Punya Mishra is a Professor in the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching & Learning Innovation (MLFC) at Arizona State University (with an affiliate appointment in the Design School). He is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Universal Education; and AI Innovation Fellow at the Learning Engineering Institute (LEI).
He is internationally recognized for his work in educational technology; the role of creativity and aesthetics in learning; and the application of collaborative, design-based approaches to educational innovation. He has received over $11 million in grants (most recently a Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship); published over 200 articles and edited 5 books. A recipient of AECT’s David H. Jonassen Excellence in Research Award, with over 82,000 citations of his research, he is ranked among the top 2% of scientists worldwide (#91 in social science) and ranked #44 (#5 in psychology) among educational scholars with the biggest influence on educational practice and policy.
Punya has extensive leadership experience in higher education. He currently heads the AI in Education, Learning Futures Collaborative; serves on ASU’s AI Advisory Committee; and leads the AI and Technology working group of AACTE’s EdPrepLab. An AERA Fellow (2024), TED-Ed educator (2023), he co-hosts the award-winning Silver Lining for Learning webinar as well as AIR|GPT podcast. He is an award-winning instructor, an engaging public speaker, and an accomplished visual artist and poet.
Must reads
Webinars & Podcasts:
Value Laden (archived)
Apple | Spotify | Simplecast
Blog Posts
Of Pride & Prejudice (and a Smart Drunk Intern)
How many students feel pride in the work they are made to do for school? My guess is very few. Pride if anything comes from the final grade not the work itself. The work too often is just meant to be seen by the teacher. I have been thinking about this idea of pride...
27 Windows on the Universe (09): Metaphors as Windows
I thought I was done with this series about the human side of science, drawn from interviews with 27 cosmologists. Earlier posts explored, how this project started, the method, the role of wonder and beauty, the craft, how scientists think, what keeps them going and...
27 Windows on the Universe (08): The Last Window
This is the last post in a series about the human side of science, drawn from interviews with 27 cosmologists. Earlier posts explored, how this project started, the method, the role of wonder and beauty, the craft, how scientists think, what keeps them going and how...
Paths Crossing at the Digital Maidan: Keynotes, Forewords, and Futures
This post is long overdue. I was in Bangalore, back in December 2025, for the Quest 2 Learn Summit organized by the Quest Alliance. Quest and I go back to 2008, when I first attended one of their conferences. Our paths have kept crossing since: the Quest to Learning...
The Mirror and the Black Box: AI Metaphors and What They Mean for Learning
The latest installment of the Rethinking Technology & Creativity column in TechTrends is published. This one, co-authored with Danah Henriksen, is called "The Mirror and the Black Box: AI Metaphors and What They Mean for Learning." (Full citation and link below.)...
The Classroom and Beyond: Teacher Education in a GenAI World
Danah Henriksen and I have a chapter in the Third International Handbook of Educational Change (2026), edited by A. Lin Goodwin, Andy Hargreaves, Victoria Showunmi, Corrie Stone-Johnson, and Jennie Weiner. In our chapter, "The Classroom and Beyond: Teacher Education...
27 Windows on the Universe (07): The Ecosystem
This is the seventh in a series about the human side of science, drawn from interviews with 27 cosmologists. T Earlier posts explored, how this project started, the method, the role of wonder and beauty, the craft, how scientists think, and what keeps them going and...
27 Windows on the Universe (06): The Drive
This is the sixth in a series about the human side of science, drawn from interviews with 27 cosmologists. Earlier posts explored, how this project started, the method, the role of wonder and beauty, the craft and how scientists think. This one is about what keeps...
Look What You Made Me Do: The Dawkins Saga, Part II
A week or so ago I wrote a letter to Richard Dawkins — part tribute, part diagnosis — about his now-famous two-day conversation with Claude (or rather, "Claudia"), in which one of our most celebrated skeptics concluded that the chatbot might well be conscious. The...
… or check out some random blog posts
AI, Human Rights, and Education: A Virtual Panel Discussion
I recently participated in a virtual panel organized by the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of British Columbia (FPSE), examining the intersection of AI: Human rights, and Education. The event brought together five panelists from different institutions and...
Sketching on the iPad
Over the past few weeks I have been experimenting with using my iPad as a drawing/painting tool. The sketches below were created by tracing on an existing image - usually a photograph. So this is not "freehand" drawing per se - but given my limited talents that may...
New Course—Education by Design: Synthesizing Learning Experiences with AI
Education by Design: Synthesizing Learning Experiences with AIDCI 691: Fall 2025 | Thursdays 9 - 11:45, Tempe CampusInstructor: Punya Mishra Calling all creative risk-takers! This graduate-level course explores how design, as both a way of thinking and as a...
Paths Crossing at the Digital Maidan: Keynotes, Forewords, and Futures
This post is long overdue. I was in Bangalore, back in December 2025, for the Quest 2 Learn Summit organized by the Quest Alliance. Quest and I go back to 2008, when I first attended one of their conferences. Our paths have kept crossing since: the Quest to Learning...
Why creativity, technology and education don’t play well together?
What is the relationship between technology and creativity, particularly in educational contexts? In this article, we provide a critical thematic literature review of existing scholarship at the intersection of creativity, technology, and teaching/learning in...
ChatGPT for Teachers: Insights from Online Discussions
In our ongoing exploration of creativity, learning, and technology for the journal TechTrends, my co-authors and I have turned our attention to the fascinating intersection of generative AI and education. Our past interviews have featured innovators such as Chris...
Ideas are cool
My colleague and friend David Wong has this cool idea, about making ideas cool. Actually, he has been espousing these ideas for a while now (check out his scholarly publications, in particular The Rebirth of Cool [Word doc]). But now this academic has stepped out of...
3 pieces of wisdom, one muddled conclusion
Just came up with this in response to something Leigh had said on Facebook... thought it ought to be saved for the future: Great fools think that birds of a feather seldom differ together! I wonder what it means? Can you identify the three nuggets of wisdom that went...
Hotels & the internet
A while ago David Pogue, NYTimes tech columnist and reviewer, asked a his readers a series of questions that he hadn't been able to find an answer for. This list, called Pogue's Imponderables, generated a lot of comments from readers. One of his questions was "Why is...