Making the most of the internet: Anna Lucia Peluso’s experience
In the heart of Acerra, at the Ferrajolo Siani comprehensive school, technology is not merely endured nor limited to superficial literacy. It becomes a tool for empowerment, inclusion and personal development. Behind this vision are, in particular, the headteacher, Sergio Santaniello, and Anna Lucia Peluso, a technology teacher, designer and trainer specialising in STEAM and ethical artificial intelligence in schools. A professional with a wealth of expertise that has led her to speak at the ‘AI in Education’ summit organised at MIT in Boston (2025), Meet School (2026) and Didacta Italia (2026).
“All teachers must be able to engage with a research-action teaching approach, to foster a multidisciplinary approach to technology and digital literacy, and to promote the ethical, sustainable, critical, constructive and safe use of artificial intelligence in schools,” begins teacher Anna Lucia Peluso. This is why it is important to support teachers and families with programmes such as Vivi Internet, al meglio promoted by Fondazione Mondo Digitale with the support of Google.org, which involves pupils aged between 8 and 14, teachers and families in a structured programme of digital citizenship education.
We interviewed her to hear about her concept of “digital humanism” and the role that technology plays in a complex school environment such as that of the so-called “Terra dei fuochi”, where the school is located.
“Among the pupils in the nine classes I teach – which are very diverse – some have never travelled on public transport, getting about only by moped or car, and many lack an inclination towards reading and lifelong learning. Unfortunately, there are no suitable meeting places for secondary school pupils; instead, there are squares with playgrounds for younger children that are too sunny to be used during the day. This is why shopping centres become their gathering places, thereby depressing the local economy.”
“Here, isolated individual initiatives are of no use; instead, priority must be given to structured programmes and a multidisciplinary approach to technology shared by the whole class council. This is what I call guidance-based teaching. When we ask classes to work with digital tools, pupils discover web-based programming apps which they then use at home; through these challenges, they discover their own talents, such as a passion for graphic design or the mechanics of coding. Schools must teach pupils the skills to make choices that will help them realise their dreams. Acquiring DigComp skills protects and includes everyone, even those at risk of dropping out of school or with learning difficulties.”
Anna Lucia has collaborated with the community of ‘Docenti della scuola del noi’ at the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, an experimental community for teachers, where she had the opportunity to try out teaching activities on gamification and the use of AI as a mentor to solve clues within educational escape rooms.
This collaboration also led to her active participation in the Vivi Internet, al meglio seminars, “precisely because I believe in the value of sharing ideas amongst teachers. I took those ideas and reinterpreted them creatively in the classroom. For example, by suggesting an advanced use of the NotebookLM tool, I asked my pupils to produce podcasts inspired by Zerocalcare’s communication style, tackling complex themes such as trust, happiness and the education system. The use of generative AI tools was not a substitute, but a stimulus: the technology helped to structure the texts, but then the pupils had to learn to use recording apps, insert jingles and soundtracks, practising their Italian writing, teamwork and self-assessment.” “The pupils responded to this challenge with a return in terms of critical awareness. During the initial brainstorming session on happiness, a clear need emerged to reconnect with a natural and human dimension – such as spending time with family and friends, or watching a sunset. Young people today are voracious consumers of material goods, but this is often a craving for possession rather than genuine desire. Bringing AI into schools serves precisely this purpose: to harness it so as to put people back at the centre, in line with the European AI Act. In another activity, my pupils became genuine trainers for Gemini. Through in-context learning, they critically analysed the outputs of the GenAI, identifying biases and hallucinations, before correcting them by verifying the data against certified printed sources. They taught the machine what it did not know. The AI itself responded to the prompts by thanking them and reminding them that it learns from data, whilst we humans learn from context and memory”.
In conclusion, the message that Anna Lucia, as a resource and trainer of excellence, conveys to the teaching community is that “We live in an era in which we must teach young people what I call digital humanism. Taking part in programmes such as Vivi Internet, al meglio and actively collaborating with organisations such as Fondazione Mondo Digitale is important not so much for learning how to use software, but for making best practices available to everyone. Sharing real-world experiences is a valuable opportunity for professional and personal growth, because when digital skills develop in the classroom, we always see a parallel and extraordinary growth in human relationships.”
Interview by Onelia Onorati, press office of Fondazione Mondo Digitale.
