Barry Fishman School of Information / School of Education

Barry Fishman is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Learning Technologies in the University of Michigan School of Information and School of Education.

His current research focuses on: video games as models for learning environments, the design of mastery- and competency-based programs in higher education, and the development of usable, scalable, and sustainable learning innovations through design-based implementation research (DBIR), which he helped establish. He is the co-creator of GradeCraft, a game-inspired learning management system.

Past research foci include teacher learning and the role of technology in supporting teacher learning, and the A-GAMES project which studied the ways teachers employ video games to support formative assessment practices.

In 2018, Dr. Fishman was named a Fellow of the International Society of the Learning Sciences. In 2017 he was named Distinguished Professor of the Year by the Michigan Association of State Universities. Dr. Fishman is the 2010 recipient of the Provost’s Teaching Innovation Prize, the 2003 Pattishall Junior Faculty Research Award from the University of Michigan, and was the 2001 recipient of the Jan Hawkins Award for Early Career Contributions to Humanistic Research and Scholarship in Learning Technologies.

Dr. Fishman was co-author of the Obama Administration’s 2010 U.S. National Educational Technology Plan, and served as Associate Editor of The Journal of the Learning Sciences from 2005-2012. He has served as a Faculty Innovator-In-Residence at the Office of Academic Innovation, and as Steward for Teaching and Learning on the Information Technology Council at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Fishman received his A.B. from Brown University in English and American Literature in 1989, his M.S. from Indiana University in Instructional Systems Technology in 1992, and his Ph.D. in Learning Sciences from Northwestern University in 1996.