Núm. 28 (2019) julio-diciembre

This article is the outcome of two research projects funded by the University Teaching Research grants. The projects traced the impact of narrative methodologies in reflective thinking among university students, and their impact in learning processes and their personal and professional development. The text is divided into three sections: The theoretical background on reflective thinking, the features of learning environments favouring the development of these skills, and the value of the narrative strategies to accomplish this goal. The text finishes with specific suggestions on how university teaching should be organized and structured in order to achieve the development and evaluation of reflective practice objectives so these ends might be promoted and evaluated.

Reflective practice as a professional development strategy allows us to envision different work scenarios. One of those is known as Collective Reflective Practice, which permits participants to share their pedagogical experience and/or self-assess their own practice in a context of dialogue that sets the conditions for a reflective peer practice. This paper shows the results of an analysis of a collective reflective practice called «Hablemos docencia» (Let’s Talk about Teaching). An initiative developed by the Universidad del Norte’s Center for Teaching Excellence in Barranquilla, Colombia. In this space, professors from different disciplines have the opportunity to reflect on their teaching practices in a group and collaborative setting. Grounded in insights by Tsangaridou and O’Sullivan (1994), we use a quantitative methodology and ex post facto approach, which characterizes the effect of «Hablemos docencia» on a group of professors.