Our teachers are the backbone of society. Teaching, planning, and making an impact on students are no small feats. However, at times, we take for granted the hard work, time, and energy put in to keep academia going. One large issue hitting professors like never before is faculty burnout.But don’t fret too much– we have a solution! Keep reading to find out more.
Faculty burnout has been a problem long before any mention of COVID-19 in mainstream media. Academia is an industry characterized by self-sufficiency and that is vulnerable to the quickly changing landscape of the world. Shrinking budgets, growing workloads, and job insecurity are the mark of common issues faculty face.
But what exactly is faculty burnout? Faculty burnout, also sometimes called teacher burnout, is a work-related stress that affects one’s mental, emotional, and physical well-being that sometimes brings about a “reduced sense of confidence and personal identity.” These issues were amplified in addition to new concerns due to the rampage of the pandemic.
The Effect of COVID-19
The pandemic has brought concern for higher education faculty to the forefront, as many faculty members cited that they missed human connection and felt a mental exhaustion. Many faculty and teacher burnout statistics have arisen during this time. For example, 35% of higher education faculty said that they seriously considered changing their career path away from academia since the start of 2020. Through all of this hardship has come serious evaluations of how to improve faculty experience within the industry and of how to reduce burnout. Our solution? Modern Student Engagement.
Higher Education Dynamics
It is no surprise that the well-being of faculty and students are interconnected within academia. Tough times for students are felt by faculty and vice versa; and moments of euphoria within teaching are felt by learner and instructor alike. This creates what seems to be a dichotomy between re-evaluating the way learning is delivered to students and ensuring that faculty is receiving the support and resources that they need to safely and effectively do their jobs.
However, the interconnectedness of student and faculty emphasizes solutions in binding these worlds together rather than investigating them as separate entities. The answer is in collaboration, not isolation. In this, comes modern student engagement.
How Can Modern Student Engagement Help?
Student engagement in general is an essential component to a successful classroom environment. With changing times, developing technologies, and different students comes the necessity to develop pedagogy alongside these other changes to ensure that learner and instructor are reaping the most possible benefits. Using technology in and out of the classroom is an exemplary manner of getting students involved while putting less work on an instructor. Check out our previous blog highlighting student engagement tips for K-12 instructors here.
Yellowdig is one platform with proven success in this field. We are not like other discussion boards– we are a discussion platform that encourages students to communicate and engage organically with each other, the instructor, and the course content. By using our patented points system that automatically connects Yellowdig points to your school’s LMS and other pieces of technology, instructors find themselves gaining more and more free time as well as bringing happiness back to their profession.
Client Testimonials
Here are just a few testimonials from real life Yellowdig clients:
“About 75% of the students' questions are answered sufficiently by other students, which is a huge timesaver and it lets me focus on the more challenging questions that students have. I LOVE that students are able to get points for asking and/or answering questions.” -McKinzie Sutter, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Yellowdig Cares
Our platform is designed by and for instructors. We are constantly listening to our clients, their concerns, and their ideas to make the world of EdTech as positive as possible. Faculty burnout is an issue that many of us have faced, so we are committed to restoring joy to such an important profession that can truly change the world for the better.
We approach the education world with humanity first, investing in the joy, success, and satisfaction of our clients. Thank you to our Yellowdig Instructors for all of your hard work. If you would like to find out more about Yellowdig and become a Yellowdig Instructor, all you have to do is click here.
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