RECONSIDERING THE TEACHER'S ROLES AND SKILLS IN THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOM

The recent development of the new informational and communication technologies have been noticed in all the socio-economical and socio-professional fields. Their implementation also affected the educational system. The teaching process has moved from the classical traditional type to the teaching facilitated by the new technologies and it has reached level of teaching achieved within the virtual field; its evolution was linked and concomitant with the one of the techniques. The present study deals with the roles and skills of the teacher within the context of a virtual classroom, of an activity carried out in the virtual field. The specificity of such a classroom implies a reconsideration of the well-known roles. The theoretical approach is sustained by an empirical research of ascertaining type carried out on a sample of 124 subjects, students future teachers who follow the Program of studies which certify, the skills for teaching. The objectives of the research carried out pursued the following things: the investigation of the students' opinion on the specificity of the virtual classroom, its necessity and the possibility of its existence; its advantages and disadvantages on the psycho-pedagogical and teaching training aspects; the inventory of the roles and skills which a teacher must have in a virtual classroom; the laying down of certain proposals on the possibility of practicing these roles and of the shaping the necessary skills to carry out activities in a virtual field. The research methods used have been the survey based on a questionnaire and the focus group, which have been accompanied by proper tools (a questionnaire of opinion, a focus group interview). The results obtained allowed theo formulation of certain conclusions regarding the role of the teacher in a new context, as well as the shaping of an improving proposal on the curricula for the Program of studies aiming to create the possibility of practicing these roles and skills by the students who train to become teachers.