Learning Metaphors as a connecting thread in the construction of Virtual Classrooms. A Practical Experience

Abstract

The construction of virtual classrooms has deep implications in teachers 'work, not only as tutors but as instructional designers
that go beyond esthetic and technological requirements. To achieve more active and responsible participants, teachers must
be updated to new changes in modality and instructional approaches. In some virtual classrooms developed on the technological platform of the UJAP, it has been observed dispersion of purposes, excessive fragmentation of knowledge,
unnecessary use of resources, incoherence between what is said and what is done, which may result in teachers' and students' anguish, uncertainty and lack of enthusiasm. Although a central idea has been commonly used to focus on the core of a course, learning metaphors were used, in the present study, as a connecting thread for the development of virtual classrooms to get teachers' perspective less conditioned by customs, beliefs and particular circumstances, which help instructors to overcome
the paradigm shift. Main principles of the Fundamental Theory were applied for the qualitative analysis of: Opinions of teachers
who were enrolled in the subject "Educational possibilities of the Acropolis platform" taught by the researcher of the present
study, at the UJAP; learning metaphors performed by teachers and subsequent virtual classrooms they developed. In conclusion, the application of learning metaphors as a connecting thread to build virtual classrooms helps to provide
coherence between concepts, procedures and attitudes; in this way the holistic approach that it is offered differs from the
traditional one. This new approach is reflected on integrative central activities, and on the exploitation of technological benefits
to support learning and to reflect on what have been learned.