My family wanted to share a new book we received a copy of called Ethical Ed Tech: How Educators Can Lead on AI and Digital Safety in K–12 by Priten Soundar-Shah from Wiley for review consideration. All thoughts are my own. Inside this post is my affiliate links. If you click on the links and make a purchase I will make a small percentage from the products you purchase.
As a mom I would like to share something about Charlie, David, and I you may not know. We’ve never really been all that interested in artificial intelligence and all the technology that seems to be taking over the world these days. Truth be told, we’re still trying to figure out half the things our phones can do. But I also know that technology isn’t going away, and I want our family to understand it instead of being afraid of it. That’s one reason I was excited when I had the opportunity to read Ethical Ed Tech: How Educators Can Lead on AI and Digital Safety in K–12.
When David and I opened the book I thought it was just another self-help book written for teachers and school administrators. After reading more of the story, I realized it was much more than that. The book focuses on K–12 education, but many of the questions it asks are questions families are facing every day.
How much technology is too much? How do we keep kids safe online? What role should artificial intelligence play in our lives? How do we make sure technology helps people instead of replacing the human connections we all need? Questions I ask myself more times than I can count.
The Author Priten Soundar-Shah is an educator, philosopher, entrepreneur, and researcher whose work focuses on the relationship between technology and education. He is the CEO of PedagogyVentures and leads several nonprofit organizations dedicated to building a more responsible and human-centered future for educational technology. He also teaches courses on ethics and serves as a visiting researcher at Harvard’s Department of Philosophy. Even with all of those accomplishments, I found this book easy to understand and practical instead of overwhelming.
One thing I appreciated about Ethical Ed Tech was that the author didn’t spend his time talking down to readers. Instead, he shares examples of situations teachers and schools face every day. Topics such as artificial intelligence, digital privacy, biometrics, virtual reality, and other emerging technologies are discussed in ways that make sense. I never felt like I needed a computer science degree just to understand what the Author was talking about.
Another thing I liked was that the book recognizes that these decisions affect everyone. Parents, teachers, administrators, and students all have a voice when it comes to technology. That’s important because what children learn at school often follows them home, and families need to be part of those conversations.
With my family writing sharing stories about family life, books, and homeschooling resources, I think parents can benefit from this book just as much as educators can. Technology changes quickly, and keeping up with it isn’t always easy. Books like this help remind us that we don’t have to know everything. We just have to be willing to learn and ask questions.
One thing I liked was how Ethical Ed Tech is how useful some of these conversations could be for homeschooling families, especially those with middle school and high school students. Even if you aren’t teaching in a classroom, chances are your children or grandchildren are already using AI and technology every day.
This book could open up some great discussions about online safety, privacy, critical thinking, and using technology responsibly. In fact, I could see parts of this book being used as a supplement for a high school homeschool class or even as a starting point for family conversations around the dinner table.
I also appreciated that the author focused on responsibility rather than fear. Sometimes it seems like every conversation about AI either tells us it’s going to save the world or destroy it. This book takes a much more balanced approach. It encourages readers to think carefully about how technology can serve people while protecting privacy, promoting fairness, and putting students first.
Overall, my family enjoyed Ethical Ed Tech: How Educators Can Lead on AI and Digital Safety in K–12. David and I learned quite a bit from reading the story, and we appreciated that the author focused on helping people understand technology instead of making it seem scary or overwhelming. Whether you’re a teacher, homeschool parent, grandparent, or simply someone trying to make sense of artificial intelligence and digital safety, I believe you’ll find something valuable in these pages. My family would definitely recommend this book and look forward to seeing what Priten Soundar-Shah writes next.
About the book:
Strategies and tools to integrate emerging technologies into K–12 classrooms in a way that benefits all
Recognizing the unprecedented opportunities and complex ethical challenges of the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies in K–12 education, Ethical Ed Tech provides a practical, actionable guide for K–12 educators seeking to integrate technology responsibly, equitably, and effectively.
This book addresses the urgent need for ethical considerations in edtech, offering concrete strategies, case studies, and practical tools to empower teachers and school-based teams to make informed decisions that prioritize student wellbeing, privacy, and equitable access.
Readers will learn how to:
- Examine real scenarios educators face daily, instead of abstract principles
- Integrate philosophical foundations with practical implementation steps to develop a comprehensive framework
- Address emerging technologies like AI, biometrics, and VR to become forward-thinking classroom leaders
- Incorporate perspectives from administrators, teachers, parents, and students
- Access and implement adaptable templates for classroom and school-wide technology policies
Ethical Ed Tech is a timely, must-read resource for K–12 teachers, instructional coaches, and school-based teams navigating the ethical challenges of AI and emerging technologies. With real-world case studies and decision-making frameworks, it supports classroom-level choices and school-wide conversations alike. The book is also valuable for school leaders and other stakeholders who want to understand how AI is changing the educational landscape and impacting their policies
Meet the Author: Priten Soundar-Shah
Priten is an educator, philosopher, and entrepreneur working at the intersection of technology and education.
He is the CEO of PedagogyVentures, where he helps organizations integrate technology with proven teaching strategies.
Priten leads three nonprofits: PedagogyFutures, as Executive Director, which provides professional development resources to build a responsible, ethical, human-centered future for educational technology; Academy 4 Social Civics, as President, which is dedicated to civics education that prepares students to tackle future challenges; and Thinker, as CTO, which is working to scale critical thinking instruction at educational institutions around the world.
Priten is also the author of AI & The Future of Education: Teaching in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (Wiley, 2023), which was translated into Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Turkish, and Vietnamese, and the forthcoming book Ethical Ed Tech: How Educators Can Lead on AI & Digital Safety in K-12 (Wiley, 2026). He teaches courses on the Ethics of Ed Tech, Family & Society, and Epistemic Justice at College Unbound, a bachelor’s degree-granting institution focused on adult learners.
Priten is a visiting researcher at the Harvard Department of Philosophy focusing on developing philosophically grounded yet practical approaches to teaching critical, ethical reasoning at scale for educators and students.
He holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Harvard College and an M.Ed. in Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
