ABSTRACT
One of the challenges of researching mobile devices in educational settings is gathering authentic data that provides a holistic and accurate picture of how children interact with apps, and each other, as they complete learning tasks. While device portability can be a significant advantage for children wishing to work in different spaces or with others, for researchers this mobility poses problems, especially when it comes to gathering data from children using multiple devices in whole-class or large group activities. This chapter discusses use of an innovative iPad display capture tool in a range of studies involving young children in a New Zealand school. It details the tool’s functionality and operation, and how the data it captured was analysed and interpreted. While the tool provided unique insights into the children’s device-related activities away from the eyes of the teachers, it also raised a number of ethical challenges and dilemmas arising from its invisibility and ‘surveilling’ nature, and the potential for it to capture ‘grey’ data that may be of a personal or confidential nature. The chapter discusses these issues, and makes recommendations for researchers considering using data capture systems of this nature.
