From Readers to Creators Secondary Students’ Perceptions of Creating Digital Stories: Challenges and Potential Benefits

Abstract

This study explores the benefits and challenges of creating digital stories as experienced by Hungarian secondary school students who participated in an international digital‑social reading project and who translated their shared reading experience into a digital narrative. In pursuit of finding connections between the digital stories and their creators, a focus group was held to gain data regarding students​’​ lived experiences with creating digital stories. The findings of this qualitative study may dispel some doubts about using digital narratives in the classroom and present the creation process in a way that makes it approachable for teachers and students alike. Some teachers find it difficult to take even ​small steps towards a more digitised classroom environment, so for those practitioners, deep‑diving into this fully realised ​digital‑social reading project and its outcome will prove useful as a resource.