Online education: achievements, pending challenges, search for a balance. The professors’ role. New profiles

Abstract

This article arises from the evident lack of learning achievements and the discouragement and disinterest related to virtual learning environments. It also arises from the need to review and reformulate teaching and raise awareness as to the benefits of the reflective teaching model. The article proposes a new teaching profile —the reflective teacher— to face the challenge of virtual education. The article compares the profile of the traditional teacher vs. that of the reflective teacher, focused on adopting a reflective practice, a holistic methodology based on affectivity, and different from the usual reflection inherent to human beings. A review of the vast literature led us to associate the teacher's reflective practice with the students' learning styles to achieve metacognitive knowledge. In an attempt to enhance the teaching-learning process and to establish a profile of the virtual teacher, we made a table containing the characteristics of the reflective teacher and invited teachers whose practice is focused on the transmission of knowledge to carry out a practical exercise involving three levels of reflection. Finally, we proposed to extrapolate this methodology to other areas of knowledge.