In this forward-thinking episode of "Dare to Be More," host Anthony Perl speaks with Marianna Carlino, Director of e-Learning at MLC School, about how technology is woven into every aspect of school life — and how MLC is leading the way in preparing girls to use it responsibly, creatively, and confidently.

Marianna covers everything from touch typing in Year 2 to AI ethics in Year 12, and shares how MLC's triangular approach — connecting students, staff, and parents — ensures everyone is on the same page when it comes to digital citizenship.

Featured Guest: Marianna Carlino, Director of e-Learning at MLC School

In This Episode, You'll Discover:

• How MLC integrates technology from Pre-K through to Year 12 in age-appropriate ways
• Why MLC is one of the first independent schools in NSW to hold a full Microsoft Copilot licence
• How the school teaches AI ethics, academic integrity, and responsible use of technology
• Practical strategies for parents to set healthy device boundaries at home
• The importance of balancing screen time with human connection and social interaction

Key Topics Discussed:

• Technology integration across all year levels and faculties
• AI in education — opportunities, ethics, and academic integrity
• Cyber safety, digital footprint, and online reputation
• Social media, the new age restrictions, and their impact on students
• The school-home partnership in managing device use
• Mitigating teacher burnout through smart use of technology

About MLC School: MLC School is a leading independent girls' school in Sydney, committed to empowering young women through academic excellence, character development, and innovative education. Our mission is to inspire girls to dare to be more.

Connect With Us:

• Website: mlcsyd.nsw.edu.au
• Instagram: @mlcsydney
• Facebook: @MLCSchoolSydney
• LinkedIn: MLC School

Co-host: Anthony Perl

• Produced by: 'Podcasts Done for You'

Hashtags: #DigitalLearning #CyberSafety #MLCSchool #AIinEducation #GirlsEducation #DigitalCitizenship #DareToBeMore

How do we prepare girls to thrive in a digital world and

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keep them safe while doing it?

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Today I am joined by Mariana Carlino,

director of E-Learning at MLC School.

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In this episode, we explore technology and

education, including how MLC integrates

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digital learning from pre-K to year

12, the school's approach to AI and

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academic integrity, navigating social

media and cyber safety, and how parents

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can support healthy tech habits at home.

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I'm your host, Anthony Pearl.

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Let's begin today's conversation.

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Well, hello everyone and welcome to

another episode of Dare to Be More,

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and I have Marianna with me today

and we have a very interesting topic.

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As we were just saying before

we kick things off, there's

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multi-layers to this one.

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So let me firstly welcome

you to the program.

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Marianna: Thank you so much for having me.

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It's so exciting to have the

opportunity to talk about everything

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e-learning, especially in our

beautiful community, MLC School.

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Anthony: Fantastic.

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Well, before we get into all of that, why

don't you introduce yourself to everybody?

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Marianna: So, I'm Mariana Carlino.

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I'm the Director of

e-Learning at MLC School.

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Essentially what that means is

I help and support staff and

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students in using pedagogy and.

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Learning acquisition, using technology

in that space, all across all faculties

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and all year levels, including wellbeing.

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I also support staff as well as

any kind of principal support or

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anything that needs to happen.

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I'm in that space as well, and I run

a lot of webinars for parents as well.

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In that space, I look after not just

digital skills, how to use tech, but also

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the cyber safety component for students.

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And I cover a lot of different

areas dependent on the year

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group that I am addressing.

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Anthony: It's a really important area

and it's one that is changing at such

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a rapid rate and many parents will

remember a time when digital wasn't

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even really a thing in school and now

it's interwoven so much into kids from

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really from a very early age, isn't it?

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Marianna: Yes, absolutely.

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We have the use of technology from

the very start, from pre-K, in

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fact, all the way through to year

12 different levels, obviously, of

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integration of tech in that space.

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For different purposes, I guess.

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But yes, there is always some sort of

constant use of text throughout the week.

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Not necessarily every day for

the younger year groups, but

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definitely a couple of times a week.

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But as they get older, it's more and

more within their reach of learning.

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Anthony: That within itself is

an interesting approach because.

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I guess there are many schools

where technology, particularly the

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use of computers and whether it

be an iPad or an actual laptop,

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doesn't come in until later on.

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And the problem with that is, is that

you're assuming a level of knowledge

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of how to use things that you are

educating really from very early phases.

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Of what to do and how to do it.

