Dr. Kristen Mattson joins us to discuss an important, evolving topic in our digital world: ethics. She begins by defining what it means to be a digital citizen and dives into the importance of educating not only parents, but also teachers about digital ethics. Dr. Mattson has spent her career as an educator, giving a lot of attention to this topic, and has recently written a book answering some of the biggest questions.
She feels that technology is often taught in a silo, but her philosophy is that digital literacy and information media literacy skills should be embedded naturally within the content areas. When you include those higher order thinking skills, the curriculum is more engaging and relevant to the students. The discussion continues by acknowledging that teachers need to point out to students that they are creating their digital footprints as young as age five, sometimes younger. Healthy classroom debates occur with older students surrounding the topic of privacy and security. We must decide how much data we are willing to give up to a technology company. Are we okay with it personally, and are we okay with it collectively as a society? Dr. Oliver’s interview with Kristen concludes with several helpful resources for teachers who are getting started with digital citizenship and digital ethics topics in the classroom. Dr. Kristen Mattson’s new book Ethics in a Digital World: Guiding Students Through Society’s Biggest Questions can be purchased through this link: https://amzn.to/3uFADXp About Our Guest Kristen Mattson is a wife, mother of three, former English teacher and school librarian. She is currently an adjunct professor and consultant. She partners with educators in all content areas to integrate digital literacy, research skills, creation and innovation in the classroom. Kristen holds a bachelor’s degree in education, a master’s degree in instructional design and technology, and a doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction leadership from Northern Illinois University, where she conducted a critical discourse analysis on secondary digital citizenship curriculum. Follow her on Twitter @DrKMattson
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