Barry J. Fishman

Fishman's research is concerned with the design and implementation of reform supported by technology. To this end, he is a codeveloper of the Design-Based Implementation Research framework. Recent research includes an National Science Foundation-funded experimental study of teacher learning in face-to-face and online conditions that examines the relationship between professional development modality and changes in teacher knowledge, practice, and student learning. This research builds on prior research in professional development design, including the construction of an online professional development tool for use in curriculum-based reforms called Knowledge Networks On the Web. Another ongoing project involves developing technological supports for early literacy teachers, called Individualizing Student Instruction/Assessment to Instruction. Fishman also conducts research on the design of teaching and learning environments that use video games as models, in particular for influencing student motivation and effort.

Fishman was the 2010 recipient of the University of Michigan Provost’s Teaching Innovation Prize, the 2001 recipient of the Jan Hawkins Award for Early Career Contributions to Humanistic Research and Scholarship in Learning Technologies and the 2003 Pattishall Junior Faculty Research Award from the University of Michigan. His work with the Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools was recognized with an Urban Impact Award from the Council of Great City Schools and as a Computerworld/Smithsonian Laureate. He received his AB from Brown University in English and American literature in 1989, his MS from Indiana University in instructional systems technology in 1992, and his PhD in learning sciences from Northwestern University in 1996.