Professors’ perception of body language in the aftermath of the Covid-19 online teaching period

During the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, professors at a university in Canada were invited to fill-out a questionnaire inquiring about the role of body language in their lectures. Participants were asked to view body language in its largest sense, from facial expressions to hand gestures, eye movements, postures. The aim of this study was to investigate the way professors of different disciplines who were not used to classes held online perceived their body language to contribute to their teaching in the promotion of students’ learning at a moment in time when they could better relate to the differences between teaching in two class formats. This article examines the responses that 58 professors offered to the questionnaire, where the most important finding not only indicates that professors perceived their body language to make a salient contribution to their teaching, but also that this was the case especially during in-person classes.