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Marianna: Yeah, absolutely.

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So we currently have a one to two

ratio for K to two students of iPads.

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So in junior school's, iPad,

in senior school it's laptops.

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And then from year three, all the

way to year 12, it's one to one.

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Some of them are BYOD and some are.

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Provided by the school

community, uh, in junior school.

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So far, we are sort of in control of the K

to four devices, and that will continually

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roll out throughout all the years.

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And we do spend, I do spend some time,

for example, just recently I've spent

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some time with year two on touch typing.

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I've spent some time with year

seven on how to use word in

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the basic kind of fashion.

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I've spent some time with year five on

how to use PowerPoint and animations.

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I cover all of those simple skills that

we assume they know how to do, but not

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necessarily really know how to do it.

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I break it down in little bite-sized

chunks that can kind of digest quite

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easily and create a whole lot of

resources, whether it's videos that

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supports them in an instructional

fashion or steps that they can choose

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to follow instead of watching a video

and they can refer back to that.

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Then that's across the

board all the way through.

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I probably starting year two with

that space, sometimes in year one

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and go all the way up to year 12.

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Anthony: And we tend to

gloss over it these days.

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But you touched on it there, typing.

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Marianna: Yes.

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Anthony: Uh, you know, it used to

be a skill that you, certain people

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went outside and learned that, and it

was a thing on your resume about how

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many words a minute you could type.

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Mm-hmm.

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Nowadays we just kind of

expect that it can happen.

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Marianna: Yes.

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Anthony: But it's so important, isn't it?

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Because you get to the point where

they might be taking notes and

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doing things and AB being able

to type at a speed is important.

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Marianna: Absolutely.

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So at in our community, at MLC School,

we have a subscription from year two,

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right through year six for touch typing.

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So girls that move in from junior school

into senior school have quite a high

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level of ability to to touch type.

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The students that come in year

seven, we spend some time on

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focusing and helping them out.

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A lot of them come knowing obviously

how to type because it's just part

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of their makeup of their society.

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It's just about being efficient in

typing and knowing how to embed a

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certain speed, because if they do

choose to take notes on their laptop,

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then they need to keep up obviously

with what's happening in the classroom.

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Although in the young years, we do

tend to suggest the standard exercise

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book and writing notes down there is

still quite a lot of work on their

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laptop in seven, eight, and nine

that do require some typing skills.

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So we work on that and we work on

making sure we support the students

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in that growth, particularly from

junior school into year seven.

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Anthony: I think it's interesting too,

that balance between typing and writing.

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Because you certainly writing can

help you memorize things and I don't

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know whether typing does has the

same impact in your learning process.

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So there is something to be said

for that touch field that you have

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when you are putting pen to paper

and finding that balance everywhere

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and with the use of technology.

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And I imagine that's

difficult thing to navigate.

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Marianna: But you know, there's

different learning styles.

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Every student, every individual, every

human has a different way to learn.

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Some people like to have

tactile, some people need audio.

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Some people need visual stimulation.

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It really is dependent on that

individual's learning style, and

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sometimes it's a couple of different

ways that they can learn based on the

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subject that they're trying to acquire.

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It is definitely a balance.

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I always say every time I'm

running any workshops, whether

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it's with staff or students or even

parents, it is about a balance.

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That technology is a tool.

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It's not a hindrance.

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It's meant to be something that's added

upon, you know, your toolkit for learning.

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And we have to make sure that we educate

our students on the best way to use

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that to better their acquisition of

knowledge, and not to just replace

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learning, but to aid learning.

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Anthony: Yeah, and I think that's

such an important idea in of itself,

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particularly the way technology is

going with the use of AI in particular.

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And you know, things like note taking

apps and there's a lot out there that can

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assist, but it doesn't necessarily mean

that you're not going to be learning you.

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You still have to do that

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Marianna: part.

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Absolutely.

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So we at MLC School, I believe, are

ahead of the game in the AI space.

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We have an AI task force that has been

developed since last year, and we are

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one of the first independent schools in

New South Wales to have the full license

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of copilot, which is the AI component of

Microsoft through all the different apps.

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Now, the students don't have

access to that just yet.

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There is tool that they are gonna

drop that age limit to 13 plus in

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September, and that will be something

that we'll be navigating and exploring.

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Down the track, so obviously to

allow students to use it as a tool

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fashion, but we have had opportunities,

well, I have had opportunities

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in the task force committee.

