Sam von Gillern is Associate Professor of Digital Literacies and Artificial Intelligence in the Department of Learning, Teaching, and Curriculum. His scholarship examines how children and educators learn, teach, communicate, and create meaning in digital environments, with particular emphases on AI literacy, video game literacies, media literacy, and digital citizenship. A central focus of his work is understanding how practicing and preservice teachers perceive digital technologies, weigh their educational benefits and concerns, and approach their integration into classroom instruction. He examines teachers’ preparedness to teach with and about emerging technologies while exploring instructional practices that support students’ literacy development, critical thinking, creative expression, and thoughtful participation in digital communities.
   
   von Gillern’s research spans teacher preparation, classroom-based inquiry, and professional learning. His contributions include instruments examining teachers’ perspectives on AI, digital citizenship, and game-based learning, alongside studies of AI-supported writing, video games as interactive texts, and students’ creation of civic media. Together, these strands connect educators’ perspectives with practical approaches to teaching and learning in digital environments. His scholarship has appeared in prominent journals including Computers & Education, British Journal of Educational Technology, and Teaching and Teacher Education. He serves as the AI Lead on the $9.6 million U.S. Department of Education–funded Amplify Literacy Learning project, which supports classroom teachers through research-based professional development in evidence-based literacy instruction enhanced by AI. He previously served as a co-principal investigator on a $1.5 million project funded by National Institutes of Health–funded on digital gamified learning addressing organic chemistry concepts. His honors include the Outstanding Early Career Researcher Award from the American Educational Research Association’s Technology, Instruction, Cognition, and Learning (TICL) Special Interest Group.
   
   His current research advances AI literacy education, examines teachers’ and students’ experiences with AI, and explores using locally run AI models in qualitative research. A Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award recipient, he will collaborate with the Chilean National Center on Artificial Intelligence (CENIA) and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in spring 2027 to support rural K–8 teachers’ AI literacy. At Mizzou, he also mentors graduate students, connecting his research agenda with preparing educators and scholars who can critically and creatively engage with rapidly evolving digital environments.

Areas of Expertise




• Literacy Development
• Digital Literacies
• AI Literacy
• Digital Citizenship
• Video Game Literacies