This file can be placed in a student's portfolio along with the student's visual and writing products. The teacher can examine the file in order to discern the blind alleys, alternative designs, and way of proceeding that characterized the student's efforts. As the teacher circulates in the computer lab or in the classroom, it is easy to stop, observe, and intervene while the student is working on an assignment or project. One teacher explained, I learn a lot more about the individual learning needs of my students because I can watch them learn. So my role has changed that way being able to learn a lot more about my students because of computers.
Video technologies provide another means for recording and tracking student learning processes.
While videocameras lack the diagnostic and summarizing capabilities of intelligent computer systems, they provide a rich source of data for examining learning processes in action. An ongoing SRI project, for example, is using videotaped problem contexts as a vehicle for assessing students' understanding of mathematical problem solving. Each video episode in this Becoming a Problem Solver series presents two child actors engaged in an extended effort to solve an interesting, real-life problem. The teacher's guide provides similar problems for classroom use and suggestions for classroom discussions regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the problem-solving approaches illustrated in the videos. As teachers describe concepts and procedures, they depend on student feedback to indicate any comprehension problems.