Instructor Emotions in Video Lectures

In recorded lectures, do people learn differently from a visibly happy instructor than from a bored instructor? That’s the question that Horovitz & Mayer address in the June 2021 issue of Computers in Human Behavior. In their study (n=112), these researchers hypothesized that learners who viewed a video lecture from a happy instructor would be more likely to feel happier and perform better on course assessments than those who viewed lectures delivered by an obviously bored instructor. Their findings indicate that learners who viewed the happy instructor’s videos were more likely to feel motivated to learn, but ultimately, the instructor’s emotions had no effect on the learners’ posttest scores. Still, we think it's worth putting on a happy face.

Key Takeaway

Recording an instructional video? Your positive affect can have important implications for your individual learners’ moods and motivations.

Read More (Paywall)

Horovitz, T. & Mayer, R. E. (2021). Learning with human and virtual instructors who display happy or bored emotions in video lectures. Computers in Human Behavior, 119.

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