Christopher 'Chris' Dede (born 1947), is an

educational researcher ''Educational Researcher'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that covers the field of education. The editors-in-chief are Carolyn D. Herrington (Florida State University) and Jason A. Grissom (Vanderbilt University). It was established in 1972 an ...

and the Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at the

Harvard Graduate School of Education The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is the education school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1920, it was the first school to grant the EdD degree and the first Harvard school ...

. His expertise includes emerging technologies, policy and leadership in education. He has been noted as one of the main contributors to the emergence of

educational technology Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning. When referred to with its abbreviation, edtech, it often refer ...

in the 2000s and 2010s and has received awards for his research from the

American Educational Research Association The American Educational Research Association (AERA, pronounced "A-E-R-A") is a professional organization representing education researchers in the United States and around the world. AERA's mission is to advance knowledge about education and p ...

, the Association for Teacher Educators, and the

Association for Educational Communications and Technology The Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), is an academic and professional association that promotes educational uses of technology. Members provide leadership in the field by promoting scholarship and best practices in i ...

Biography

Christopher Dede earned a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

from the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

in 1969 and a doctorate in science education from the

University of Massachusetts The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medica ...

in 1972, where he became an

assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and general ...

after graduation. In 1974, he moved to the

University of Houston-Clear Lake A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which rou ...

, being promoted to full professor in 1981, before moving further to

George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...

in 1991. Since 2000, Dede has been the Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

's Graduate School of Education, where he chaired the Learning & Teaching department in 2001-04. Additionally, he has been a policy fellow at the

National Institute of Education The National Institute of Education (NIE) is an autonomous institute of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. Ranked 12th in the world and 2nd in Asia by the QS World University Rankings in the subject of Education in 2015, the ...

and a senior program director at the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

as well as a visiting scientist at NASA's

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...

and at MIT's Computer Science Lab.

Research

Christopher Dede's research interests include emerging technologies for learning and assessment in education, the scaling up of technology use in education, educational policy, and leadership in educational innovation. In his research, Dede has argued that immersion in a digital environment can enhance education by allowing multiple perspectives, situated learning and transfer through simulation of reality. Together with Matt Dunleavy and Rebecca Mitchell, he has studied the potentials and pitfalls of the use of

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be de ...

in teaching and learning.

Honors and awards

In 2011, Chris Dede was named a fellow of the

.Curriculum vitae of Chris Dede on the website of HGSE. Retrieved July 25th, 2019.
/ref> He has received awards from the Society for Information Technology in Teacher Education (2010), the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (2011), the Association for Teacher Educators (2012) and the Center for Digital Education (2016).

References

Bibliography (selected)

* Dede, C., Honan, J.P., Peters, L.C. (2005, eds.). ''Scaling Up Success: Lessons Learned from Technology-Based Educational Improvement''. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. * Dede, C. (2006). ''Online Professional Development for Teachers: Emerging Models and Methods''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard education Press. * Dede, C., Richards, J. (2012, eds.). ''Digital Teaching Platforms: Customizing Classroom Learning for Each Student''. New York: Teachers College Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dede, Christopher Dede Harvard Graduate School of Education faculty 1947 births Educational researchers University of Massachusetts alumni California Institute of Technology alumni People in educational technology Living people