For Lara Lina Ferrari, it is a community that helps transform digital innovation into inclusion, critical thinking and educational responsibility
A ‘barrier-free’, welcoming, workshop-based and flexible school. This is the vision of Lara Fina Ferrari, an English teacher, digital facilitator and key figure in digitalisation at the lower secondary school of the Vergante Comprehensive School in Invorio (Novara), who is passionate about innovative teaching, artificial intelligence and workshop-based methodologies.
In the latest instalment of the column “Voices and faces of the teachers at the Scuola del Noi”, Lara discusses the value of a professional community born out of the need to overcome the isolation that often accompanies those experimenting with new languages in schools. A space for genuine dialogue where technological and social change is not merely endured, but steered with pedagogical awareness, creativity and responsibility.
In this journey, the role of the teacher is transformed: no longer a ‘dispenser of knowledge’, but a facilitator of processes, a community builder and a bridge between technical skills and humanity. The Scuola del Noi thus becomes a place where innovation is democratised, practices are shared and artificial intelligence enters the classroom not as a gimmick, but as an opportunity to develop critical thinking, collaboration, source verification and the ability to ask the right questions.
For Lara, building a ‘Scuola del Noi’ means putting people and relationships at the centre, using digital technology to include rather than isolate, and educating about beauty, sustainability and responsibility towards the community.
What professional or personal need prompted you to join the community of teachers at the Scuola del Noi?
I came to know Fondazione Mondo Digitale through two projects I implemented, which allowed me to grow professionally: ‘Nonni su Internet’ and the ‘Cubo’ initiative: ‘Women Cube’; with the latter, we were awarded a prize in Rome at the Global Junior Challenge. These were two useful and enriching experiences driven by the primary need to overcome the isolation that often characterises the teaching profession, especially when experimenting with new forms of communication. I felt the need to find a space for genuine dialogue with colleagues who shared the same sense of urgency: not to simply endure technological and social change, but to steer it with pedagogical awareness and creativity.
How has participating in the community changed the way you view your role as a teacher?
I have definitively moved from the idea of the teacher as a ‘dispenser of knowledge’ to that of a facilitator of processes and a community activator. I have always believed that professional development is not a bureaucratic duty, but a collective journey. Today I see my role as a bridge between technical skills (digital technology, AI) and the humanity needed to guide young people.
What, in your view, is the most important objective of the Scuola del Noi?
The one encapsulated in its very name: transforming the ‘I’ of the individual teacher into a communal ‘we’. The ultimate goal is to democratise innovation, demonstrating that cutting-edge technology and teaching methodologies are not a luxury for the few, but inclusive tools within the reach of any school willing to get involved.
How does the project help you prepare your students for the present, not just the future?
We are convinced that we are preparing young people for the ‘jobs of the future’, but they live in a dense, digital and complex present.
La Scuola del Noi provides inspiration to bring active teaching into the classroom, where students experience digital citizenship, critical thinking and real-time collaboration, learning to decode and navigate the world they find themselves in today.
Have you adapted a teaching practice thanks to the community?
Yes, definitely. I have integrated the use of generative artificial intelligence and digital tools no longer as mere ‘special effects’ to capture attention, but as genuine cognitive and creative partners for the students. My lessons have become much more workshop-based, open to error as a learning opportunity and focused on cooperative learning and inclusion, drawing inspiration from open and community-based school models too.
How important is it to be able to share doubts and experiments with other teachers?
It’s incredibly important; it’s vital. Sharing a success is rewarding, but sharing a doubt, a failure or a teaching challenge with someone who speaks your language is what really helps you grow. Knowing you can put forward an idea and see it enriched by another colleague’s input reduces the emotional burden of experimentation.
Do you feel better prepared to tackle complex topics such as AI, digital technology and citizenship?
Yes, because the community doesn’t provide ready-made solutions, but critical lenses through which to understand these phenomena. Tackling complexity is less daunting if you have a network behind you that is constantly experimenting, validating tools and reflecting on the ethics of digital technology and active citizenship.
What kind of school do you want to help build?
I want to help build a ‘barrier-free’ school – one that is welcoming, workshop-based and flexible. A school that puts the individual and their relationships at the centre, where digital innovation is a tool for inclusion rather than isolation. I dream of a school that educates in beauty, sustainability and responsibility towards the community.
What sense of responsibility do you feel today as a teacher in the age of AI?
I feel an enormous responsibility to be a critical point of reference for both my colleagues and my pupils. We cannot ignore AI, nor can we demonise it. My responsibility is to teach young people to ask the right questions, to verify sources, to understand the workings behind an algorithm, and to defend the uniqueness of human thought, empathy and creativity.
If the Scuola del Noi didn’t exist, what would be missing from your journey?
Mainly, I would miss the friends who are always there in times of difficulty and who are always supportive of work and experimentation. I would certainly miss a breath of fresh air and an inexhaustible source of ideas. Without this community, my journey of innovation would probably be more fragmented, more arduous and lacking that motivational and creative drive that only the constant interaction with Fondazione Mondo Digitale and my colleagues can provide. In other words, I would be missing the support of a big family.
What would you say to a teacher who thinks they “don’t have time” to join a community?
I would tell them that the time invested in a community is not ‘extra’ time, but ‘saved’ time. We often spend hours on our own looking for solutions, wasting energy or reinventing the wheel. Joining the Scuola del Noi means optimising resources, finding ready-made answers, sharing the workload and, above all, rediscovering that enthusiasm which heals the daily weariness of school bureaucracy.
