Experience AI's face-to-face training involves over 180 teachers in Conegliano
Awareness, tools, responsibility. The digital transformation of schools depends on teacher training. Last Tuesday, the G.B. Cerletti secondary school in Conegliano (Treviso) took part in a training session dedicated to Experience AI, the free course for teachers developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Google DeepMind, promoted in Italy by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale.
Wide and cross-cutting participation
Over 180 teachers took part in the training, a sign of widespread interest and an educating community ready to face the challenges of artificial intelligence. The day began with a welcome from headteacher Mariagrazia Morgan and was coordinated with the support of Professor Maria Concetta Scandura, the institute's training coordinator. As Riccardo Granzotto, digital animator, pointed out, this was the “first compulsory training course involving the whole institute”, with the aim of “promoting positive practices to involve the whole community”. An important signal: AI is not a topic for the few, but a cross-cutting skill.
From perplexity to awareness
The approach was not without questions. Marina Di Fatta, deputy headmistress, explains it clearly: 'I had some initial doubts about the use of these new technologies, but I realised that without them, we cannot move forward and keep up with the pace of life today. It is a very important tool that must be used with full knowledge of the facts because if you ask the wrong questions, it can be misleading, especially for young people who are approaching it for the first time. I strongly recommend everyone to participate."
The training focused precisely on this: providing tools for informed use, capable of exploiting opportunities without ignoring their limitations.
Understanding AI to guide students
Experience AI alternates between theory and practice, with the aim of making teachers not just users of tools, but competent mediators. During the day, key concepts were explored: the difference between rule-based and data-based systems, principles of machine learning, classification, labels, model “confidence” levels, as well as the crucial issues of bias and anthropomorphism. The practical classification activity was one of the most engaging moments. Filippo Spadon, an Italian teacher, emphasised: 'Artificial intelligence is a great opportunity for learning, even if there is a risk that it could undermine critical thinking; this is why we need these courses to raise awareness among young people. I really enjoyed the practical activity in which we language teachers trained a linguistic model to classify grammatical elements.‘
Paolo Paciotti (Economics) and Giuseppe Dall'Acqua (Oenological Chemistry) also highlighted the value of the workshop space: ’In just a few minutes, we were able to create some fun and interesting tools. We found many ideas that will certainly be useful in teaching.‘
A fundamental first approach
For many, this was their first real structured encounter with AI. Annamaria Citino, a teacher of Italian and History, says: ’This was my first encounter with artificial intelligence, and I was very excited by the idea of using it in a constructive and meaningful way.
It was also interesting to look at the limitations and risks, remembering that it is always us humans who control and guide the words.‘
Pierluca Tondo, a viticulture teacher, reiterated the topicality of the subject: ’It is a subject that has been very much in the spotlight recently. The exercise gave us a much better understanding of how the world of artificial intelligence works, a fundamental first step in educating young people."
The positive atmosphere of the day was also confirmed by trainer Elisa Chierchiello: "I particularly appreciated the open and proactive attitude of the teachers towards this new technology. The teachers were not at all reluctant, but curious, motivated and eager to understand and apply it in contexts close to them. Compared to other training courses, they came up with numerous concrete ideas for its applicability. They were very willing to share their experiences, and the training encouraged active and constructive discussion among colleagues, stimulating spontaneous discussions within the group.‘
’When teachers experience first-hand how artificial intelligence works, their attitude changes: curiosity replaces fear. In the workshops, we saw teachers from different disciplines working together, asking questions, testing models and reflecting on the limits of technology. It is precisely this concrete experience that allows AI to be transformed from an abstract topic into an educational tool to be understood and mastered," adds Valentina Gelsomini, who coordinated the teachers' workshop work.
The Conegliano experience shows that when training is concrete and participatory, artificial intelligence ceases to be an abstract or divisive topic and becomes a tool to be understood, mastered and responsibly integrated into the educational process.
