Papers describe an educational research project, classroom experience, teaching technique, curricular initiative, or pedagogical tool in the computing content domain. All papers submitted to the SIGCSE Virtual should be original work that complies with the ACM authorship policies. SIGCSE Virtual considers papers in three distinct tracks, each with its own unique expectations. See further details below.

Paper Tracks

Please ensure that you submit your paper to the correct paper track by reading the Reviewing Guidelines. Papers will be reviewed for the track they are submitted to and will not be moved between tracks. Any submissions made to more than one track will be desk-rejected from both tracks.

Position and Curricula Initiative

The primary purpose of Position and Curricula Initiative (PCI) papers is to present a coherent argument about a computing education topic, including, but not limited to, curriculum or program design, practical and social issues facing computing educators, and critiques of existing practices. PCI papers should substantiate their claims using evidence in the form of thorough literature reviews, analysis of secondary data collected by others, or another appropriate rhetorical approach. PCI contributions should be motivated by prior literature and should highlight the novelty of the presented work. However, in contrast to Computing Education Research (CER) papers, PCI papers need not present original data or adhere to typical rigorous qualitative or quantitative research methods. Moreover, PCI papers differ from Experience Report and Tools (ERT) papers in that they do not necessarily report on individual experiences, programs, or tools, but rather they may focus on broader concerns of the community.

Computing Education Research

The primary purpose of Computing Education Research (CER) papers is to advance what is known about the teaching and learning of computing. CER papers are reviewed relative to the clarity of the research questions posed, the relevance of the work in light of prior literature and theory, the soundness of the methods to address the questions posed, and the overall contribution. Both qualitative and quantitative research are welcomed, as are replication studies and papers that present null or negative results.

Experience Reports and Tools

The primary purpose of Experience Reports and Tools (ERT) papers is observational in nature, and ERT papers should carefully describe the development and use of a computing education approach or tool, the context of its use, including the formative data collected, and provide a rich reflection on what did or didn’t work, and why. ERT contributions should be motivated by prior literature and should highlight the novelty of the experience or tool presented. ERT papers differ from CER papers in that they frame their contributions to enable adoption by other practitioners, rather than focusing on the generalizability or transferability of findings or threats to validity.

Additional Information

Papers submitted to all tracks should address at least one computing content topic. Authors will be asked to select between 3 and 7 topics from this list at the time of submission. Papers deemed outside the conference scope by the program chairs will be desk-rejected without review.

If you have questions, please contact program chairs at program@virtual2026.sigcse.org.