Education by Design: Synthesizing Learning Experiences with AI
DCI 691: Fall 2025 | Thursdays 9 – 11:45, Tempe Campus
Instructor: Punya Mishra

Calling all creative risk-takers! This graduate-level course explores how design, as both a way of thinking and as a transformative process, can be amplified by the emerging possibilities of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI). We’re interested in how AI might transform how we design and learn, offering new possibilities for breaking down barriers between imagination and creation, between what we can envision and what we can build. While offered through MLFC, this course welcomes curious minds from across all fields, whether you’re in music, history, business, engineering, arts, sciences, or anywhere in between. We’re seeking students who are willing to play, experiment, and create at the intersection of their expertise, design, and this emerging technology. No prior technical expertise or experience with GenAI is required, but a willingness to think systemically, experiment boldly, and engage critically with both design processes and emerging technologies is essential.

If you have any questions feel free to email me at punya [AT] asu.edu

Extended description: This graduate-level course explores design as both a way of thinking and a transformative process that values collaboration, context, and diverse perspectives. Design touches every aspect of human experience, from websites and cars to ATM machines and educational policy. This multidimensional reality requires a multifaceted approach that draws from science, technology, engineering, education, psychology, sociology, organizational behavior, and art. In this class, we will examine design through the lens of five interconnected educational spaces: artifacts, processes, experiences, systems, and culture. 

As Artificial Intelligence (specifically GenAI) begins to influence practices across disciplines (from scientific research to artistic creation, business innovation to historical analysis) we need thoughtful exploration of how these tools might be integrated into our work. Drawing on years of collaborative framework development, we explore and examine how designing with GenAI might transform each of these fundamental dimensions of education, potentially enabling us to create sophisticated learning experiences that were previously beyond reach.

Design & AI: Typographical Design by Punya Mishra

Students will engage with collaborative design as an approach to generating creative solutions to the complex challenges inherent in teaching and learning. They will use GenAI as a creative partner in designing games, simulations, interactive experiences, and other learning artifacts. Key areas of inquiry include:

• The Five Spaces Framework: Understanding how design manifests differently across artifacts (what we create), processes (how we work), experiences (what learners encounter), systems (institutional structures), and culture (shared values and practices). We examine how AI integration might transform each of these educational dimensions. 
• AI as Creative Partner: Exploring how GenAI might amplify human creativity, moving past simple chatbot interactions to explore possibilities for enabling designers to code interactive simulations, generate game mechanics, create multimedia experiences, and prototype learning tools that could genuinely transform how students engage with ideas—all without traditional programming barriers.
• Collaborative Design: Engaging in collective inquiry through readings, discussions, and shared making—where students work collaboratively and transparently to design educational experiences that exceed what any of us could accomplish alone. This collaborative approach values diverse perspectives and leverages the collective intelligence of the learning community.

Through this work, students develop skills and perspectives that transfer beyond education—learning to thoughtfully integrate AI into their own fields and professional practice. 

Chain Ambigram for the word “Design”

A personal note: Education by Design has always been one of my favorite courses to teach, but this version excites me in entirely new ways. We’re venturing into territory that will challenge and expand how we understand design itself—a space where creativity meets rigor, where theory informs practice, and where the future of education takes shape through thoughtful design (with GenAI).

To get a sense of what this class could possible look like – take a peek at the class I taught in Spring 2025: Human Creativity x AI in Education

About the Instructor

Punya Mishra juggles being a learning engineer, professor, researcher, author, artist, and designer at the Mary Lou Fulton College of Teaching and Learning Innovation at ASU. He is interested in life, the universe, and everything; and loves shoehorning Douglas Adams’ book titles into his bio statement. You can find him at punyamishra.com