University teaching is based on research, or in other words, a continuous process of knowledge creation based on existing knowledge. Before researched knowledge can be applied to teaching, it must be defined explicitly. The research knowledge is codified into reports and articles so it could be transferred to others for teaching or additional research.
Lecturers base their teaching on explicit knowledge from research reports in addition to previous teaching. The lecturers need to know how to realize the research information into a transferrable form. This requires conversion between explicit and tacit knowledge. A teacher has to know how to implement the most concrete bits of information into a sensible part of a course. Most importantly, a teacher has to know how to combine multiple bits of information to form a coherent and understandable entity of tacit knowledge. When the teacher has accomplished this, the new knowledge has become a part of his know-how. After this realization process the teacher can share with other teachers, socialize, to deepen his tacit knowledge of the subject.
The mission of a university teacher is ultimately to enlighten students on a defined subject. To do this, a teacher cannot transfer whole blocks of knowledge from her brain without any conversions. The teacher has to roughen her knowledge down to the nearest common context and define it explicitly, so that the students will be able to comprehend the subject. This is why thinking about competence is important. If the other party has a comprehension level on the subject significantly below the presumed level, the externalization process of knowledge is bound to fail. In contrast, setting competence expectations much lower than the actual level of the other party leads the teacher to unnecessary knowledge conversions. Unnecessary conversions will in turn eat away most of the