Dr. Troy Hicks is an award-winning expert in digital literacy, writing instruction, and teacher education.
Troy is a professor of English and education at Central Michigan University and focuses his work on the teaching of writing, the intersections of literacy and technology, and, more broadly, teacher education and professional development. A former middle school teacher, he collaborates with K–12 colleagues and explores how they implement new literacies in their classrooms. Hicks directs CMU’s Chippewa River Writing Project, a site of the National Writing Project, and, previously, the Master of Arts in Learning, Design & Technology, leading the program to become the first ed tech program to reach 100% alignment with the ISTE Standards for Educators. An ISTE Certified Educator, a certified facilitator through StoryCenter, and an affiliate faculty member of the Media Education Lab, Dr. Hicks frequently conducts professional development workshops related to writing and technology. Recently, he has served as the leader of a Teaching with Primary Sources grant through the Library of Congress, and as a co-editor of the Michigan Reading Journal.
Most recently, he is the author of Mindful Teaching with Technology: Digital Diligence in the English Language Arts, Grades 6-12 (Guilford Press). Also, Hicks is author of the Heinemann titles Crafting Digital Writing (2013) and The Digital Writing Workshop (2009) as well as a co-author of Because Digital Writing Matters (Jossey-Bass, 2010), Create, Compose, Connect! (Routledge/Eye on Education, 2014), Connected Reading (NCTE, 2015), Research Writing Rewired (Corwin Literacy, 2015), Coaching Teacher-Writers (Teachers College Press, 2016), Argument in the Real World (Heinemann, 2017), From Texting to Teaching (Routledge/Eye on Education, 2017), Ask, Explore, Write! (Routledge/Eye on Education, 2020), and Creating Confident Writers (W. W. Norton, 2020). His edited collection, Assessing Students’ Digital Writing (Teachers College Press, 2015) features the work of seven National Writing Project teachers. Hicks has authored or co-authored over 40 journal articles and book chapters, and he blogs at hickstro.org.
Since beginning work at CMU in 2007, he has earned numerous distinctions including the Michigan Council of Teachers of English Charles Carpenter Fries Award (2008), CMU’s Provost’s Award for junior faculty who demonstrate outstanding achievement in research and creative activity (2011), the Richard A. Meade Award for scholarship in English Education (2014), the Michigan Reading Association’s Teacher Educator Award (2018), CMU’s Excellence in Teaching Award (2020), and the Initiative for 21st Century Literacies Research’s Divergent Award for Excellence (2020).