Review of The ethics of digital literacy: Developing knowledge and skills across grade levels DeHart, J. D. (2021, June 23). Review of The ethics of digital literacy: Developing knowledge and skills across grade levels by K. Hawley-Turner. Education Review, 28. http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/er.v28.3111 June 23, 2021 ISSN 1094-5296 Hawley Turner, K. (2019). The ethics of digital literacy: Developing knowledge and skills across grade levels. Rowman & Littlefield. Pp. 184 ISBN-13 978-1475846768 Reviewed by Jason D. DeHart Appalachian State University United States In many ways, the research and commentary contained in The Ethics of Digital Literacy feels prescient, and in some ways the release date of the book feels as though there is a sense of urgency that the editor and contributors did not yet know would exist. The book is edited by Kristen Hawley Turner and contributes to the field by taking on questions of what it means to be ethical in digital space, a conversation that is timely given our current state of virtual learning as teachers and researchers grapple with the movement to online learning, as well the oscillation back and forth from in-person to hybrid models. A number of voices from the literacy field have contributed to this volume, including Antero Garcia, Renee Hobbs, Sara Kajder, Nicole Mirra, and W. Ian O’Byrne. Many of these voices introduce sections of the book with meditations, which are then taken up by other contributors. This growing list of names from scholarship speaks to the quality of the work and works as a kind of call and response, threading together noteworthy elements of digital identity construction and enactment. These are thinkers whom I would cite were I to construct a response about the importance of digital ethics in today’s world, as well in the world that tomorrow might hold. Hawley Turner begins this conversation by noting the differences in the ways that students engage with reading material online and in print, and situates the content as a growing concept that is not easily taught and then simply reasserted in new environments. The challenge of digital literacy and Education Review /Reseñas Educativas/Resenhas Educativas 2 digital ethics is the adaptation that takes place across platforms and new ways of interaction, and this sense of difficulty punctuates the theoretical foundation of the book. Hawley Turner turns to concepts of multimodality, or the communication of meaning through multiple avenues of expression, as well as to notes about the divide between digital ethics and digital literacy. Other contributors draw on the educational standards of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) as a way of broadening the framework for theory and practice. The notes that contributors make are key for the moment and, I suspect, for the world as global literacies become an increasing initiative and a growing awareness of digital disparities increase and more dramatically affect school policies. Hawley Turner rightly points to the difference between knowing how to do something in a tool-based approach and choosing to do something in a digital environment. This note occurs again later as contributors Katie Henry and Bud Hunt comment on the tools that teachers can draw on and, moreover, what can be accomplished with these tools. In the context of Zoom-bombing, misinformation campaigns, and social media platforms attuned to political inclination, this information feels relevant. It is all too much a reality that society has a number of tools for mass information at its disposal. How these tools are taken up, from the platform to the feature, maintains a sense of importance in the way that information is communicated, changed, or omitted. In an opening mediation, Nicole Mirra points to a divide in digital access that has only been underscored by the pandemic. Educators who have experienced difficulties with keeping students connected know this reality well, and the differences among access in rural areas, urban areas, and across socioeconomic lines has been documented (Anderson & Kumar, 2019; Rainie, 2020). Mirra pushes for a deeper understanding of what digital ethics and citizenship mean, beyond surface-level concerns of what is shared and what is private. Subsequent chapters expand on this notion of accessibility and empowerment and bring case studies of school interactions into the conversation as support. The volume leaves the reader with an additional set of considerations as contributors Michelle C. Walker, Monica Sheehan, and Romana Biondi consider what it means for students to compose, drawing on the viewpoints and resources that are readily available for a variety of rhetorical purposes. In furthering research-based thinking about practice, contributors take up questions of affording student control, collaboration, and enactment of digital identity. Derek Burtch and Amelia Gordon highlight the importance of navigating misunderstandings to build empathy. Kajder explores the need, combined with the concerns, for teachers to model what it means to be plugged in and create a “digital footprint” (p. 34); and contributors Susan Luft and Paul Tomizawa expand on this concept. Through blogging, modeling expectations for online comments or netiquette, and considering the norms of virtual interactions, these authors make the case that educators Review of The ethics of digital literacy 3 have profound work to do in shaping what it means to be a digital citizen. Central to all of these threads of conversation is the idea of teacher-student interactions for a digital citizenship that travels beyond narrowed restrictions and more closely-hewn applications to a sense of the power of rhetoric. Priscilla Thomas and Alex Corbitt further shape an understanding of the role of online discourse by suggesting that interactions should rise above what they term “troll rhetoric” (p. 81). This examination of classroom practice provides an example of a teacher who is doing the work of reconsidering defensive reactions and promoting positive discussion, and it points to the notion of empathy. It is from this range of voices that The Ethics of Digital Literacy would serve to inform the work of researchers in considering the problems that are created by misapplications of digital ethics, particularly in times of questioning what it means to be democratically involved in online spaces. Yet, it is also the work of teachers, those who are spending time online creating lessons, enacting identities, and crafting classroom communities, to model this work in practice. The book acts as a conversation between this theory and practice, and to divide these notions in terms of audience would be a disservice to members of either readership. The politics of social interactions online are complex and may be difficult to package for young learners. This text provides helpful examples as a foundation for key ideas in how to go about this important work of empathy. It is a timely collection that draws much needed attention to work that is not always easy to accomplish, but which is a daily reality for educators right now. References Anderson, M., & Kumar, M. (2019). Digital divide persists even as lower-income Americans make gains in tech adoption. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/05/07/digital-divide- persists-even-as-lower-income-americans-make-gains-in-tech- adoption/ Rainie, L. (2020). American life in the midst of crisis: How people are using technology as their lives are upended. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2020/11/13/american-life- in-the-midst-of-crisis-how-people-are-using-technology-as-their-lives- are-upended/ About the Reviewer Jason D. DeHart is an assistant professor of reading education at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. DeHart’s research interests include multimodal literacy and adolescent reading and writing development. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/05/07/digital-divide-persists-even-as-lower-income-americans-make-gains-in-tech-adoption/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/05/07/digital-divide-persists-even-as-lower-income-americans-make-gains-in-tech-adoption/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/05/07/digital-divide-persists-even-as-lower-income-americans-make-gains-in-tech-adoption/ https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2020/11/13/american-life-in-the-midst-of-crisis-how-people-are-using-technology-as-their-lives-are-upended/ https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2020/11/13/american-life-in-the-midst-of-crisis-how-people-are-using-technology-as-their-lives-are-upended/ https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2020/11/13/american-life-in-the-midst-of-crisis-how-people-are-using-technology-as-their-lives-are-upended/ Education Review /Reseñas Educativas/Resenhas Educativas 4 Education Review/Reseñas Educativas/Resenhas Educativas is supported by the Scholarly Communications Group at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University. 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