Primary School students' feedback about digital texts designed using UDL Book-Builder, as support in the reading processes

Diversity in classrooms is an indisputable fact and teachers are challenged to deal with it. Research findings show that technologies own the potential to support different learning processes and that certain technical functionalities have positive effects on the acquisition of literacy skills. However, there are few studies that take into account the students' vision to assess that potential. This descriptive study analyzes the users' feedback about digital readings designed using UDL Book-Builder application, a free online tool for creating interactive books, based on the Universal Design for Learning principles, which allows to incorporate features such as coaches, text reader, audio or multimedia glossary. Twenty-four digital texts were used in reading classes of three primary education centres throughout the school year along with the printed version. After that, a sample of 117 first and second-year students was interviewed to respond to a survey so that they could value these functionalities. Quantitative analysis of the results shows that students identify different ways in which these act as scaffolding of their learning and most of them prefer these digital readings versus the same texts in print. The data suggest that use of these technological resources might be appropriate to respond to diversity in reading processes and could be useful to teachers in selecting appropriate digital tools to achieve it.