Technology is supposed to reduce teacher burnout, and sometimes it can make it worse

Our findings were based on a survey of 779 US teachers conducted in May 2022, along with subsequent focus groups conducted in the fall of that year. Our study was peer-reviewed and published in April 2024.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools across the country were under shutdown orders, schools embraced it New technologies To facilitate distance learning during the crisis. These technologies included learning management systems, which are online platforms that help teachers organize and track their courses.

We were puzzled to find that teachers who used a learning management system like Canvas or Schoology reported higher levels of burnout. Ideally, these tools should simplify their functionality. We also believed that these systems would improve teachers’ ability to organize documents and assignments, mainly because they would have everything digital, thus reducing the need to print documents or bring piles of student work home to class.

But in We conducted follow-up focus groupsBut the data tells a different story. Instead of being used to replace old ways of doing things, learning management systems were just another thing on teachers’ plates.

A clear example was seen in lesson planning. Before the pandemic, teachers typically submitted paper copies of lesson plans to administrators. However, once school systems introduced learning management systems, some teachers were expected to not only continue to submit paper plans but also upload digital versions into the learning management system using a completely different format.

Asking teachers to adopt new tools without removing old requirements is a recipe for burnout.

Teachers who taught in the early elementary grades had the most complaints about learning management systems because the systems did not align with where their students were located. A kindergarten teacher from Las Vegas shared, “Now, my kids can’t count to 10 when they first come, but they have to learn the six-digit student number” to access Canvas. “I definitely agree that…it leads to burnout.”

In addition to technology-related concerns, teachers identified other factors such as administrative support, teacher autonomy, and mental health as predictors of burnout.

Why does it matter?

Teacher burnout has been a persistent problem in education, and it has become a particular problem Announced during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

If new technology is adopted to help teachers do their jobs, school leaders must ensure that it does not add additional work for them. If it increases or increases teachers’ workloads, adding technology increases the likelihood of teacher burnout. This will likely force more teachers to leave the field.

Schools implementing new technologies must ensure that they are Simplify the job of being a teacher By balancing other tasks, not just adding more work to her load.

The broader lesson from this study is that teacher well-being should be the primary focus when implementing school-wide changes.

What’s next

We believe our research is relevant not only for learning management systems but also for other new technologies, including emerging artificial intelligence tools. We believe future research should identify which schools and districts are effectively integrating new technologies and learn from their successes.

the Search summary It is a short overview of interesting academic work.

David T. MarshallAssociate Professor in Educational Research, Auburn University; Tina MooreResearch Associate in Facilitated Teaching, Learning and Assessment Systems, University of Kansasand Timothy PresleyAssociate Professor of Psychology, Christopher Newport University

This article was republished from Conversation Under Creative Commons license. Read Original article.