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Digital stories comprise a technological tool which can engage learners in collaborative learning as well as lead them to experientially acquire knowledge through a constructive process. The aim of the current action research, for which a cooperative network between academics and teachers was created, is to show how digital storytelling can emerge as an inclusive education tool through investigating the changes brought about by its implementation on the academic and social context of a school unit. The research was conducted in a Greek primary school and lasted seven months, involving two fifth grade classes and an integration class. It followed the three stages of a multi-thematic digital story project (preparation, implementation, and evaluation) and learners were called to research and process information, at their own pace, from diverse cognitive domains (art, science, coding). The research tools employed were participatory observation, diary research, and semi-structured interviews. The research positively influenced the reconstruction of the school unit since teachers reconsidered some of their educational techniques as non-inclusive, utilized technology as an instrument of constructive and experiential learning based on the diversity of each student, and reinforced learners' critical thinking and imagination while cultivating a climate of empathy and self-confidence among students.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: First, to bring up the necessity of long life learning for adults along with the development of programming skills for students, in order adults and children to be competitive in a rapidly changing market and business world. Second, to briefly state the educational activities and synergies of the Educational Content Methodology & Technology Laboratory (e-CoMeT Lab) of the Hellenic Open University (HOU) aiming on democratizing education and offering the chance for distance learning to students from rural areas, girls, refuges and migrants with fewer opportunities to learn. And last but not least, to present the aims and the implementation procedure of the project Junior Coding Academy, a project implemented by e-CoMeT and Intermedi@KT, a Non-Profit Organization in Greece, that is still active and available for teachers and their students in order to acquire and develop their programming skills.