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I've had opportunities to talk to

students about the importance of using.

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AI in a ethical way, in an efficient

way with academic integrity

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and what steps that looks like.

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So we're currently developing flow

charts for students to follow.

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We're currently developing little videos

of how to best practice in use of ai.

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We've done that all with teachers and

we've done that for the last 12 months.

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And our teacher body art,

incredible at the use of.

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Efficiency in that space.

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And it's not about saving time, it's

about, you know, the efficiency of their

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time in the use of AI and how that has

allowed rich development of resources and

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the opportunity to really connect in a

deep fashion with their students or peers.

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And we would like that

for our students as well.

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We'll be running little workshops for

year 12 in preparation to help them in

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towards their IB or HSC exams that are

coming up shortly, um, before we know it.

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And also we have.

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You know, supporting year 10, going

into stage six and everything else.

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We've got some plans that will occur

in the rest of the year where we will

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support students learning in the use of

AI in an ethical fashion, which is key.

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Anthony: Absolutely it is, isn't it?

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Because it's like any technology,

there's so much opportunity for it to

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be misused and there's the ethics of it,

but there's also the fact that you're

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doing it yourself a disservice as well.

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Marianna: Absolutely.

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It's a tool, and that's

the key thing, right?

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So learning.

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The benefit of the students that we have

nowadays is that they have a plethora

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of tools that can aid their learning.

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They have so much at their fingertips

that I wish I had when I was going

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through school, or maybe not,

maybe because I didn't have them.

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I've got certain skills that they really

have to work at developing, but they

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had everything at their fingertips,

and it was our duty as educators

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to teach them how to use it best.

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Whether it's actual skill sets on

how to use Word or PowerPoint or

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Outlook or anything like that in time

management, organizational skills in

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development and production of work.

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Or whether it's how to use tools

to help that if they're stuck.

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How can you use AI to help

you if you need support?

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How can AI step in to help you out?

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If you still need a little bit

more feedback on something and

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you want a different perspective,

how can AI help you in that space?

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So it's about educating.

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It's not about putting our head

under the sand and ignoring what's

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happening because they're using

it whether we like it or not.

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They're gonna use it.

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And so it's about redesigning assessments,

for example, thinking about how PE

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pedagogy is gonna work, thinking

about flipped learning, for example.

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There's a lot of ways that we as

educators can adapt and mold to allow

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AI to be exactly what we need it to

be, a supporting tool for our students.

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Anthony: Yeah, and I think what's

important about all of this as well is

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that there's an expectation when they

advance from school and perhaps beyond

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university and get a job, that there's

an expectation that you know how to

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use all of these things these days.

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And so being able to learn it

from a very early age is important

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and to a degree expected.

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Marianna: Yeah, it's absolutely our duty.

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And at MLC School, we are about.

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The student where we all are about what

the girl needs and the inner light.

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And part of that is our

society is very future focused.

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We don't know what jobs are going to

exist in five years, yet 10 years.

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But we do have the role in being able

to develop our graduates to deal with

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whatever may come their way in society

and you know, be great humans with

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kindness and know how to act accordingly

in situations that are online.

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And that's a lot of conversations

that I have with 10, 11, and 12.

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About the ability of having respectful

relationships and consent and

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understanding the pros and cons of

social media, for example, and how that

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can affect your dig reputation, your

digital footprint, how then can have

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ripple effects to your future self.

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And these are all things that, you

know, if you don't know, you dunno.

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So it, it is absolutely in my vision to

ensure that I know that our graduates.

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Covered are covered in all that

aspect and that they are safe and

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that they know how to be great

lights in community moving forward.

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Anthony: I did wanna touch on as

well that I imagine that for many

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students when they go home, they're

already well in advance of perhaps

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what their parents and probably their

grandparents might have the knowledge

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in as far as technology is concerned.

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So it is important that they have a grasp.

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On it in a way that is going to

be used in a sensible fashion and

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perhaps even that understanding that

when they go home, people at home

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may not know as much as they know.

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Marianna: Yeah.

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And we work really hard to have that

triangular kind of relationships.

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Right.

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So we have the, the student at one end,

we have ourselves on one point, and then

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we have the parents on the other point.

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And so those webinars that I run are

purely to inform parents, well, this

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is where we're at, this is what your

daughter's exposed to here at MLC School.

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This is what could happen

outside of MLCC school.

