Reflective learning, teacher training, and virtual environmentsPractical contributions

Abstract

This paper is part of intensive research carried out in the context of the Koulu ID19-XX-003 I+D Project, to measure the development of reflective competencies in teacher training within distance education contexts. Allwright (2005), Alsina (2007), Brockbank and McGill (2002), Esteve (2004) and Esteve, Melief, and Alsina (2010) share their main points of reflective learning as being interaction, reflection and contrasting information that enables to co-construct and reconstruct knowledge.The reflective model enables us to advance in a way that elevates reflection as an essential tool in the educator’s professional growth (Perrenoud, 2010; Schon, 1983). The study’s objective was to analyze how a virtual environment can aid a professor’s development of reflective competence, given that reflective development requires the adoption of a specific method and conceptual framework related to the discipline being taught.The practice of reflection as an element of training has its origins in the work of Dewey, “How We Think” (1910), which distinguishes reflexive human action from routine responses, especially within educational contexts. Based on a methodological design for the field on practice and of an exploratory nature, the sample counted with the participation of professors in distance learning master's degree courses. The research evinced reflective thinking promoted by this educational environment, in which reflection is conditioned by a purpose (Días Barriga, 2002).On the other hand, virtual teaching and learning environments facilitate the conversion between different trends, paradigms, and values, enabling flexibility and collaboration (Mora-Vicarioli, F., & Hooper-Simpson, 2016). This environment provides teachers in training with a space rich in social interaction and exchange of experiences from the different environments they come from, which promotes reflection on teaching (Vidal, Llanusa and Vialart, 2008).Critical reflection encourages teachers to question the values of their own educational practice, the evaluation of these practices and their consequences on student learning and, above all, developing an awareness of those actions that have a great social impact (Villalobos and Cabrera, 2009; Campaña, 2013).The reflexive thought proposed by Dewey (1910), which has been updated throughout the years (Maineri, 2016; Giraldo, 2016; de Oliveira, 2017), leads to a reflexive action that implies the manner in facing and responding to problems. This response is characterized by a broader process than the logical and rational solution since reflection requires intuition, emotion, and passion; it can be practiced but not taught with techniques; it requires changes in attitude.According to Schon (1987), a figurehead on reflective thinking theories, teachers are able to create knowledge related to their practice as they reflect on it. In this way, reflection is potentialized in student-teacher relations, established from another place in virtual learning environments, from their teaching methods and rhythms to the emphasis on the learner, which contributes to the autonomy of lifelong learning (Salinas, 2017).