This literature review is a condensed version of one prepared for a small-scale qualitative study of educators (Farooq, 2019) who have recently transitioned from face-to-face to online teaching at New Zealand tertiary providers of education. The study aimed to understand how online educators picked cues from the discussion platforms offered by virtual learning environments to critically reflect on their pedagogical practice, and the associated changes they made to help students achieve their learning outcomes. It critically assessed how dialogic pedagogy and critical reflection can be adapted to fit in the framework of virtual learning, and contrasted these philosophical ideas to the Western criticism of automation and de-professionalisation of universities in the wake of increased distance learning options provided by tertiary institutes. The findings were discussed within a post-intentional phenomenological framework. In what follows, significant literature that illuminates this question has been critically analysed.