Hi! I'm Randy Connolly
Professor
I am a tenured full professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computing at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada.
Books
Peer-Reviewed Papers
Years Teaching
Best Paper Awards
Invited Talks
Keynotes
Randy Connolly
About Me
Hi! I'm Randy Connolly
I am a tenured full professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computing at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada. I also teach in my university’s General Education department. My teaching specialties are web application development, technology and society studies, and, believe it or not, art and cultural history.
contact
rconnolly@mtroyal.ca
Social Media
Timeline
Education and Experience
Department of Mathematics & Computing
Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada
Department of Computer Science and Information Systems
Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada
Department of Computer Science and Information Systems
Mount Royal College, Calgary, Canada
Dissertation title: “WorldPerfect 7.0: The Rise And Persistence Of The Virtual Community Ideal In American Thought”.
McGill University, Montreal, Canada
York University, Toronto, Canada
University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
Research
Research Interests
My research has oscillated between my two backgrounds of computer science and political science. At present, I have a variety of on-going research projects.
Web Development
My textbook Fundamentals of Web Development has been translated into multiple languages, adopted at hundreds of universities worldwide, and is used by thousands of students every year.
Society, Ethics and Computing
I have a long research history focused on the social effects of computing.
Computing Disciplinarity
For the past decade, I have been interested in disciplinarity within computing education, in particular, how to communicate the nature of the different computing disciplines to outsiders..
Citizenship
My educational background in political science still motivates my research. My recent work in this area is focused on how digital technology affects attitudes towards citizenship.
The Role of Computing Intellectuals
My most recent area of research.
Publications
Select Publications
To see the full list of publications (which includes 40+ articles and multiple books), you can download my CV. Here I'm showcasing some recent publications.
Article
From ethics to politics: changing approaches to AI education (2023)My most recent article appears in the Handbook of Critical Studies of Artificial Intelligence published in late 2023.
Article
Datafication, Platformization, Algorithmic Governance, and Digital Sovereignty: Four Concepts You Should Teach (2023)This paper reports on four emerging conceptual approaches in the social sciences for understanding contemporary computing’s interactions with the social world. Published in ACM Inroads, 2023, Vol. 14.
Book
Fundamentals of Web Development, Third Edition (Pearson Ed)Has been translated into multiple languages, adopted at hundreds of universities worldwide, and is used by thousands of students every year
Article
Evaluating and Revising the Digital Citizenship Scale (2022)This study investigates the psychometric properties of the Digital Citizenship Scale (DCS). While previous investigations of the DCS drew participants exclusively from single educational environments (college students, teachers), this study is the first with a survey population (n=1820) that includes both students and the general public from multiple 12 counties. Published in Informatics, 2022, Vol. 9, and was awarded the Editor's Choice commendation for 2022.
Booklet
Computing Careers & Disciplines: A Quick Guide for Career Advisors and Prospective Students, Second Edition.Downloaded over 200,000 times and translated into French. Google’s results typically places it first or second when searching for “Computing Discplines”. Responsible for visual design and illustrations.
Article
Why Computing Belongs Within the Social Sciences.My August 2020 article in Communications of the ACM, which is the principal peer-reviewed academic journal for computing as a whole with a subscriber base over 100,000 a month. It is one of the top downloaded (non-ML/AI) articles in all of computing this decade.
Courses
Recent courses taught in the past five or six years.
COMP 3309
Information Technology and Society
A study of the implications of information technology for society. Historical perspectives, social context of computing, legal and ethical problems, economic issues, and philosophical frameworks for analysis will be covered.
COMP 4513
Web 3
This course covers advanced web development topics, applying the foundation client and server techniques learned in Web I and II (or COMP3612). In addition to practical theory, students will learn more about asynchronous JavaScript on both the client and server, TypeScript, noSQL database systems, authentication systems, search engines, and caching.
COMP 3512
Web 2
This course focuses on the concepts and technologies needed to develop web-centric applications. The main topics are the overall architecture of contemporary Internet applications, JavaScript, and PHP.
GNED 1201
Aesthetic Experience and Ideas
This course examines human aesthetic responses and our capacities to interpret diverse forms of cultural expression. I am interested in art whose subject is, in some form, about individuals and their relationship to their community. As such, I thought it would be beneficial to spend a semester looking for a pathway to a better, more social future by first looking backwards at the visual art of the past, and then finish with possibilities of future civic-oriented creativity.
Talks
Recent talks and presentations.
Some of these are invited talks, keynotes, or simply talks at conferences.
Liberal Education Conference
May 2024
Vienna University of Technology, Cork University, Dalhousie University, Univ of New Brunswick
2020-2023
Ottawa
Jan 2020