Mirriam Banda

Mirriam is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, where she collaborates with the EdTech Fellows under the Learning Sciences for Innovators program, working alongside Learning Engineers and UX designers on the team. Her interdisciplinary work centers on education, technology, and development, with a particular focus on creating inclusive digital learning environments for underserved communities. This work provides a foundation for exploring the legacies of colonization in education, digital colonialism, and the impact of philanthropic capitalism on education systems in Sub-Saharan Africa.

As a Postdoctoral fellow, she brings over a decade of experience in teaching, instructional design, and international education, having previously served as an Educational Technology Consultant at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she supported faculty in optimizing online and hybrid course design and delivery across multiple learning platforms. Her teaching career spans secondary and international schools in Malawi and China, with a strong emphasis on curriculum development, inclusive pedagogy, and community engagement.  

Her scholarly interests include qualitative research methods, especially phenomenology, case study approaches, and ethnography, as well as the intersection of technology and gender in education. She has received several fellowships and grants, such as the American Association of University Women (AAUW) International Fellowship and the PEO Peace Scholarship. She also actively participates in academic communities, such as the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES).