Abstract
Surging enrollment, high levels of student contact, and the professional isolation that can result from teaching remotely combine to increase the risk of burnout for faculty teaching online. Additional risk factors stem from higher education's turn toward a customer service model, its current emphasis on efficiency with the addition of performance metrics, and resulting feelings of loss of agency, efficacy, and belonging. However, the principles of self-determination theory—autonomy, competence, and relatedness—provide a foundation for creating a sustainable, engaging work environment for faculty that also benefits students and the university as a whole. This chapter draws from interdisciplinary research and the insights and experiences of faculty to detail the causes of and solutions for burnout, emphasizing the role institutions play in mitigating the risk factors. Finally, this chapter includes a playbook of concrete practices that departments and institutions can draw from to create opportunities for employees to collaborate, reflect, and flourish.
TopBurnout
The COVID-19 pandemic has sharpened urgency for educators because it has vividly exposed and exacerbated the racial, gendered, and socioeconomic inequalities in our society overall (Long et al., 2020) and in our educational systems, in particular (Terada, 2020). After all, remote learning can only take place with reliable internet access and, more fundamentally, a computer that works. It has demonstrated that women are often still working “the second shift,” and so their career goals—and their pursuit of higher education— may be put on hold (Taub, 2020). Further, women comprise a majority of the workforce in the “caring professions,” especially healthcare and education, placing a particular strain on them in this pandemic era (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). In short, COVID-19 has laid institutional racism bare, devastated gains women have made in the professional world, and, with a floundering economy and a dismantled service sector, intensified struggles for people in lower socioeconomic strata. These consequences have a direct impact on students and educators, and they also heighten the risk of burnout for educators.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Workload Allocation Model: A metric-focused form of accountability designed with the purpose of achieving more effective management of people, time, and resources.
Professional Learning Community: A collaborative space through which educators connect with one another through inquiry- and practice-based professional learning.
Relatedness: A psychological need fundamental to intrinsic motivation that involves engagement in positive and trusting relationships.
Autonomy: A psychological need fundamental to intrinsic motivation that involves being the initiator of actions and experiencing a sense of freedom when engaging in an activity.
Competence: A psychological need fundamental to intrinsic motivation that involves feeling effective and capable of achieving desired outcomes.
Burnout: Work-related stress that can present as emotional and/or physical exhaustion and involves feelings of depersonalization, detachment, inadequacy, and guilt.
Emotional Dissonance: The discrepancy between expressed and felt emotions.