Professor Judith Gal-Ezer

Digital Library

ACM Fellows

Israel - 2021

citation

For contributions to research and implementation in computer science education

Press Release

ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award

Israel - 2017

citation

For her central role in developing a groundbreaking high-school computer science curriculum, her outstanding CS education research and her extensive service to the education community.

For more than 25 years, Judith Gal-Ezer has led the construction and evolution of Israel's high-school computer science curriculum. The result is widely considered to be the world's most successful K-12 CS curriculum with respect to formulating requirements, developing high-quality teaching material, conducting associated computing education research, and setting the highest standards for pre-service as well as in-service training of teachers. She has for years chaired the Israeli Education Ministry's Computer Science Committee. Her work has had a substantial global impact on computer science education.

Prof. Gal-Ezer has been the driving force in founding the Computer Science Department at the Open University of Israel, and then chairing it, personally taking a lead role in creating the textbooks and learning materials for more than 20 courses. She also initiated and led the building of the Open University's master's program in computer science.

She is noted for her remarkable ability to successfully navigate higher education, K-12 education and the government, getting buy-in and agreements from all of these constituencies, as well as for her own track record as a successful CS education researcher, especially as regards to her ability to introduce advanced CS concepts to high school students.

She is extremely active in the computer science education community, through journal editorial boards, her work on ACM's International Science and Engineering Fair, Google's education advisory council, the Computer Science Teachers Association advisory council, the Committee on European Computing Education, and the ACM Europe Council.

Overall, Prof. Gal-Ezer is outstanding as a researcher, as an educator, as curriculum designer, as textbook author, and a global leader in computing education.

ACM Names 71 Fellows for Computing Advances that are Driving Innovation

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, has named 71 members ACM Fellows for wide-ranging and fundamental contributions in areas including algorithms, computer science education, cryptography, data security and privacy, medical informatics, and mobile and networked systems ─ among many other areas. The accomplishments of the 2021 ACM Fellows underpin important innovations that shape the technologies we use every day.

The ACM Fellows program recognizes the top 1% of ACM Members for their outstanding accomplishments in computing and information technology and/or outstanding service to ACM and the larger computing community. Fellows are nominated by their peers, with nominations reviewed by a distinguished selection committee.

“Computing professionals have brought about leapfrog advances in how we live, work, and play,” said ACM President Gabriele Kotsis. “New technologies are the result of skillfully combining the individual contributions of numerous men and women, often building upon diverse contributions that have emerged over decades. But technological progress would not be possible without the essential building blocks of individual contributors. The ACM Fellows program honors the creativity and hard work of ACM members whose specific accomplishments make broader advances possible. In announcing a new class of Fellows each year, we celebrate the impact ACM Fellows make, as well as the many technical areas of computing in which they work.”

In keeping with ACM’s global reach, the 2021 Fellows represent universities, corporations, and research centers in Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, and the United States.

The contributions of the 2021 Fellows run the gamut of the computing field―including cloud database systems, deep learning acceleration, high performance computing, robotics, and theoretical computer science ─ to name a few.

Additional information about the 2021 ACM Fellows, as well as previously named ACM Fellows, is available through the ACM Fellows site.

News release

2017 ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award

Judith Gal-Ezer was named recipient of the Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award for her central role in developing a groundbreaking high school computer science curriculum; her outstanding computer science education research; and her extensive service to the education community. In 1995 Gal-Ezer, who is currently a professor emerita at The Open University of Israel, led the development of a bold new CS curriculum for Israeli high school students. Her reimagined approach moved away from conventional pedagogies, which prioritized coding, to emphasizing the underlying ideas of computer science. Gal-Ezer’s framework was such a success at engaging students that many other countries used it as a model as they revised or introduced their own CS curricula.

Gal-Ezer’s seminal works include her 1998 paper “What (Else) Should CS Educators Know,” co-authored with David Harel. In the paper, she advocates that CS educators should extend their knowledge beyond regular CS coursework and be exposed to the foundational ideas of algorithms and systems. The paper inspired a whole generation of CS educators and contributed to a heightened appreciation of the inherent value of studying computing. Gal-Ezer has also been active in developing curricula at the university level. From 1985 onward, she played a prominent role in setting up computer science undergraduate programs, and later a Master’s program, at OUI, where she either personally wrote or supervised much of the CS coursework.

Outside Israel, Gal-Ezer has been an indispensable collaborator for several major organizations that advance CS education. She has been a member of key CS education journal editorial boards, served on the Computer Science Teachers Association’s (CSTA) Advisory Council, and more recently, joined the Committee on European Computing Education (CECE, a group consisting of members from the ACM Europe Council and Informatics Europe) and Google’s education advisory council.

The Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award is presented annually to an outstanding educator who is appointed to a recognized educational baccalaureate institution.  The recipient is recognized for advancing new teaching methodologies; effecting new curriculum development or expansion in Computer Science and Engineering; or making a significant contribution to the educational mission of ACM. Those with 10 years or less teaching experience are given special consideration. A prize of $10,000 is supplied by Pearson Education.