Designing futures through Digital Storytelling: a Universal Design for Learning - based mixed-methods study in Italian primary schools
Parole chiave:
Digital storytelling, Universal Design for Learning, Life Designing, orientamento precoce, scuola primariaAbstract
Early guidance in primary education can be framed as a preventive and inclusive process that nurtures agency, self-awareness, and the capacity to imagine future possibilities. These early competencies may serve as prerequisites for later life planning and, indirectly, for broad notions of employability understood as navigating transitions with awareness and initiative (Savickas, 2014; Guichard, 2005). Consistent with the Italian Guidelines for Guidance and Orientation (Decreto Ministeriale 328/2022), this perspective encourages schools to embed guidance-related experiences from the early years. Within this framework, digital storytelling offers a formative device: narration organises experience and supports self-construction (Bruner, 1990), while guided autobiographical work may foster voice, reflection, and inclusion, particularly for pupils at risk of marginalisation (Gaspari, 2024).
This article presents the research design developed to evaluate MiRacconto, a Universal Design for Learning (UDL)-oriented digital storytelling environment structured through the “competence tree” metaphor and generating a personalised narrative PDF as a child-friendly e-portfolio (Sgambelluri & Placanica, 2025). The study adopts a quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test mixed-methods design with an experimental group and an aesthetic-control group. Administration is individual, supported when necessary by a teacher for pupils with certified disabilities, and documented through structured logbooks. Quantitative data will be collected at T0 and T1 using PASS (Hogrefe Editore, 2024), while qualitative data will derive from narrative PDFs and observational records. Integrated analyses will examine changes in attitudes toward self and school and explore how agency and future-oriented traces emerge, with particular attention to accessibility and participation for pupils with special educational needs.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Francesca Placanica, Rosa Sgambelluri
Questo lavoro è fornito con la licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 4.0 Internazionale.
