The new Microsoft Elevate for Educators initiative was presented at Microsoft House in Milan
How can schools harness artificial intelligence without being overwhelmed by it? And what skills do teachers, administrators, and students need to turn AI into a safe and inclusive educational resource?
These are some of the questions at the heart of the event “The School of the Future”, held on May 18 at Microsoft House in Milan, to mark the launch of Microsoft Elevate for Educators, Microsoft’s new global and free program dedicated to training teachers and school administrators on the use of artificial intelligence in teaching and school administration. The program offers online resources, on-demand courses on the Microsoft Learn platform, certifications, and an international community of educators, with various levels of recognition, from Explorer to Fellow. The initiative is part of the global Microsoft Elevate program, which aims to train over 400,000 people in Italy over the next two years.
The event also served as an opportunity to strengthen the partnership between Microsoft Italia and Fondazione Mondo Digitale, which are working together on two complementary fronts: supporting teachers in the educational use of artificial intelligence and promoting digital safety among students.
Through Ital.IA LAB for School, a widespread workshop aimed at teachers at all levels of education, Fondazione Mondo Digitale and Microsoft Italia are promoting the adoption of AI in Italian schools that is ethical, inclusive, and informed. The project is based on a “by teachers, for teachers” approach and offers flexible, modular webinars hosted on the Fondazione Mondo Digitale platform, along with a nine-module online video course. The activities provide concrete applications for innovating teaching, in line with the Ministry’s guidelines, and offer worksheets, classroom materials, and micro-certifications for the skills acquired.
The second pillar of collaboration is Smart & Safe, an initiative dedicated to students’ digital safety. Over 160 volunteers from Microsoft Italy led online and in-person training sessions, helping young people navigate digital environments with greater awareness. The workshops focused on topics such as account protection, strong passwords, recognizing scams and phishing, and risks associated with deepfakes. The project involved over 3,000 students from nearly 150 classes across Italy.
“Synergies like these are part of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale’s broader commitment to promoting informed digital citizenship, based on education, participation, and well-being, starting from the school years,” states Mirta Michilli, general director of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale. “ The projects developed in partnership with Microsoft aim to guide children and adolescents as they grow within the virtual space, where the physical and digital dimensions intertwine every day, in the belief that the protection of minors requires an educational approach capable of involving the entire educational community.”
During the event, discussions with institutions, administrators, teachers, and researchers confirmed a key point: artificial intelligence cannot enter schools merely as a technical tool. It requires a pedagogical vision, responsible data management, human supervision, and the ability to build professional communities that experiment, share practices, and learn together.
From this perspective, the joint work of Fondazione Mondo Digitale and Microsoft Italia helps make the transition more concrete: not merely tool literacy, but an educational journey that centers on people, skills, safety, and inclusion.
