Configurations of the Intangible: An Inductive Approach to Teachers’ Imaginaries of Virtual Education

The article presents the results of a qualitative study aimed at uncovering the social imaginaries of virtual education among university faculty, with the purpose of understanding how symbolic representations shape the reality of educational phenomena surrounding this modality—its stances, evaluations, and pedagogical practices. In the context of increasing expansion of virtuality in higher education, it is recognized that beyond technological and regulatory developments, it is the teachers’ subjectivities that enable—or hinder—the appropriation of education within virtual environments. This study was conducted through a qualitative approach and a Participatory Action Research (PAR) design, involving 15 professors from Simón Bolívar University, Cúcuta campus (Colombia). Data collection was carried out through a focus group and a semi-structured interview guide, and information analysis was based on grounded theory. Triangulation made it possible to construct a cartography of subjectivities regarding virtual education, revealing tensions between institutional discourses, personal experiences, and transformations in practice. Complex symbolic configurations were identified, marked by imaginaries that articulate both innovative openness and pedagogical resistance, shaped by factors such as academic trajectory, technological proficiency, and perceptions of quality. The findings contribute to understanding the cultural dynamics mediating university training in virtual contexts and outline directions for consolidating relevant, situated, and diversity-sensitive faculty development models. In doing so, they promote critical reflection on virtual education as a territory under construction.