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 Thurston Domina (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), Andrew McEachin ( NWEA), Dana Thompson Dorsey (University of So ...

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 Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1920, it was the first school to grant the EdD degree and the first ...

. 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 and teaching. When referred to with its abbreviation, "EdTech" ...

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 ...

, 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. in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

and English from the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

in 1969 and a doctorate in science education from the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

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, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

after graduation. In 1974, he moved to the University of Houston-Clear Lake, being promoted to full professor in 1981, before moving further to

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

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

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

'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 10th in the world and 2nd in Asia by the QS World University Rankings in the subject of Education and Trainin ...

and a senior program director at the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

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 in Houston, Texas (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight controller, flight control are conducted. ...

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), also known as mixed reality (MR), is a technology that overlays real-time 3D computer graphics, 3D-rendered computer graphics onto a portion of the real world through a display, such as a handheld device or head-mounted ...

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