Technology Is Supposed to Reduce Teacher Burnout—Sometimes It Can Make It Worse

Our findings are based on a May 2022 survey of 779 US teachers and follow-up focus groups 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 ordered to close, schools were adopted new technologies to facilitate distance learning in times of crisis. These technologies included learning management systems, online platforms that help teachers organize and track coursework.

We were surprised to find that teachers using a learning management system like Canvas or Schoology had higher levels of burnout. Ideally, these tools should simplify their work. We also thought that these systems would improve teachers’ ability to organize papers and assignments because they would put everything digitally, thus reducing the need to print papers or bring home lots of student work at cost.

But in focus groups that we followthe data told a different story. Instead of being used to replace old ways of completing assignments, learning management systems were just another thing on teachers’ boards.

A clear example of this was seen in lesson planning. Before the pandemic, teachers typically submitted 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 outlines, but to upload digital versions into the learning management system using an entirely different format.

Requiring teachers to adopt new tools without eliminating old requirements is a recipe for burnout.

Early elementary teachers complained the most about learning management systems because the systems did not fit where their students were. “Now my kids can’t really count to 10 when they first come in, but they have to learn their six-digit student number to get into Canvas,” shared a kindergarten teacher from Las Vegas. “I strongly agree … it leads to burnout.”

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

Why is it important?

Teacher burnout has been an ongoing problem in education, and this one in particular has been a problem Announced 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 it doesn’t add extra work to them. Adding technology increases the likelihood of teacher burnout if it increases or increases teachers’ workloads. This likely forces more teachers to leave the field.

Schools implementing new technologies need to make sure they have them simplification of teaching work not by replacing other duties and simply adding more work to their workload.

A broader implication from this study is that teacher well-being should be a primary focus when implementing school-wide changes.

What’s next

We believe that our research is relevant not only for learning management systems, but also for other emerging 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 Research Brief is a brief description of an interesting academic work.

David T. MarshallAssociate Professor of the Department of Educational Studies, Auburn University; Tenna MooreResearch Assistant in Accessible Teaching, Learning and Assessment Systems, University of Kansasand Timothy PresslyAssociate Professor of the Department of Psychology, Christopher Newport University

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