What follows is in three parts. The first is on why one might chose to use video. The second consists of 'handy hints', practicalities before, during and after recording to take into account when using video as a source of information in educational settings. The final section discusses analysis. The focus of our study was groups of pupils using a CD-ROM in the course of their secondary school science course.
Video is particularly suitable for fairly detailed analyses of language and interactions.
The fieldwork was undertaken during science lessons at a large secondary school. The main difference is that the users' experiences vary depending on which version they have. What we wanted to explore was the impact of the different versions on how pupils navigated through the CD-ROM and how design features interact with pupils' learning strategies. We wanted video material to use for both presentation and analysis. Knowing you are likely to use the material for presentation, as a means of eliciting feedback from other students and teachers or for sharing with other researchers, may influence decisions about audio and video quality.