Can Formative Assessment Practices Appear Spontaneously during Long Distance Learning?

Within the context of Long-Distance Learning (LDL) during the first Italian lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic, our eye as researchers in mathematics education looks at the modification of student-teacher interactions regarding the exchange of feedback. We claim that digital-technology based environment fostered the spontaneous emergence of teaching and learning practices that can be associated with formative assessment. Through the analysis of answers to a questionnaire and the observation of a class during LDL we outline the relation between the theoretical construct of formative assessment and observed practices. This analysis allows to highlight what factors of digital-technology based environment shape class interaction and what directions can be taken to exploit the potential of digital technologies in teaching and learning context, in particular within mathematics education field.