He is Professor of Technology & Human Learning in the College of Education at Michigan State University
Biography
Hartman was born to schoolteacher parents and grew up in Montana and Hawaii. He attended college in Oregon as a student-athlete, then taught and coached middle school in Oregon and California before pursuing graduate studies in Illinois. For 36 years, he has served on the faculty of universities in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Michigan. With colleagues, Hartman has published nearly 70 articles, chapters, and technical reports. His only edited book, Stories Teachers Tell (with Richard Donato), was adapted into a reader's theater production and performed off-Broadway in New York City.
Education
Ph.D., Language & Literacy, University of Illinois], Urbana-Champaign (1991)
M.A., Literacy & Language, California State University, Fresno (1986)
B.S., Social Science, Warner Pacific University (1981)
Career
Professor of Technology & Human Learning, College of Education, Michigan State University
Joint appointment in the Department of Teacher Education and the Educational Psychology & Educational Technology Program]
Courtesy appointments in MSU's Center for Russian, European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies and Asian Studies Center
His early work explored how learners use print, images, and other artifacts—often in hypertextual and intertextual ways. It influenced the design of Scholastic's K-5 Literacy Place program and state literacy assessments in Illinois, Maryland, and Michigan.
As digital technologies reshaped education, Hartman's focus shifted to the "new literacies" of online comprehending and composing. His collaborations at the New Literacies Research Lab transformed how educators teach reading, writing, and learning with digital tools. He also contributed to rethinking national and international literacy assessments—beginning with ePIRLS and extending to PISA and NAEP—by simulating online learning tasks and text navigation.
Over the last decade, Hartman and his colleagues have developed professional development programs that aim to help an increasing number of the world's 100 million teachers use AI, ICTs, and other digital tools ethically and effectively. Working in nearly 70 countries, his most enduring collaborations have been with ministries, universities, and schools in Kazakhstan and Türkiye.
Hartman has also become an "accidental historian" of literacy. His doctoral seminars have traveled throughout America's Midwest and New England, examining primary-source artifacts of literacy's past. He has been at work on a biography of Edmund Burke Huey, who conducted North America's first study of reading, and even brought Huey's legacy to life by delivering a keynote in Huey's persona at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Literacy Research Association.[1]
Honors and awards
Doctor of Humane Letters – Technology & Equity Innovation (honoris causa), Kazakh-American Free University, Republic of Kazakhstan
Senior Scholar Research Fellowship, Ministry of Higher Education & Science, Republic of Kazakhstan
Senior Scholar Research Fellowship, TÜBİTAK, Ministry of Education, Republic of Türkiye
Institutional Partnership Award, MSU Technology-Literacy Group, Michigan Reading Association
Albert J. Kingston Distinguished Service Award, Literacy Research Association
Chancellor’s Diversity Fellow, Diversity Working Group, University of Pittsburgh
Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow, National Academy of Education, Washington, DC
Outstanding Dissertation of the Year Award, International Reading Association
Promising Researcher Award, Finalist, National Council of Teachers of English
Student Research Award, Literacy Research Association
William Chandler Bagley Merit Scholar, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Selected publications
Improving the intellectual well-being of students using generative AI tools to customize texts for learning, Pedagogical Dialogue, https://pd.cpm.kz/en/
What 50 years of integrating technology in schools can teach us about integrating AI in STEM, In STEM Education of the 21st Century, https://www.palgrave.com/gp/social-science
AI and reading comprehension, In Handbook of Research on Reading Comprehension (3rd edition), https://www.routledge.com/
Can artificial intelligence identify reading fluency and level? A comparison of machine and human performance, Reading & Writing Quarterly, doi:10.1080/10573569.2024.2345593
Comprehension strategies: Four basic language skills with digital activities [Anlama Stratejileri: Dijital Etkinlikler ile Dört Temel Dil Becerisi], ISBN 978-625-7228-85-5
Eight tweeters tweeting: The writing processes of second graders' composing with social media, Elementary School Journal, doi:10.1086/715481
The design of a decade-long school-university professional development collaborative: Implications for the integration of ICTs in school settings [Онжылдық мектеп пен университет арасындағы кәсіби дамудың бірлескен жобасы: мектеп жағдайында АКТ интеграциясының салдары], Pedagogical Dialogue, https://pd.cpm.kz/en/archive/2019/4
Towards a new literacies perspective on synthesis: Multiple source meaning construction, In Handbook of Research on Multiple Source Use, ISBN 9781138646605
Professional development to support TPACK technology integration: The initial learning trajectories of 13 fifth- and sixth-grade educators, Journal of Education, doi:10.1177/002205641119100203
What will be the influences of media on literacy in the next millennium? Reading Research Quarterly, doi:10.1598/RRQ.35.2.5
References
^Moore, D.W.; E Monaghan; D. K. Hartman (1997). "Values of Literacy History". Reading Research Quarterly. 32 (1): 90–102. doi:10.1598/RRQ.32.1.6.
