David Dockterman

David Dockterman innovates at the intersection of research and practice. In 1982 he helped found Tom Snyder Productions, an early pioneer in educational technology, while getting his doctorate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Over the last 35 years, he has continued to balance lives in the academic and publishing worlds, supporting the development and implementation of research-driven innovative practices to tackle challenging educational problems, while also lecturing at HGSE.

At Tom Snyder, and later at Scholastic and HMH, he designed dozens of award-winning computer programs including Decisions, Decisions; Science Court (which was also a highly acclaimed TV show on ABC Saturday morning); and The Great Ocean Rescue. Dockterman has also served as a key advisor for the development of MATH 180, READ 180 Universal, Into Learning, and other core and supplemental programs. He consults with publishers, entrepreneurs, and learning organizations on the translation of evidence into effective, scalable, and engaging practice. 

Dockterman's long-time Harvard course, Innovation by Design, fosters an iterative, agile approach to evidence-driven innovation across a range of educational issues. His modules on Scaling Impact and Sustaining Impact address the challenges of designing innovations that will work with variable learners across different contexts in ways that can be sustained over time. 

Productive struggle and a learning mindset fuel innovation and growth, and Dockterman has become adept at infusing the underlying research from behavioral psychology and cognitive science to foster those dispositions among students, teachers, and institutional leaders. He is a Fellow of the International Society for Design and Development in Education and a judge for the Global Learning XPRIZE. He is currently involved in projects tackling early literacy, effective math instruction, adult development, and civic engagement.