Nonfiction books are good ones for me to listen to in the car. (That and mysteries, not sure why.) I think it's my podcast Pavlovian response: I'm in the car, I must be an info-junkie. Regardless, I happened on a really good one recently that ties into school, written by Richard Culotta--the CEO of ASCD* and ISTE.* His book: Digital for Good: Raising Kids Thriving in an Online World.
Digital For Good is indeed a good book, and it makes for excellent reading for all educators in today's world. Parents too. The title is spot on, and matches his theme about how we need to be using digital for good in today's world. I found the book also paralleled many of the concepts I teach at school through The Social Institute (a digital decision making curriculum platform created by Laura Tierney). The focus is on the positives, on making high character choices, and "the do's" versus "the don'ts" of digital citizenship. You can see the parallels in Digital for Good's 5 themes versus the 7 standards of "The Social Institute" in the images below. (Additionally, there's a lot of overlap between both of them with Google's Digital Citizenship Curriculum: "Be Internet Awesome.)
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I found it interesting too, listening to many of Richard Culotta's points about digital democracy and the urgency toward building a civil digital world--especially so in the aftermath of the 2024 election. His emphasis on the importance of improving lives is striking: through digital government commitments in order to build a sustainable virtual world that is focused on humanity, democracy, and civility over profits from platforms and the spread of misinformation.
Looking at the publication date, I saw that Digital For Good came out July 21, 2021. This places us a year after the height of the pandemic, yet before former-president Donald Trump's Truth Social posted it's first post on February 16, 2022 and also before Twitter (now X) was acquired in October 2022 by Elon Musk.
It made me wonder "What would Richard Culotta Think About where we are today?" How would he write this book differently, addressing where we are, a mere 3 years later?
Richard Culotta is still a strident defender of digital democracy for all here in 2024. In his current role as ASCD and ISTE CEO, he still emphasizes the importance of:
- Teaching self-control and accountability for balanced and healthy tech use;
- Building skills to identify the difference between true and misleading information;
- Being inclusive to all by way of respect, empathy, compassion, kindness, and equality in digital spaces;
- Using tech in a way that builds and enhances family, community, and relational connections;
- Operating with caution and privacy in mind to stay alert in order to keep ourselves and our information safe.
Just as with voting, it's up to us. We need to use our voice as educators, as parents, as citizens to speak up to create the world we want for ourselves and our children. Using our digital impact for good is a great place to start. So is reading this book!
Image from https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Good-Raising-Thrive-Online-ebook/dp/B08CGWJZR1/ref=sr_1_1?crid=36BEXRZTWKTJA&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.sVoOtIHTD0AaXDP3n5DPr0xnZ-RQUA7v12PLJm93aynGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.c8k9IUzEyVM1ObefAnFKrH4YyDZngsUnR24hjA-KFnU&dib_tag=se&keywords=digital+for+good+richard+culatta&qid=1732293174&sprefix=digital+for+good%2Caps%2C117&sr=8-1, https://thesocialinstitute.com/blog/the-social-institute-launches-student-led-social-emotional-remote-program-to-address-challenges-facing-schools-and-students/, and 5 standards from the book created by me at canva.com using their Magic Media tools.
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