Michael E. Caspersen Explained

Michael E. Caspersen
Birth Date:	22 November 1960
Birth Place:	Svendborg, Denmark
Citizenship:	Denmark
Fields:	Computer science
Workplaces:	Aarhus Business College Computer Science, Aarhus U. It-vest
Education:	1984 B.Sc. in CS and Math; Aarhus U. 1987 M.Sc. in CS; Aarhus U. 2007 PhD; Aarhus U.
Thesis Title:	Educating Novices in the Skills of Programming
Thesis Url:	https://www.cs.au.dk/~mec/dissertation/Dissertation.pdf
Thesis Year:	2007
Doctoral Advisors:	Ole Lehrmann Madsen David Gries
Awards:	1999 The Danish Computer Science Teacher Prize 2011 ACM Senior Member^[1] 2013 ACM Distinguished Member^[2] 2018 Honorary Professor, Computer Science, Aarhus U.^[3] 2021 Fellow, ATV 2022 ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award^[4] 2023 Person of the ACM^[5] 2024 ACM SIGCSE Award for Outstanding Contribution to Computer Science Education

Danish computer scientist Michael Edelgaard Caspersen (born in 1960 in Svenborg, Denmark) has spent his academic life furthering computer science education, at all levels. His research interests are computing education, programming didactics, programming methodology, and object-oriented programming. He is best known for his work on computing education research and development, particularly his work to promote informatics as a fundamental discipline for all.

Michael has developed pedagogical approaches to teaching programming and program development, and his consistent and thorough use of hypothesis testing during his researchhas set a standard for the field. He was one of the first to use cognitive load theory in this research.

Michael has served roles in developing informatics education in Danish high schools and, by personal invitation of the Minister of Education, at the primary and lower secondary levels. He also has provided leadership within the ACM and on various groups in Europe to improve computing/informatics education throughout Europe.

Education

Michael was born in Svendborg, Denmark. He went to Nordre Skole for primary and lower secondary school and to Svendborg Statsgymnasium for upper secondary school. He earned an M.Sc. in computer science from Aarhus University.

At Aarhus University, Michael was exposed to world-class computing education; new ideas of programming methodology developed by Dijkstra found their way into the first-year course, as did relational algebra, coloured Petri nets, and the semantics of programs. This educational experience had a profound impact on Michael's perspective on computing and devotion to computer science education, leading to his PhD thesis.^[6]

Personal life

Michael E. Caspersen is married to Susanne Caspersen; they have two children, Christina and Christopher, and four grandchildren, Filippa, Lucca, Asta, and Petra.

Leadership roles: Education in Computer Science / Informatics

Michael has been a major force for improving education in computing at all levels on a national andinternational scale.

• Founding member and first chair of the Danish CS Educators' Association (1995-2000).
• Founding member of the Scandinavian Pedagogy of Programming Network established in 2004,^[7] leading to publication of a book,^[8] a novel and innovative collection of contributions that address all aspects of teaching programming.
• Chair or co-chair five Danish Ministerial groups on various aspects of computing.
• Co-chair of the Committee on European Computing Education (CECE),^[9] which was created to foster further development of informatics education at all levels in Europe.
• Second Chair (the first chair was Dame Wendy Hall) of the coalition Informatics for All,^[10] which was formed in 2018; its members are the ACM Europe Council,^[11] the CEPIS Education Committee,^[12] Informatics Europe, and IFIP.
• Member of the Digital Council of the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences (ATV), and a member of its Steering Committee for Science & Engineering in Education. (2018-)
• Special Advisor on Digital Education and Skills to the Executive Vice President of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager^[13] (2022-2023)

Selected technical contributions

The programming process

• 2007. PhD thesis: Educating Novices in the Skills of Programming
• 2009. STREAM: A First programming process^[14]
• 2018. Principles of programming education^[15]

Indicators of success

• 2005. An Investigation of potential success factors for an introductory model-driven programming course^[16]
• 2006. Abstraction ability as an indicator of success for learning object-oriented programmings^[17]
• 2007. Mental models and programming aptitude^[18]
• 2008. Optimists have more fun, but do they learn better? On the influence of emotional and social factors on learning introductory computer science^[19]
• 2008. Abstraction ability as an indicator of success for learning computing science?^[20]

Exemplary Examples (Example Program Quality)

• 2007. Beauty and the Beast – Toward a Measurement Framework for Example Program Quality^[21]
• 2015. Beauty and the Beast: on the readability of object-oriented example programs^[22]
• 2008. Evaluating OO example programs for CS1^[23]

Informatics for all

• 2013. Computational Thinking and Practice — A Generic Approach to Computing in Danish High Schools^[24]
• 2014. Model-based thinking and practice: a top-down approach to computational thinking^[25]

Failure rates in intro programming

• 2007. Failure rates in introductory programming^[26]
• 2019. Failure rates in introductory programming: 12 years late^[27]

Cognitive load theory in computing education

• 2007. PhD thesis: Educating Novices in the Skills of Programming
• 2007. Instructional design of a programming course: a learning theoretic approach^[28]

