Mattson authors new book on teaching digital ethics

Kristen Mattson
Kristen Mattson, Adjunct Lecturer

Adjunct Lecturer Kristen Mattson has authored a new book on teaching digital ethics. Ethics in a Digital World: Guiding Students Through Society's Biggest Questions was recently published by the International Society for Technology in Education. Mattson designed the book to help students look at the technology around them through a critical lens.

"As a school librarian, I have been witnessing the increased focus on STEM in schools and started wondering if we were making a mistake by deprioritizing the humanities," she said. "People in Silicon Valley and higher education are having conversations around the ethical implications of the technology we use each day—but those conversations are not trickling down to K-12. I wanted to give secondary educators the background knowledge to begin having these discussions with students."

The book addresses six ethical questions: access to information, privacy in the digital age, human bias, the future of work, technology and mental health, and social media and society.

"Our students are already consumers of various technologies. I think most librarians would agree that we want them to be critical consumers—which may not happen if we do not provide time, space, and resources for allowing these conversations to take place," said Mattson. "Likewise, our students are creators. Schools are making changes to ensure that they have the necessary technological skills to produce the next wave of big technologies, but we must also make sure they have the mindsets to create technologies that are beneficial, not detrimental, to humans."

At the iSchool, Mattson teaches courses on digital citizenship and media literacy for youth. In addition to Ethics in a Digital World, she has authored Digital Citizenship in Action: Empowering Students to Engage in Online Communities (International Society for Technology in Education, 2017). Mattson earned her EdD in curriculum and instruction leadership, MS in instructional design and technology, and BS in elementary and middle school teaching from Northern Illinois University.

A companion site for Digital Citizenship in Action is available on Mattson's website

Updated on
Backto the news archive

Related News

Debnath datafies "The Bulletin"

MSIM student Tan Debnath, whose interests span data mining, statistical modeling, text mining, and digital humanities, joined the Center for Children's books as a research assistant. He was tasked with building curation processes that would datafy seventy-five years' worth of archival issues of The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, one of the nation's leading children's book review journals.

Tan Debnath stands casually with his hands in his pockets and smiles broadly at the camera. It's a sunny day

He receives Amazon Research Award to improve monitoring of Earth’s ecosystem

A new project led by Professor Jingrui He aims to help scientists monitor disruptions to the Earth’s ecosystem, such as climate change. She recently received support for her work through an Amazon Research Award, which includes $60,000 in cash and an additional $40,000 in Amazon Web Services (AWS) credits.

Jingrui He

iSchool researchers to present at CHI 2025

iSchool faculty and students will present their research at the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2025), which will be held from April 26 to May 1 in Yokohama, Japan. 

Undergraduate Research Symposium features iSchool students and mentors

Several iSchool undergraduate students will participate in the 18th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. During the event, visitors will learn about undergraduate research projects through oral and poster presentations, creative performances, and art exhibits. All are welcome to attend the symposium, which will be held on April 24 from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. in the Illini Rooms and South Lounge of the Illini Union. Oral presentations will be held on the second floor of the Illini Union.

Wang wins grand prize at Research Live!

Informatics PhD student Olivia Wang won the Grand Prize at the 2025 Research Live! competition, which was held on April 8 in the Campus Instructional Facility Atrium. At the event, which is hosted by the Graduate College, thirteen finalists presented their graduate research in three minutes or less to a general audience. Wang received $500 as the Grand Prize winner.

Olivia Wang