General behaviour

The performance of the lecturer is often not considered, the logic being that the content is the most important factor of the teaching.

Of course, the content of a lesson should be flawless, but the lecturer’s general behaviour is in fact a crucial factor:

• In the first seconds of class, and actually also in the minutes just before the beginning of class, the students’ impression of the lecturer is determined in a very quick and unconscious process (called interpretation); this impression decides whether the students have confidence in the lecturer and, thus, in the information s/he gives.
• The engagement of the lecturer (or the absence of engagement, for that matter) affects the students – not least due to the activity of the so-called mirror neurons; this factor is, in other words, neuro-psychologically based.
• The behaviour and the engagement of the lecturer is important for establishing a positive learning atmosphere – positive emotions are one of the corner stones of successful teaching and learning.

See also ‘Gestures, facial expressions, pose, motion’ and the video ‘The body and the voice in the classroom’.