevant to the content of the employment and the tasks that will be included in the employment.

• Applicants must have completed teacher training of relevance to operations at the University, comprising ten weeks, or have acquired the equivalent knowledge. If special circumstances apply, this training for teachers in higher education may be completed during the first two years of employment.
  
  
• Documented ability to teach in Swedish or English is a requirement unless special reasons prevail.
• Personal capabilities necessary to carry out fully the duties of the appointment.
  
  

Assessment Criteria/Ranking of applicants that fulfil the above-mentioned qualifications required

The ranking of eligible applicants will be based primarily on research and teaching expertise, which will be given equal weight.

Research Expertise comprises research merits. In addition to academic merits, research merits from other activities, including technology development, may also be taken into account including research merits obtained outside the academy, which includes for example technology development and innovation ability. In assessing research expertise research quality must be the prime consideration. The scope of research, primarily in regard to depth and breadth, must also be afforded consideration. In assessing research expertise special weight will be attached to research merits in Computing Education Research.

Furthermore, consideration must be given to the capacity to plan, initiate, lead, and develop research and education in the third cycle, the ability to acquire funding for research in competition, as well as the demonstrated capacity to interact with others both within academia and in the wider community.

Teaching Expertise comprises educational and teaching qualifications. This expertise can have been achieved outside the academy through supervision, internal training, mentoring programs, etc. In assessing teaching expertise teaching quality must be the prime consideration. The scope of teaching experience, in terms of both breadth and depth, must also be afforded consideration. In assessing teaching expertise special weight will be attached to experience of teaching in and building on results from the Computing Education Research area. Experiences of teaching traditional computing courses and especially in project based format is also a merit.

Furthermore, consideration must be given to the capacity to plan, initiate, lead, and develop teaching and instruction, as well as the ability to connect research to teaching in respect to research in the subject at hand, subject didactics, as well as teaching and learning in higher education. The ability to interact concerning issues of teaching and learning in higher education with actors inside and outside the University is also included in teaching expertise.

Administrative Expertise is important for the employment and will be given high consideration. Administrative expertise is demonstrated, for example, through the capacity to plan, organize, and prioritize work in an efficient and task-related manner as well as through the ability to assign and observe time frames. Expertise includes overall operational planning and the capacity to manage resources in a way that reflects operational priorities as well as the ability to work in a structured manner based on an awareness of goals and quality. Administrative expertise also includes entrepreneurship.

Management Expertise is important and will be afforded high consideration. Management expertise is demonstrated through the capacity to lead operations and personnel, make decisions, take responsibility, and motivate others, providing them with what is needed for the efficient achievement of common goals. The abilities to coordinate the group and help create a sense of involvement, participation, and enjoyment in work and to deal with conflicts constitute further examples of demonstrated expertise.

Collaboration Expertise is important and will be afforded high consideration. Collaborative expertise is demonstrated by the ability and skill of planning, organizing and implementing interaction with the surrounding community. Popular publications, public debate and lectures are examples of forms of interaction with the surrounding community. Other examples of collaboration are patent applications, commercialization and industrial cooperation. The ability to translate knowledge sharing with the surrounding community into activities of importance to the education's development and quality is part of the collaboration expertise.

All merits must be documented in a manner that makes it possible to assess both quality and scope.

In filling this position the university aims to appoint the applicant who, following a qualitative holistic assessment of her/his competence and expertise, is judged to have the best potential to carry out and develop the relevant duties and to help advance operations.

Further information
In an overall assessment of the applicant’s qualifications, parental leave, part-time work relating to care of children, union assignments, military service, or the like are to be regarded as work experience.

University appointment regulations

Faculty appointment regulations

Instructions for application

For further information about the position please contact: Professor Robin Strand, tel: +46 18 4713469, email: robin.strand@it.uu.se

About the employment: Permanent full-time position. Working hours: 100%. Town: Uppsala. Individually negotiated salary. Starting date: 01-05-2023 or as otherwise agreed

Please submit your application by January 6 2023, UFV-PA 2022/3953.

In the event of any disagreement between the English and the Swedish versions of this announcement, the Swedish version takes precedence.

If you are an international candidate, you will find a lot of information about working and living in Sweden at www.uu.se/joinus.