Michael E. Caspersen

Digital Library

ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award

Denmark - 2022

citation

For his contributions to computer science education research, for his policy work at the national and international levels to advance the teaching of informatics for all, and for his outstanding service to the computing education community

Michael E. Caspersen is Managing Director of It-vest - networking universities and Honorary Professor at the Department of Computer Science, Aarhus University. Currently, he also serves as special advisor on digital education and skills to the Executive Vice President of the European Commission.

Michael is the founder of Center for Computational Thinking at Aarhus University and was Associate Professor in Programming and Programming Didactics at the Department of Computer Science at Aarhus University.

He is co-founder and chair of the steering committee for the Informatics for All coalition, co-chair of Informatics Europe's permanent education research working group, and he was co-chair of the Committee on European Computing Education established jointly by ACM Europe and Informatics Europe.

Since 2008, Michael has been heavily involved in the development of the new informatics subject for Danish high schools and associated teacher education. By personal invitation of the Ministry of Education he has served in pivotal roles as chair and co-chair of groups developing an informatics curriculum for primary and lower secondary education.

Michael has almost 70 papers on computer science education. He is co-author of a two-volume textbook on programming, and co-editor of "Reflections on the Teaching of Programming" published by Springer-Verlag, 2008 -a novel and innovative collection of contributions that address all aspects of teaching programming.

Michael is a leader in the community, chairing conferences and serving on many program committees including major SIGCSE conferences such as ITiCSE, ICER and the SIGCSE Technical Symposium.

Michael Caspersen is one of those rare individuals who can inspire and lead people by example and collegiality. As such, he is not only a successful researcher and practitioner in computing education, but also a role model for everyone in the computer science education community. Michael is a Distinguished Member of the ACM, and a fellow of the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences.

ACM Distinguished Member

Denmark - 2013

ACM Senior Member

Denmark - 2011

2022 ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award

Michael E. Caspersen, Managing Director of It-vest and Honorary Professor, Aarhus University, receives the Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award for his contributions to computer science education research, his policy work at the national and international levels to advance the teaching of informatics for all, and his outstanding service to the computing education community.

Caspersen has authored almost 70 papers on computer science education. He is also co-author of a two-volume textbook on programming, and co-editor of Reflections on the Teaching of Programming—published by Springer-Verlag in 2008—which is a novel and innovative collection of contributions that address all aspects of teaching programming.

Since 2008, Caspersen has been heavily involved in the development of the new informatics subjects for Danish high schools and associated teacher education. By personal invitation of the Minister of Education he has served in pivotal roles as chair and co-chair of groups developing an informatics curriculum for primary and lower secondary education.

He is co-founder and chair of the steering committee for the Informatics for All coalition, Co-Chair of Informatics Europe's permanent education research working group, and was Co-Chair of the Committee on European Computing Education established jointly by ACM Europe and Informatics Europe. Recently, he also served as special advisor on digital education and skills to the Executive Vice President of the European Commission.