Rate My Professor Ilene Berson

Ilene R. Berson, Ph.D., is a Professor of Early Childhood Education and Program Coordinator for the Early Childhood Doctoral Program in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of South Florida College of Education. She holds affiliate faculty appointments in Learning Design and Technology and Qualitative Research. An internationally recognized scholar in early childhood education, her research examines how young children use digital technologies to explore the world, engage in civic inquiry, and develop critical thinking skills. Her interdisciplinary scholarship focuses on the intersection of technology, inquiry-based learning, and children’s civic agency in the digital age, including digital citizenship, cybercitizenship, ethical AI integration, participatory methodologies, and developmentally appropriate use of primary sources to foster historical thinking and spatial reasoning.

Berson has authored over 280 publications, with highly cited works such as “Emerging risks of violence in the digital age: Lessons for educators from an online study of adolescent girls in the United States” (2002), “Grooming cybervictims: The psychosocial effects of online exploitation for youth” (2003), and “Introduction: High-Tech Tots: Childhood in a Digital World” (2010). Her research has received funding from the National Science Foundation, Library of Congress, Spencer Foundation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Florida Department of Health. She has earned awards including the USF President’s Award for Women in Leadership, USF Global Academic Partner Scholar designation, University of Toledo Distinguished Alumni Award, AACTE Best Practice Award for Innovative Use of Technology, Distinguished Service Award from the AERA Global Child Advocacy Special Interest Group, and the 2025 Taylor & Francis Outstanding Article Award from the Association of Teacher Educators for “Cultivating Wonder: A Design-Based Approach to Elevating Social Studies in the Early Years.” Berson has presented at the U.S. Senate Policy Forum on Privacy, Security and Identity in Networked Education, UK Parliament, and Oxford University. She serves on the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Advisory Board and as USF representative to the Tampa Bay History Center Education Committee. She teaches courses on cybersecurity, visual research methods, ICT in early years, and early childhood social studies.