When documentation becomes feedback: tensions in feedback activity in Learning Management Systems

Teachers’ feedback via Learning Management Systems (LMSs) is studied within the subject of social studies at upper secondary school in Sweden. A qualitative study involved classroom observations within LMSs, gathering teachers’ feedback on pupils’ submitted assignments, and semi-structured interviews with six teachers. With the support of activity theory, the interest of the study was directed towards the tensions that arise in an activity system consisting of teachers’ feedback actions in a digital assessment context. The results reveal tensions in the relationship between grading documentation in the LMS and the subject’s traditions in the form of discussions, for example. Tensions were distinguished in the interaction between a school policy of using a feedback matrix and teachers’ formative ideals. Tensions were also distinguished between teachers’ need to legitimise grades and give feedback according to formative ideals. Finally, a tension was distinguished between the time available for providing feedback and teachers’ formative ideals for giving feedback.