Screen recording: a qualitative method for making visible digital activities in educational practices

Abstract

Interrogating the role of technology in practice can be challenging because of the ubiquitous, yet often private, use of technology, rendering large parts of practice invisible. This article proposes screen recording as a promising method for studying digital environments in education, presenting three cases of integrating screen recordings into a qualitative design: social media use in the classroom, school leadership practice, and writing practices in multilingual classrooms. We consider collection and analysis of screen recording data in connection to conversation analysis and sociomaterial frameworks. By doing so, we use the co-constitution of theory and methodology as a framing device to discuss elements of practice which the screen recording method makes visible: private activities, distributed space and time, and materiality. While digital education research calls for methodologies that involve direct researcher engagement with technology, we argue that screen recording ensures a concurrent engagement with technology and with participants and their practices.