Punya Mishra is Director of Innovative Learning Futures at the Learning Engineering Institute (LEI) and Professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University (with an affiliate appointment in the Design School).
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; published over 200 articles and edited 5 books. A recipient of AECT’s David H. Jonassen Excellence in Research Award, with over 64,000 citations of his research, he is ranked among the top 2% of scientists worldwide (#91 in social science) and the top 50 scholars (top 10 in psychology) who have the biggest influence on educational practice and policy in the US.
Punya has extensive leadership experience in higher education, having previously served as Associate Dean of Scholarship & Innovation (at MLFTC), where he led a range of initiatives that provided a future-forward, equity driven, approach to inter/trans-disciplinary educational research. He has also served as director of doctoral programs (at MLFTC) and the award-winning Master of Arts in Educational Technology program (at Michigan State). He currently is a member of the steering committee of ASU’s Leadership Academy, AACTE’s Technology and Innovation Committee, and editor-in-residence for the Journal of Teacher Education.
An AERA Fellow (2024), TED-Ed educator (2023), he co-hosts the award-winning Silver Lining for Learning webinar as well as the Learning Futures 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
From Self-Driving Cars to Selfish Genes: Trapped in AI’s Metaphors, Literally
Tesla recently, unannounced gave me temporary access to its Full Self Driving system, and I decided to give it a whirl. It was somewhat unnerving to sit back and experience the car "do its thing." But over time you get to understand how the car is behaving, where it...
When Truth Doesn’t Matter: AI Falls for Illusory Optical Illusions
I've been exploring ChatGPT's ability to analyze images, and the results have been impressive. From interpreting complex refugee statistics to conducting semiotic analyses of street art, the AI has shown a remarkable ability to extract meaning from visual information....
Copy, Paste, Personality: AI and the Messy Science of Being Human
According to MIT Technology Review (AI can now create a replica of your personality) a new paper from Stanford and Google DeepMind researchers claims that a two-hour interview is enough for AI to create an accurate "replica" of your personality. The idea that we can...
AMA with Digital Promise: An AI-opening Discussion
I recently had the pleasure of participating in Digital Promise's inaugural AI Education Exchange "Ask Me Anything" series, hosted by Kelly McNeil. This was my first LinkedIn AMA and was great fun, in large part due to the team that helped set it up and the broader...
When Tools Become Culture
In my doctoral seminar last Monday, I started class as I always do - with a "This Day in History" moment. Essentially Nicole Oster and I spend a bit of time digging through that date’s Wikipedia page finding interesting nuggets that connect with topics we are...
Of Stochastic Parrots and Drunk Interns: My Chat with Win Coalition
I recently sat down with Ryan Gray and Robin Bryce of Yavapai College for Win Coalition's What's Next Speaker Series. Regular readers of this blog will know exactly what I must have talked about - no surprises here! We dove into AI, education, and where all this is...
Perspectives on Global Learning: SLL at the GLOW Conference:
I joined my Silver Lining for Learning (SLL) co-hosts - Chris Dede, Curt Bonk, and Lydia Cao (with Yong Zhao unable to attend due to travel) - to deliver a keynote at the Global Learning for an Open World Conference. SLL has been a labor of love over the past five...
AI’nt Fair: Why AI May Make Learning Gaps Wider
What is the relationship between AI and human creativity? Will AI supercharge human innovation, amplifying our ability to discover and invent? Or will it replace human ingenuity altogether? Or are we entering a hybrid future where humans and AI combine in unexpected...
Hype, Luck, and Numbers: More Gratuitous Self-Promotion
[Because apparently one self-congratulatory post this year wasn't enough] A few months ago, I wrote about some academic recognition that came my way, noting how "time in the field" eventually leads to certain accolades. Well, 2024 continues to bring two more pieces of...
… or check out some random blog posts
Jared Diamond on creativity, innovation and wealth
Jared Diamond has an article on edge.org, somewhat provocatively titled: How to get rich? The question his after is simply, "what is the best way to organize human groups and human organizations and businesses so as to maximize productivity, creativity, innovation,...
TPACK Newsletter #7: March-April 2010
TPACK Newsletter, Issue #7.1: Special SITE & AERA Conference Issue March-April 2010 Welcome to the seventh edition of the TPACK Newsletter, published four times each year between September and April. If you are not sure what TPACK is, please surf over to...
Harris, Mishra & Koehler, republished
Back in 2009, Judi Harris, Matt Koehler and I published in a piece in the Journal of Research on Technology in Education. That article has now been included in a book, titled: Considerations on Technology & Teachers: The Best of JRTE, edited by Lynne Schrum, and...
Vikram OR Vetaal, A Halloween Story (co-authored with AI)
A few weeks back, Sean Leahy – friend, tech aficionado, futurist, and the co-host of the Learning Futures Podcast – reached out to me via email with an intriguing proposal. He was playing with the concept of harnessing generative AI to craft Halloween stories. The aim...
Value in an age of free…
What happens when an economy "built on selling precious copies" suddenly confronts the world of the Internet - a world based on the "free flow of free copies?" Kevin Kelly confronts this issue in a recent post titled, Better than free. As he says, "how does one make...
21st Century Competencies, what are they? New article
Back in June 2011 I was in Paris for EduSummIT: Building a Global Community of Policy-Makers, Educators, and Researchers to Move Education into the Digital Age. EduSummIT was organized by UNESCO (along with other partners) and brought together over 120 scholars,...
21st century learning article receives ISTE award
Back in July 2013, the Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education (JDLTE) published our paper on 21st Century Learning. This paper written with Kristen Kereluik, Chris Fahnoe and Laura Terry looked at over a dozen different 21st century learning frameworks and...
AACTE Major Forum Presentation
I include below a copy of the AACTE Major Forum presentation (announcement here) that I made at New Orleans on Saturday, February 9. There were other things that I participated in (as listed here) and I will post about them later. Matt was supposed to do this talk (as...
TPACK @ AERA, New York
In a few weeks TPACK will be going to AERA. There are a couple of events scheduled: First, is a symposium titled: Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK): A Conceptual Framework With Examples for Integrating Technologies Into Teacher Education [download...