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

Our findings are based on a survey of 779 US teachers conducted in May 2022, along with follow-up focus groups that took place 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 lockdown orders, schools adopted new technologies to facilitate distance learning during the crisis. These technologies include learning management systems, which are online platforms that help instructors organize and track their coursework.

We were surprised to find that teachers using a learning management system like Canvas or Schoology reported higher levels of burnout. Ideally, these tools should have simplified their work. We also felt that these systems would improve teachers’ ability to organize papers and assignments, mainly because they would store everything digitally and thus reduce the need to print papers or bring piles of student work home for grading.

But in follow-up focus groups we conductedthe data told a different story. Rather than being used to replace old ways of completing assignments, learning management systems were just another thing on teachers’ plates.

A case in point was seen in lesson planning. Before the pandemic, teachers typically sent hard copies of lesson plans to administrators. However, after school systems implemented learning management systems, some teachers were expected to not only continue to submit paper plans, but also to 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 were not aligned with where their students were. A kindergarten teacher from Las Vegas shared, “Of course my kids can’t really count to 10 when they first come, but they have to learn a six-digit student number” to access Canvas. “I definitely agree that … it does lead to burnout.”

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

Why it matters

Teacher burnout is a persistent problem in education, and one that has become particularly acute expressed during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

If new technology is adopted to help teachers do their jobs, then school leaders need to make sure that it doesn’t add extra work for them. If it adds or increases teacher workload, then adding technology increases the likelihood of teacher burnout. This is likely forcing more teachers out of the field.

Schools implementing new technologies need to make sure they are streamlining the work of a teacher by offsetting other tasks rather than simply adding more work to their load.

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

What’s next

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

The A brief study is a brief review of interesting academic work.

David T. MarshallAssociate Professor of Educational Studies, Auburn University; Tena MooreAssociate Researcher in Accessible Systems for Teaching, Learning and Assessment, University of Kansasand Timothy Presleyassociate professor of psychology, Christopher Newport University

This article was republished by The conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read on original article.