The role of behavioral components in interpreting the teacher's image in face-to-face and remote learning

Abstract

The article examines socio-psychological interaction between students and teachers as a primary factor impacting the development of relationships between educational stakeholders, which, in turn, influences academic communication and learning outcomes. At the university level, teacher-student interaction occurs most actively during the completion of educational tasks. The behavioral components in this interaction are not merely external factors but active constructs that mediate mutual cognition. Investigating these behavioral components in the interpretation of the teacher’s image within an online context will enhance the effectiveness of distance learning. The purpose of this study is to identify differences in the perception of the teacher’s image and to determine the behavioral predictors that influence its formation across various interaction formats. The study involved 44 students aged 19 to 37 years. Data was collected using a questionnaire administered immediately after students completed an educational task and received a grade. The interval between data collection during face-to-face and online interaction was two weeks. The results showed that for the online format assessments related to business and procedural characteristics prevailed, e.g. ‘professionalism’, ‘punctuality’, ‘responsibility’. In contrast, during face-to-face interaction, the teacher’s image was enriched with personal and emotional characteristics, e.g. ‘responsiveness’, ‘patience’, ‘creativity’. The key behavioral predictors for interpreting the teacher’s personality in online interaction were technical competence and the manifestation of professional qualities related to subject expertise, the ability to present material, and clarity of requirements. In the face-to-face format, alongside the manifestation of professional qualities, behavioral characteristics associated with emotional expression and empathy had a significant impact. A comfortable interaction during task completion was ensured by feedback and an emotional assessment of the task’s effectiveness, regardless of the instructional format.