I dagsläget har lärare inom e-lärande svårt att identifiera var de studerande befinner sig i sitt lärande. Tidigare forskning inom traditionellt klassrumslärande visar på att formativ feedback är väsentligt för att utöka sina kunskaper, däremot har formativ feedback inte utforskats lika väl inom e-lärande. Syftet med denna studie var att ta reda på hur tidigare etablerade teorier för formativ feedback inom traditionellt klassrumslärande kan användas inom e-lärande. Detta genomfördes med en designorienterad forskningsansats där kategorier för formativ feedback inom traditionellt klassrumslärande implementerades i en prototyp. Detta för att kunna identifiera vilka delar av formativ feedback som var mest väsentliga inom e-lärande. Studien resulterade i tre designförslag för hur digitala utbildningsmedier bör designas för att kunna stötta formativ feedback mellan lärare och studerande.

This independent degree project investigates how formative feedback on written assignments affect Swedish upper secondary school pupils’ writing skills regarding form, what the effects are, and if the effects are the same for pupils in different ability bands. This was done by a time series analysis of tests where a collection of texts from pupils in different ability bands (E, C, and A) in two different classes was collected. All errors in the texts were counted and categorised, as well with the teachers’ highlighted errors on the pupils’ texts. The errors were further calculated into number of errors per 100 words due to different lengths of the texts. The results showed that there was a somewhat positive effect of the teachers’ feedback overall, and that pupils in lower ability bands processed feedback more effectively than pupils in higher ability bands. However, the results also suggested that in order to fully draw conclusions such as these, a statistical study is necessary to strengthen the results due to the low numbers in the results. The pedagogical implications found showed that teachers need to work differently with feedback for high-grade pupils. In order to do so, teacher education programs must emphasise this and address to teachers how to do this.

The present thesis aims to describe teenagers as peer reviewers and explore possible benefits of giving feedback. My study was carried out in two EFL classrooms in year eight in a Swedish lower secondary school, where the pupils were engaged with the written task to write an informative reply letter in English. The teaching unit included negotiations of a joint criteria list, feedback training, peer review, and the production of first and final drafts of the reply letter. Data were collected from multiples sources: texts produced in class, audio- and video-recordings, questionnaires and interviews. My main findings suggest that pupils can learn about writing from giving feedback. By adopting a reader perspective, the pupils raised their genre and audience awareness. Moreover, the peer-reviewed reply letters served as inspiration both in terms of transfer of structure, such as rhetorical organisation, and of ideas and content. Self-reports indicated that the pupils in my study enhanced their ability to self-assess and edit their own writing, which suggests that transferable skills were developed as a result of peer review. As regards micro-level aspects of writing, reading and commenting on peers’ reply letters seemed to influence a smaller number of pupils to transfer patterns and spelling. In their role as peer reviewers, the pupils successfully identified strengths and weaknesses in their peers’ writing, but the feedback comments did not include much specific formative information. My findings contribute to research on L2 writing and peer feedback by showing that younger learners can benefit from giving feedback. This is significant since previous research has mainly been carried out at university and college level. In addition, by combining text analyses, classroom observation and pupils’ self-reports, my study offers a comprehensive understanding of peer review. / Syftet med min licentiatuppsats är att beskriva tonåringar som kamratbedömare och undersöka möjliga fördelar med att ge feedback. Min studie genomfördes i två engelskklassrum i årskurs åtta i en svensk högstadieskola där eleverna  arbetade med att skriva svarsbrev på engelska. Arbetsområdet inkluderade diskussioner om en gemensam kriterielista, träning i att ge feedback, kamratbedömning och skriftlig produktion av utkast och slutlig version av svarsbrevet. Material samlades in från flera olika källor: de texter som skrevs i klassrummet, ljud- och videoinspelningar, enkäter och intervjuer. Mina resultat visar att elevers eget skrivande kan gynnas genom att ge feedback. Genom att de fick ett läsarperspektiv på sitt skrivande ökade elevernas medvetenhet om genre och mottagare. Dessutom fungerade de brev som eleverna läste och gav feedback på som inspiration, vilket visades genom att de överförde disposition och strukturer, samt idéer och innehåll till sitt eget skrivande. Eleverna uttryckte själva att de förbättrade sin förmåga att självbedöma och rätta sina texter, vilket indikerar att det är möjligt att utveckla överförbara färdigheter genom att bedöma andras texter. Ett mindre antal elever överförde ord och grammatiska strukturer från sina kamraters texter, men överlag påverkades skrivandets mikronivå i mindre utsträckning än makronivån (organisation och innehåll). I sin roll som kamratbedömare kunde eleverna  identifiera styrkor och svagheter i sina klasskamraters texter, men deras feedbackkommentarer innehöll relativt lite formativ information. Tidigare forskning inom området har främst utförts på högskole- och universitetsnivå  och mina resultat bidrar till forskning om skrivande i främmande språk och kamratfeedback genom att visa att också högstadieelevers skrivande kan gynnas av att ge feedback.

Aim Develop an IT artifact that provides formative feedback for students based on their programming assignments. Background One of the best methods to learn programming is by practice. Providing feedback to students is an important and a valuable factor for improving learning, which plays a vital part in the student’s possibility to enhance and improve its solutions. Software development courses have several assignments and each course instructs about 100 students. To assess and provide feedback for all the students and each assignment demands considerable resources. In a survey conducted by TCO (2013) half of the respondents’ state that feedback is rarely or never given in reasonable time. Method Action Design Research (ADR) was used to intervene an organizational problem in parallel with building and evaluating an IT artifact. Conclusion The results from the study were four generated design principles and a proposed solution on how to use existing static code analysis tools for provide formative feedback to students.