With smartphone saturation at 100% among Japanese university students, educators are developing new and innovative ways to bring them to the forefront of learning, ensuring students are as engaged with their technology in their formal learning as they are with their informal learning. Smartphones of today are small, portable, have high spec cameras, microphones, and a large storage capacity. These devices also allow for videos to be edited within applications on the smartphone itself, without the need for a separate and expensive computer and editing software. Aspects such as these make using smartphones to make Digital Stories (DS) one possible way to effectively use this technology for formal learning purposes. This paper shows the results of a paper-based survey and discusses preliminary observations conducted with 38 Japanese university students undertaking a short-term study abroad experience in Australia and New Zealand. [For the complete proceedings, see ED600837.]