Examining staff burnout during the transition to teaching online due to COVID-19 implications

Orientation: COVID-19 generated the need for changes in the higher education sector, sparking a shift to online approaches ultimately increasing workload. This study assessed the prevalence of burnout symptoms among academics at an online university in South Africa. Research purpose: Assessing prevalence and severity of burnout symptoms among academics and its impact on work engagement. Motivation for research: Academics are central to the teaching and learning processes at higher education institutions. Health and wellness has an impact on institutional functionality. As academic workloads increase, so does the likelihood of burnout, which can influence academic functioning. Research approach/design and method: Cross-sectional design. Main Findings: High levels of burnout within open, distance and e-learning (ODeL) academic staff member population is evident with 75% of staff experiencing high or very high burnout. High levels of burnout were concentrated among senior lecturers, with teaching experience and have at least a PhD. The regression coefficient for work engagement (B = –0.364, p ≤ 0.001) indicated that for each point increase in work engagement, there was a decrease in burnout of 0.364. Practical implications: High levels of burnout include job dissatisfaction, reduced quality of work, and increased absenteeism. Addressing burnout contributes to retaining experienced staff, improved job satisfaction and quality output. This paper highlights the impact of teaching transitions on the academic workforce, contributing towards wellness interventions aiding burnout recovery. Contribution/value-add: This paper highlights the impact of teaching transitions on the academic workforce within South Africa, contributing towards wellness interventions aiding the recovery from burnout. © 2023. The Authors.

Continuous Online Assessment at a South African Open Distance and e-Learning Institution

Online assessment and continuous assessment are gaining growing attention from the assessment community. In particular the merger of these two forms of assessment is becoming popular for implementing assessment at scale. In this manuscript we investigate student experiences of the implementation of online continuous assessment at an Open, Distance and e-Learning (ODeL) institution. This study describes the impact of this rapid shift to continuous online assessment, sparked by the COVID pandemic, from the perspectives of students, many of whom were confronted with online assessments for the first time. The South African higher education landscape is marked with inequalities in schooling, internet access, device access and financial resources as it is one of the most unequal countries in the world. An institution wide survey was administered electronically to all students who had taken at least one online continuous assessment module in 2020. Students completed open ended questions about their experiences of undertaking online continuous assessment during the 2020 academic year. The findings of this study found that many students were not adequately prepared for the substantial increase in workload that continuous online assessment entailed;that assessment structures disadvantaged certain groups of students, especially those who worked or managed households;that students’ access to devices and internet were grossly unequal which had a negative effect on their experience of the transition to continuous, online assessment. Copyright © 2022 Fynn and Mashile.