About GradeCraft

Our Team

At GradeCraft, we combine research and development expertise with pedagogical innovation. Together, we’re passionate about the idea that gameful learning can improve education for all.

Co-founders

Barry Fishman is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Learning Technologies in the University of Michigan School of Information and School of Education. His research focuses on video games as model learning environments, the use of technology to support teacher learning, standards-based systemic school reform, and the role of educational leaders in fostering classroom-level reform involving technology. He is Chair of the DIAG, and an Academic Innovation Fellow in the DEI. He was a long-serving Associate Editor of The Journal of the Learning Sciences, and served as a co-author of the Obama Administration’s 2010 US National Educational Technology Plan. Barry 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.

Caitlin Holman is the Associate Director of R&D at the University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation. She co-founded GradeCraft with Dr. Fishman while earning her PhD at the University of Michigan School of Information. Her research includes investigating the impact of gameful learning and learning analytics interventions on student learning outcomes, motivation, and achievement. She received a BA in International Affairs from the University of Maine, and an MSI from the University of Michigan School of Information.

Research, Design, Development, and Support Team

Sophia Zhou is a UI/UX Designer and Front-end Developer. She has a BS Degree in Architecture, AAS in Graphic Design, and is an independent artist specializing in fiber art, mixed-media illustration, and fine art photography. This hybrid background provides her with a unique creative perspective: Sophia believes design is problem-solving with art, and enjoys blending her skills and artist intuition with her sensibility as a designer—form follows function, with an emphasis on fun.

Erik Barroso is a Software Developer for GradeCraft. He uses his knowledge of application development and design to improve student learning experiences. Currently, he works closely with the user experience design team to create new features and enhance existing features using Ruby on Rails and VueJS.

Holly Derry is a behavioral scientist and wordsmith. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master’s degree in public health, and over 20 years of experience developing behavior change interventions that rely on the principles of tailoring, sticky communication, plain language, and motivational interviewing. Her top three skills include making wordy things shorter, making complicated things more understandable, and making dull things more motivating.

Michael Skib collaborates with faculty and design teams in the design and development of online courses and learning experiences, in both online and residential environments. Michael draws on his media experience to envision creative approaches for content delivery. Additionally, he assists the software team with quality assurance and testing. Michael’s background includes previous work primarily in music and audio production.

Sundeep Nagumalli manages system administration for the Center for Academic Innovation, where he takes care of existing servers and will adopt DevOps culture at Academic Innovation. With an aim to automate the complete pipeline of deployments for existing applications at Academic Innovation, Sundeep manages implementation of system tasks, containerization, shibboleth, monitoring, scripting, kubernetes, docker, OpenShift, etc. Sundeep has an MS in Information Systems.

Ollie Saunders is a Senior Software Developer at Academic Innovation and leads development teams for several software tools. His involvement with GradeCraft is as part of the AI DevOps team where he plans, guides and assists with the implementation of various server and infrastructure-related projects.

David Nesbitt is the Software Portfolio Manager for the Center for Academic Innovation. His role on the GradeCraft team is project management and marketing strategy. Outside of work, David enjoys singing loudly whilst riding his moped and debating whether food items are fruits or vegetables. He has a BA in Spanish from the University of Michigan.

James Alexander is the Senior Software Ambassador at Academic Innovation. On the GradeCraft team, he is the faculty liaison and also works to improve user onboarding. James considers himself a video game wizard, though there is little evidence to support this claim, and has a fondness for cats. He hails from the hills of Tennessee.

Magical Interns

Yixin Zheng is a Software Development fellow playing a supporting role in the Gradecraft development workflow, helping to fix bugs and build out new features. She has an architecture background, and is currently pursing MS degree in Information on Data Science & Analytics. In her spare time, Yixin enjoys high-speed activities such as skiing and roller coasters.

