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.

Extended Reality (XR) has reshaped how learning can be structured, yet its integration into formal curricula continues to lag behind its technological potential. Established instructional design models such as ADDIE and ASSURE provide stable planning structures, but were not developed to address the spatial, embodied and interactive characteristics of immersive environments. The XR2Learn framework was developed to bridge this gap by combining structured instructional planning with XR-specific pedagogical considerations. This study presents a multi-round Delphi-based expert evaluation of XR2Learn, involving twenty specialists in instructional design and XR-enhanced education. Experts assessed the framework across four dimensions: validity, clarity, usability and suitability. Qualitative feedback was thematically analyzed and subsequently quantified to establish consensus. The findings show strong agreement regarding the framework’s pedagogical grounding, logical structure and alignment with established instructional design practices. At the same time, experts identified limitations related to practical enactment, accessibility and the explicit integration of XR-specific learning constructs such as presence and social interaction. Overall, the results position XR2Learn as a framework at a transitional stage, moving from conceptual formulation toward practical instructional use. The study provides the first systematic expert validation of XR2Learn and outlines targeted directions for its refinement as a robust instructional design framework for XR-based education.

European policy positions distance, online, and blended higher education as a route to widening participation, yet the mechanisms that make inclusion actionable remain dispersed across disconnected policy domains. This study examines how European-level policy and evidence texts conceptualise and operationalise inclusive distance higher education for four under-represented groups, namely women in STEM, migrants and refugees, learners with disabilities, and rural or remote learners. A qualitative document analysis of 40 sources, conducted as an actionability-oriented thematic synthesis, produced eleven mechanism clusters grouped into four interlocking themes: foundational enablers, inclusion-by-design learning conditions, targeted equity pathways, and governance, funding and safeguards. Governance, monitoring and cooperation appeared in all 40 sources, equality and values mainstreaming in 35 and accessibility and universal design in 15, counts reflecting documentary coverage rather than implementation. Inclusion becomes actionable not through any single measure, but through aligning these themes into a chain of actionability whose effect is relational and most fragile at the governance link. Policy attention across the four groups is uneven, being operationalised most robustly where it is measurable and least where it is relational. The study offers a transferable framework for understanding inclusion as a coordinated accomplishment across policy layers.