Avoiding Online Educator Burnout: Solution Focused Pathways for Prevention Slides 1-18

1. Avoiding Online
Educator Burnout:
Solution Focused
Pathways for Prevention

2. John D. Moore, Ph.D.
Professor of Health Sciences
•Full-time faculty member with American Military University since 2002
•Instructs courses in health and wellness, including stress reduction
•Licensed Mental Health Counselor
•Certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor
•Approved Clinical Supervisor
•Doctor of Psychology: Northcentral University
•Certificate in Executive Leadership: Cornell University

3. Objectives of Workshop
Part I: Online Education & Burnout
• Overview of current trends in online education
• Explore the definition & concept of burnout
• The case for a unique specifier
• Define Online Educator Burnout (OEB)
• Assess unique causal factors of burnout unique to online
educators
• Examine the “Burnout Bubble”
Part II: Burnout Prevention & Amelioration
• Review the early earning signs of OEB
• Analyze prevention approaches
• Examine concrete approaches for amelioration
• Create your own plan for wellness

4. PART I:
Online Educators &
Burnout
1

5. Current Trends in Online Education
Some Interesting Facts to Think About . . .
• 20% of all higher education students have taken at least one online course
according to a 2008 study by Sloan Consortium Study.
• 1/3 of all public university faculty had taught an online course according to a
Association of Public Land Grant Universities 2009 published study.
• 12,000,000 post secondary college students in the United States take some
or all of their college classes online according to the research group, Ambient
Insight.
• 18,000,000 are expected to take online courses by the year 2014 according to
the same research group.

6. More on trends ….

7. How does the enormous growth occurring
in the world of online education impact
course instructors?
More More
students Grading
More
More More
Quality
Accountability Teaching
Checks
More
More
Time
Interaction
Online

8. Points to keep in mind as we define
burnout…
Stress is normal and quite healthy. It keeps us focused, sharp,
engaged, interested & breathing!
Distress occurs when our normal ability to manage day-to-day
stressors does not meet the level of stress we are experiencing. As a
result of distress, we may experience changes in health, behavior,
feel overwhelmed. Distress can be a sign of burnout

9. So What is Burnout?
Burnout is a generic term used to describe as a syndrome
consisting of three symptoms that are related to work.
1. Emotional exhaustion
2. Depersonalization of others
3. Feelings of reduced personal accomplishment
- C. Masclach (2003)

10. More on Burnout …
• The first discussion of “burnout” and its symptomology is thought
to have first appeared in a 1974 article featured in the
Journal of Social Issues by H. Freudenberger
• The condition of “burnout” used to be exclusively tied to folks
employed in the “helping professions” such as mental health
counselors, teachers, police officers, nurses, etc.
• Today, burnout has become so widely used and applied in the
workplace that any worker who experiences symptoms can claim
to be “burned out”.
• The media commonly uses the term burnout to describe
“stressed out workers”. Being stressed out is not the same as
being burned out.

12. Basically…
the generic term “Burnout”
Has Become .. Burned Out

13. The Case for a Unique Specifier for
Online Educator Burnout (OEB)
OEB
The significance of Future
problem Research
Unique Burnout Treatment
Causal Factors Prevention
Related to Online
Teaching

14. Definition of Online Educator Burnout
Online educator burnout (OEB), also referred to as e-educator
burnout, is a subcategory of burnout that is exclusive to persons who
instruct or facilitate courses online and present with the three burnout
dimensions as originally identified and described by Maslach and
Jackson (1986). These three burnout dimensions include:
1) Emotional exhaustion, feelings of being emotionally overextended and
exhausted by one’s work;
2) Depersonalization, an unfeeling of impersonal response towards students;
and
3) Reduced sense of personal accomplishment, a loss of personal self-efficacy

15. What’s the difference between Online Educator Burnout &
Regular “Teacher Burnout” when it comes to causal factors?
Online Educators Must Possess Unique Competencies That
Differ From Traditional Teaching Methods (Hogan & McKnight, 2007).
• Specialized classroom delivery technology (LMS) knowledge
• Ability to create and stimulate e-group discussions
• Unique organizational skills used for online teaching
• Ability to work asynchronously (class is 24/7)
• Strong time management skills
• Many if not most e-educators work from home
The enhancement (and use) of above mentioned skills, coupled with
ongoing e-classroom training necessarily means that the e-educator be
online regularly – or feel they need to be online constantly. Researchers
believe this unique dynamic may lead to burnout (Dunlap, 2005).
Sources: Hogan, R. L.; McKnight, M. A. (2007). Exploring burnout among university online instructors: An initial investigation. Internet
and Higher Education (10), 117-124.
Dunlap, J. C. (2005). Workload reduction in online courses: Getting some shuteye. Performance Improvement, 44 (5), 18-26.

16. Unique Etiologic Factors That May Contribute to
OEB
• Online course instruction is isolative by nature
• Asynchronous course delivery format
• Possible role ambiguity for online faculty
• Patho-physiologic reasons (i.e. hormones)
• The role of computer screen light
• Compassion fatigue (depending upon content of course)
• Poor boundary setting with home and work responsibilities
• Exacerbation of pre-existing medical/psychiatric issues

17. Moore’s Online Educator
Bubble
Moore also postulates the existence of a hypothetical burnout bubble (BB) for those involved
with online education, in which various interpersonal forces act as inflationary agents, causing
the bubble to expand over the course of time. These inflationary agents include:
1. Teaching responsibilities
2. Family/Personal responsibilities
3. Other responsibilities
If neglected, the BB has the potential to over inflate and theoretically burst. It should be noted
that this bubble applies to both the online educator and learner.

18. Moore’s OEB Bubble
Teaching
Responsibilities Personal/Family
Responsibilities
The more inflation of the Other
bubble due to inflationary Responsibilities
agents, the bigger the
bubble becomes until it
bursts.