"I'm tired of black boxes!": A systematic comparison of faculty well-being and need satisfaction before and during the COVID-19 crisis.

As of today, surprisingly little is known about the subjective well-being of faculty in general, but especially when teaching online and during a time of pandemic during lockdowns in particular. To narrow this research gap, the present study systematically compared the subjective well-being of faculty teaching face-to-face before to those teaching online during the COVID-19 pandemic, adopting a self-determination theory framework. The data reported here stem from a study conducted before the pandemic (Sample 1, n = 101) and which repeated-measures survey design we replicated to collect corresponding data during the pandemic (Sample 2, n = 71). Results showed that faculty teaching online during the pandemic reported impaired satisfaction of all three basic needs, that is reduced autonomy, competence, and especially relatedness, as well as impaired subjective well-being (clearly reduced enjoyment and reduced teaching satisfaction; increased anger and a tendency towards more shame) compared to faculty teaching face-to-face before the pandemic. Yet pride, anxiety, and boredom were experienced to a similar extent across both samples. The effects of the teaching format on the different aspects of subjective well-being were overall mediated in self-determination-theory-congruent ways by the satisfaction of the basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. We conclude for a post-pandemic future that online teaching will supplement rather than replace face-to-face teaching in higher education institutions, as their importance for building relationships and satisfying social interactions not only for students but also for faculty seem to have been underestimated so far.

Exceptional circumstances: Changes in teachers' work characteristics and well-being during COVID-19 lockdown.

The COVID-19 pandemic extensively changed the work life of many employees. Teachers seemed particularly challenged, confronted with sudden remote teaching due to school closures. Drawing on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, we investigated (a) changes in seven work characteristics (job demands: emotional demands, interpersonal conflict, workload; job resources: autonomy, social support, feedback, task variety) and three job-related well-being indicators (fatigue, psychosomatic complaints, job satisfaction), (b) how changes in work characteristics correlated with well-being, and (c) the impact of two individual difference factors (caretaking responsibilities, career stage). Data were collected in two waves (just prior to and a few months into the COVID-19 pandemic) across Germany from 207 teachers with an average work experience of 6 years (range: 1-36 years). Using latent change score (LCS) modeling, we found significant, small-to-medium-sized decreases over time for both job demands and resources as well as fatigue, with variability in the magnitude of changes. Decreases in job demands correlated with decreases in fatigue and psychosomatic complaints, whereas decreases in job resources correlated with decreases in job satisfaction. Teachers with caretaking responsibilities and more experienced teachers were more vulnerable to the crisis as they experienced a smaller or no decrease in job demands in concert with diminished job resources. These findings reveal the double-edged consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for teachers' work life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).