Notes and References

1. Web site: ACM Senior Member. ACM. 2023-06-03.
2. Web site: ACM Distinguished Member. ACM. 2023-06-03.
3. Web site: Honorary doctor and professor at Computer Science. https://web.archive.org/web/20230515115955/https://cs.au.dk/about-us/honorary-doctor-and-professors. 2023-05-15. Computer Science Department, Aarhus U.. 2022-11-17.
4. Web site: ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award . . 2022 . 2023-05-04.
5. Web site: People of ACM - Michael E. Caspersen. ACM. 2023-07-25 . 2023-07-25.
6. Web site: Educating Novices in the Skills of Programming. 2007. 2023-05-23.
7. Web site: Scandinavian Pedagogy of Programming Network. https://web.archive.org/web/20070717181610/http://www.spop.dk/index.html. 2007-07-17.
8. Book: Reflections on the Teaching of Programming . Bennedsen . Jens. Caspersen . Michael . Kölling . Michael . Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer Verlag. LNCS 4821. 2008. 10.1007/978-3-540-77934-6. 978-3-540-77933-9.
9. Web site: The Committee on European Computing Education (CECE). 2023-06-05.
10. Web site: The Informatics for All Coalition. https://web.archive.org/web/20230512013333/https://www.informaticsforall.org/. 2023-05-12. 2023-06-05.
11. Web site: ACM Europe Council. https://web.archive.org/web/20230403144343/https://europe.acm.org/. 2023-04-03. ACM. 2023-06-05.
12. Web site: Informatics Education expert group. https://web.archive.org/web/20230203135446/https://cepis.org/informatics-education/. 2023-02-03. CEPIS. 2023-06-05.
13. Web site: Michael E. Caspersen appointed special EU-adviser on digital education. 2022. It-vest. 2023-06-05.
14. Caspersen . Michael . Kolling . Michael . March 2009 . STREAM: A first programming process . ACM Transactions on Computing Education . 9 . 1 - 29 . 10.1145/1513593.1513597 . 240169871 . 1.
15. Book: Caspersen, Michael . Computer Science Education: Perspectives on Teaching and Learning in School . 2023 . . 9781350057135 . Sentance . Sue . Chapter 18: Principles of Programming Education.
16. Jens. Bennedsen. Michael. Caspersen. 2005 . ICER '05: First International Workshop on Computing Education Research. Richard. Anderson . Sally. Fincher . Mark. Guzdial . ICER '05: Proc First International Workshop on Computing Education Research. ACM. Seattle, WA. 155–163. 10.1145/1089786.1089801.
17. Michael . Caspersen . Jens . Bennedsen. Abstraction ability as an indicator of success for learning object-oriented programming? . . 38 . 2 . June 2006 . 39 - 43 . ACM. 10.1145/1138403.1138430 . 14991001.
18. Michael. Caspersen. Kasper. Larsen. Jens. Bennedsen. June 2007 . ITiCSE '07: 12th annual SIGCSE conf on Innovation and technology in computer science education. Janet. Hughes . Proceedings of ITiCSE '07: 12th annual SIGCSE conf on Innovation and technology in computer science education. ACM. Dundee, Scotland . 206–210. 10.1145/1268784.1268845. 978-1-59593-610-3.
19. Michael . Caspersen . Jens . Bennedsen. Optimists have more fun, but do they learn better? . Computer Science Education . 18 . 1 . March 2008 . 1–16. Taylor & Francis. 10.1080/08993400701791133 . 16277573.
20. Jens. Bennedsen. Michael. Caspersen. September 2008 . ICER '08: Fourth International Workshop on Computing Education Research. Raymond. Lister . Michael. Clancy . ICER '08: Proc Fourth International Workshop on Computing Education Research. ACM. Sydney, Australia. 15–26. 10.1145/1404520.1404523. 978-1-60558-216-0.
21. Web site: Beauty and the Beast. https://web.archive.org/web/20170706060639/https://www8.cs.umu.se/research/reports/2007/023/part1.pdf. 2017-07-06. 2007. 0348-0542. 2023-05-31.
22. Jürgen . Börstler . Michael . Caspersen . Marie . Nordström. Beauty and the Beast: on the readability of object-oriented example programs . Software Quality Journal . 24 . February 2015 . 2 . 231 - 246 . Springer Verlag. 10.1007/s11219-015-9267-5 . 255074317.
23. Börstler J, Caspersen M, etal. Evaluating OO example programs for CS1. . 40 . 3 . June 2008 . 47 - 52 . ACM. 10.1145/1597849.1384286 .
24. Caspersen . Michael . Nowack . Palle . January 2013 . Jacqueline Whalley . Jacqueline Whalley . Computational Thinking and Practice — A Generic Approach to Computing in Danish High Schools . ACE2013: Fifteenth Australasian Computing Education Conference . Adelaide, South Australia . . 137–143 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230531134037/https://crpit.scem.westernsydney.edu.au/confpapers/CRPITV136Caspersen.pdf . 2023-05-31 . Angela Carbone . ACE2013: Proc Fifteenth Australasian Computing Education Conference . 2023-05-31.
25. Palle. Nowack. Michael. Caspersen. November 2014 . Koli Calling '14: 14th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research. Simon . Päivi. Kinnunen . Koli Calling '14: Proc of the the14th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research. ACM. Koli, Finland. 147–151. 10.1145/2674683.2674686. 978-1-4503-3065-7.
26. Michael . Caspersen . Jens . Bennedsen. Failure rates in introductory programming . . 39 . 2 . June 2007 . 32 - 36 . ACM. 10.1145/1272848.1272879 . 12157345.
27. Michael . Caspersen . Jens . Bennedsen. Failure rates in introductory programming: 12 years late . ACM Inroads . 10 . 2 . April 2019 . 30 - 36 . ACM. 10.1145/3324888 . 140238774.
28. Jens. Bennedsen. Michael. Caspersen. September 2007. ICER '07: Third international workshop on computing education research. Richard. Anderson . Sally. Fincher . Mark. Guzdial . ICER '07: Proc third international workshop on Computing education research. ACM. Atlanta, Georgia. 111–122. 10.1145/1288580.1288595. 978-1-59593-841-1.