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This is what we've told her.

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The steps and strategies we, we've

taught her to deal with maybe

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challenges that might come across.

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And we've exposed her to say like the

eSafety Commissioner in different areas

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that they can go to if they need support.

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And it's about communicating with the

parents exactly what we've done for

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their daughter and what we're asking

them to do, which is basically have open

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communication, ensure that there's really

clear boundaries about device use at

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home, ensuring that they are aware of what

their daughter's doing online because.

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We're not with them.

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We're only with them at a certain

amount of time, and we wanna make sure

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that everyone is on the same page and

understanding that it's about life

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journey, academic rigor in a tech world

that is only gonna be more and more

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technology driven, and we need to make

sure that they have the right skills

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and the right equipment to succeed.

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Anthony: It wasn't that long ago that

when you went home from school, you were

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away from all friends and everybody else,

but now they're there at your fingertips.

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And so, you know, there's positives

and obviously there are negatives,

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particularly when you think about,

you know, online bullying and

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things that can happen as well.

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Marianna: Yeah.

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Anthony: You know, and being educated

on that must be, you know, it's

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incredibly important for that to happen.

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You know, how do the girls cope with that

whole idea of drawing those boundaries and

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knowing, knowing what is the right thing

to do and what's the wrong thing to do?

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Marianna: Gosh, we definitely have a

mixed bag of reactions and realities

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in our community like you would expect.

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I mean, removing tech aside, there is

always those nuances of high school

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in general when it comes to a whole

lot of different personalities.

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Being almost forced to be in one

journey together and learning how to

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navigate that is complex in itself.

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And then you add the layer of

tech, which is almost, has a bit of

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anonymity because you can kind of

hide a little bit behind your screen.

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Right?

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So we talk really significantly about

the importance of respecting boundaries,

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that there are different rules in

different homes, and to accept that.

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So for example, one of the best.

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Examples that I give is that I have a

daughter in year nine and our family

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rule around device is that after

nine o'clock, she's not to have it.

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It comes upstairs, it's nowhere near her.

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She goes in her room.

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It might not be, she might not go to bed

at nine, it might be nine 30 or 10, but

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she's not to have her device after nine.

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And at first her friends thought

that she was ghosting them.

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After nine, as they say, you know, teen

talk, but in reality that's not the case.

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Obviously she would love to be on that

device all the time, 24 7, no problem.

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But it is our ju as parents

to say, no, no, that's it.

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Cut off time.

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You need a bit of downtime or

some family time or whatnot.

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Um, and so her friends have had to learn

to navigate that and understand that

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if they message her after nine, they're

not gonna get a response until they

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see her again at school the next day.

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And she's in year nine, she's 15.

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And there's different levels of that.

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Some families have, and the flip

side for me, the challenges are

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that some of their friends have

full, full scope to everything.

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All the time.

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At any time.

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And I have that conversation

with, well, they get to have it.

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Why can't I?

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Well, it's not really about that.

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We need to respect both

sides of what's happening.

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But the reality is that we as parents

need to, and I say this to our

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parent body, we need to be able to

set boundaries to ensure that we.

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Teach them balance and that is

hard in, in the school community.

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We talk about that.

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We talk about tech balance, right?

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We don't want them when they're

tech at recess, recess and lunch.

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We want them to socialize

with their mates.

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We don't want the particularly

year 11 and 12 that are allowed

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to have their mobile phones.

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We have suggested don't

have them out at all.

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At recess.

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Recess and lunch, seven to 10.

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They're not allowed to have them,

but they do have their laptops and

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so we did see sometimes students on

their laptops at recess and lunch.

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So we presented a whole different

presentation assembly, as well

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as luminaries, talking about the

importance of human connection and the

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importance of balance in our classes.

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We're not always on our laptops.

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It is a combination of a series

of different tools for learning.

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Yes, we do get our timetable on our

laptops, and yes, we communicate

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through Outlook and yes, our LMS

is on our laptops, but it's not.

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The only way that we teach, and

it's not the only way that we

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expect them to learn as well.

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So we talk about that quite largely.

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Not just me, but every

staff member does that.

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The luminaries do that.

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The year coordinators do that.

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The faculty hos we're all on

the same page and we are just,

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you know, data time bit by bit.

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And if we encounter issues that maybe a

cohort maybe is like navigating a pathway

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where they're a little bit uncertain on.

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They're using too much tech.