Past Heroes

Ben Plummer
Learning Education and Design Lab

Camille Ulrich
Operations Extraordinaire

Evan Straub
Digital Education and Innovation

James Ostrander
Software Developer

Jamie Wright
Software Developer

Jonathan Gabel
Software Developer

Jonathon Yu
Software Developer

Kris Steinhoff
Software Developer

Kyle Dove
Software Developer

Marie Hooper
UI/UX Designer

Michael Zazaian
Software Developer

Prabode Weebadde
Infrastructure Developer

Rachel Niemer
Instructional Technology and Educational Psychology

Shehkar Patil
Infrastructure Developer

Steve Schwartz
Software Developer

Derek Bruckner
Software Developer

Stephanie Haley
UX Research Lead

Huyen Phan
Product Designer and Front-end Developer
Student Fellow Intern

Joy Huang
UX/UI Designer
Student Fellow Intern

Shaelyn Albrecht
UX Researcher & Quality Assurance Analyst
Student Fellow Intern

Shameek Ray
Computer Science and Entrepreneurship
Student Fellow Intern

SoJung Ham
Graphic Designer
Student Fellow Intern

Tayloir Thompson
User-centered Development
Student Fellow Intern

Xuenan Xu
UX/UI Designer
Student Fellow Intern

Yun Hsiao
UX Designer
Student Fellow Intern

Aditya Shylesh
Software Developer
Student Fellow Intern

Wan-Ting Ko
UX/UI Designer
Student Fellow Intern

Joanna Ye
UX Researcher
Student Fellow Intern

Fengjin Cui
Software Developer
Student Fellow Intern

Research

The GradeCraft team engages in research focused on the design and use of gameful learning. Our work supports the creation of knowledge and tools that improve GradeCraft, improve our ability to support gameful pedagogy, and contribute to the larger community working towards educational improvement.

What Game Are You Playing? Affordances of Tools for Incorporating Game Elements into classrooms Holman, C., Wooten, S., Fishman, B. (2015), What Game Are You Playing? Affordances of Tools for Incorporating Game Elements into Classrooms. Poster presented at Games+Learning+Society 11. (Madison, WI, USA 2015). GLS ’15.

Planning For Success: How Students Use a Grade Prediction Tool to Win Their Classes Holman, C., Aguilar, S., Levick, A., Stern, J., Plummer, B., Fishman, B. (2015), Planning For Success: How Students Use a Grade Prediction Tool to Win Their Classes. Paper presented at Fifth Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge. (Leuven, Belgium, April 16-20, 2015), LAK ’15.

Multiple Paths, Same Goal: Exploring the Motivational Pathways of Two Distinct Game-Inspired University Course Designs Aguilar, S., Holman, C., Fishman, B (2014). Multiple Paths, Same Goal: Exploring the Motivational Pathways of Two Distinct Game-Inspired University Course Designs. Paper presented at Games+Learning+Society 10.0. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Madison, WI.

GradeCraft: A Working Example Aguilar, S., Holman, C., Fishman, B (i2014). GradeCraft: A Working Example. Paper presented at Games+Learning+Society 10.0. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Madison, WI.

Supporting Students’ Autonomy through Gameful Course Design Aguilar, S., Karabenick, S., Fishman, B., Holman, C. (2014). Supporting Students’ Autonomy through Gameful Course Design. Poster presented at the International Conference on Motivation. Helsinki, Finland

Leveling-Up: Evolving Game-Inspired University Course Design Aguilar, S., Fishman, B., Holman, C. (2013). Leveling-Up: Evolving Game-Inspired University Course Design. Paper for Games+Learning+Society Conference 9.0. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Madison, WI.

Beyond Badges & Points: Gameful Assessment Systems for Engagement in Formal Education K., Vattel, L., Higgen, T., Schenke K., Sheldon, L., Ewing, C., Fishman, B., Aguilar, S., Holman, S. (2013). Beyond Badges & Points: Gameful Assessment Systems for Engagement in Formal Education. Symposium Games+Learning+Society Conference 9.0. University of Wisconsin- Madison. Madison, WI.

Designing a Game-Inspired Learning Management System Holman, C., Fishman, B., Aguilar, S. (2013). Designing a Game-Inspired Learning Management System. Poster for Games+Learning+Society Conference 9.0. University of Wisconsin- Madison . Madison, WI.

GradeCraft: What Can We Learn From a Game-Inspired Learning Management System? Holman, C., Aguilar, S., Fishman, B. (2013). GradeCraft: What Can We Learn From a Game-Inspired Learning Management System? Design brief for the 3rd Annual Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge. Leuven, Belgium.

Gaming the Class: Using a Game-based Grading System to Get Students to Work Harder… and Like It Fishman, B., & Aguilar, S. (2012). Gaming the Class: Using a Game-based Grading System to Get Students to Work Harder… and Like It. In C. Martin, A. Ochsner, & K. Squire (Eds.), Proc. GLS 8.0 (pp. 111–118). Pittsburgh, PA: ETC Press