Burnout

From Inside Higher Ed: Almost half of faculty members nationally feel burned out because of their work—and a similar number (39 percent) felt emotionally exhausted, according to a report released... by WGU Labs.

While burnout among professors is nothing new, Omid Fotuhi, director of learning innovation at WGU Labs—a subset of Western Governors University—believes technology could be greatly contributing to it. According to the report, roughly eight in 10 faculty members feel that they’re always “on the job” because of technology, while another 64 percent say technology makes it difficult to take breaks from students or work.

“Faculty now see technology as not only a permanent but also a growing influence on learning,” write the report’s authors, noting that that viewpoint can create a divide among professors who want technology in the classroom and those who do not. “Such growing chasms among faculty may pose challenges, inefficiencies, and inconsistencies in teaching and instruction, which administrators must navigate.” ...

One-third (37 percent) of faculty members said that students will have lower-quality learning experiences in the future because of the increasing use of technology. A similar percentage believe that the value of higher education will decline going forward.

Perhaps not surprisingly, that outlook shifts a bit when accounting for the type of instructors being surveyed: Roughly 40 percent of those who teach online believe that higher education is headed in the right direction, in part because of its increased technology usage, while just 20 percent of professors teaching in-person courses state the same...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/tech-innovation/teaching-learning/2024/08/26/report-finds-professors-are-burned-out-thanks.