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Then we hone into that home cohort and

help them understand how to rebalance.

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It's just about learning.

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It's about trial and error and learning

what we can and can't do with tech.

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And if we don't tell them and

we don't educate them, then

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how can we expect them to know

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Anthony: what absolute, absolutely.

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I, I did just wanna touch on briefly

as well, social media, because Yeah.

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We're, we're in a situation

where those laws are changing.

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You've been involved with kids

and obviously you've got your own.

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Marianna: Yes.

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Anthony: Social media has been

a part of kids up until now.

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Yes.

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Those things are about to change it.

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How do you find that

balance in social media?

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Because it can be a positive, but

there are a heck of a lot of negatives.

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Hence the reason why

the laws are changing.

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Marianna: Yeah, absolutely.

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Look, that is such a complex question.

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There are so many layers to consider.

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There's, you know, the age that,

that students jump on social media.

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There's the communica, the

community aspect of social media.

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There's also the learning aspect.

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There's a lot of things on, for

example, Instagram that are great

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for learning as well, that students

do search for to help them with say,

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mathematical equations or whatnot.

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Or maybe English quotes or whatever it

is, and it does support them, but it's

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about being able to learn how to use

that in a way where it doesn't hinder

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your wellbeing in a way where it's not

affecting your self image in any way.

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And that's really complex

in a girl school as well.

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It is widely known that you know

students between the ages of 13 and 16.

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Struggle a little bit with self-image,

particularly girls and Instagram has

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not helped that with everything that's

happening with AI and deep fakes as well.

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So we talk heavily about the importance

of being safe online and ensuring

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that their profiles are private and

things have changed legally, that

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they do not have access to that.

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And there's a different level

of reaction from students.

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Some are absolutely gobsmacked, and

then others are like, oh, that's okay.

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I see them at school.

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I can always call them, I'll cope.

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So it, there's different levels of

reactions and that really base is based

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on, you know, personality and family

direction when it comes to device use and

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just a general outlook on their, on how

it's going to affect their personal world.

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Not necessarily bigger picture,

but just their little silo will.

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How is that going to affect them?

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Look, they'll navigate it and it'll be

adapting that it'll be very interesting

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in the educational space how that's

gonna look for us educators, both

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for a wellbeing perspective as well

as a pedagogical aspect as well.

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So, but, you know, look,

we, educators are tough.

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We get through everything

and we'll figure it out.

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Um, and it's always with, with the main

focus on the best possible outcome for

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our students and support for staff,

because teacher burnout is so real.

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For me, the use of technology, my whole

thing, my whole vision, my whole focus is

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mitigating teacher burnout and how tech

can support teachers to allow that moment

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of breathing that really has not occurred

for a while, especially after COVID.

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It just seems to be constant and all the

way sprinting to the end of every term.

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Anthony: Yeah, I can imagine

it is a difficult world to

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navigate with all of this stuff.

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There is so much more that we could

potentially explore with this, but I

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think you've given us some great insights.

384

Just before we wrap up, I wanted to

ask you a question that I'm asking

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everyone that's coming on the program

dare to be more in the context of

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what you do in the digital space.

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What does dare to be more mean?

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Marianna: I think Dare to be more

in e-learning or in a tech space is.

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How can you be a light that shares

love and laughter and kindness

390

and community through tech?

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How can tech allow you to flourish

to the best that you can in whatever

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career path that you choose to have?

393

How can I dare to be more and support

my peers and ensure that they have

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everything they need to be the best

possible educators, but also feel

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supported and feel like they're safe?

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How can we dare we want just to connect,

not just online, but even offline.

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How can that help that space as well?

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Anthony: Fantastic.

399

Thank you so much for

being part of the program.

400

No

401

Marianna: problem.

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Anthony: I've really enjoyed that

very deep discussion and there's

403

a lot for parents to be thinking

about and thanks for sharing.

404

Marianna: Thank

405

Anthony: you so much.

406

Thank you for joining

us on Dare to Be More.

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If you enjoyed this episode, please

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podcast so you never miss an episode.

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these valuable conversations.

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For more information about MLC School

and their approach to girls' education.

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Visit their website@mlcsid.nsw.edu.au.

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Check out the show notes

for more information.

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The Dare To Be More Podcast is

produced by podcast done for you.

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I'm your host, Anthony Pearl,

and we invite you to join us next

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time as we continue to explore

what it means to dare to be more.