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About Me

Biography

Chris Dede is a Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was for 22 years its Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies.  His fields of scholarship include emerging technologies, policy, and leadership.  His funded research includes grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, and the Gates Foundation. From 2001-2004, he was Chair of the HGSE department of Teaching and Learning.  In 2007, he was honored by Harvard University as an outstanding teacher, and in 2011 he was named a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association.  From 2014-2015, he was a Visiting Expert at NSF, Directorate of Education and Human Resources. In 2021, he received a “Community Builder” award from the National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training (NCTET), and in 2023 he was named a Fellow of the Online Learning Consortium.

 

Chris has served as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Foundations of Educational and Psychological Assessment, a member of the U.S. Department of Education’s Expert Panel on Technology, a Steering Committee member for the Second International Technology in Education Study, and a member of the 2010 National Educational Technology Plan Technical Working Group.  In 2013 he co-convened a NSF workshop on new technology-based models of postsecondary learning, and in 2015 he led two NSF workshops on data-intensive research in the sciences, engineering, and education.

 

In 2020 he co-founded the Silver Lining for Learning initiative. He is currently an Advisor to the Alliance for the Future of Digital Learning, sponsored by the Mohammed bin Rashid Global Initiative (MBRGI). Also, Chris is a Co-Principal Investigator and Associate Director for Research of the NSF-funded National Artificial Intelligence Institute in Adult Learning and Online Education. He is the only person to twice receive the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Distinguished Development Award.

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Education

Chris attended public school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1969, he graduated from the California Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science double-major in Chemistry and English. In 1972, he attained an Ed.D. in science education from the University of Massachusetts—Amherst.

 

As a pioneer in learning technologies, Chris taught some of the earliest courses in the field for each technology as it emerged. He is self-taught in all his areas of expertise. As a person who is easily bored and likes to synthesize large amounts of information, Chris finds learning technologies a perfect field for him, as he has to reinvent his aspirational vision for education every few years as more becomes possible.

Employment

  • 2022-present: Senior Research Fellow, Harvard Graduate School of Education

  • 2000-2022: Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies, Harvard University

  • 1991-2000: Full Professor, George Mason University

  • 1996-1997:  Senior Program Director, National Science Foundation
    (on leave from GMU)

  • 1984-1990: Visiting Scientist, Johnson Space Center, NASA

  • 1984: Visiting Scientist, Computer Science Lab, MIT  (Sabbatical)

  • 1979-80: Policy Fellow, Office of the Director, National Institute of Education (via the Institute for Educational Leadership)

  • 1974-81: Full/Associate/Assistant Professor,
    University of Houston-Clear Lake

  • 1972-74: Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts

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