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Impact of Implementing New Technology Into K-12 Classrooms on Teacher Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Abstract

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, K-12 teachers rapidly implemented new technologies to provide remote education, often with limited technological training and support. We tested whether teachers’ satisfaction with their technology training was associated with their perceived stress, depression, anxiety, well-being and sleep. The School Staff Health and Wellness Study has surveyed school staff about their experiences throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. A priori analyses included comparisons of well-being scores among teachers who were satisfied with their technology training, dissatisfied with their technology training and those who had not received technology training. We also explore qualitatively what additional technology-related responsibilities teachers had throughout Fall 2020. Participants included 5,873 K-12 teachers who identified predominately as female, White and Non-Hispanic. Most K-12 teachers (88%) had to learn new technology, and 54% reported being “not at all” or only “a little bit” satisfied with the technology training they received. Teachers who were satisfied with their training in new technology were less anxious, depressed, stressed, scored lower on measures of sleep disturbance and higher on measures of well-being compared to other groups. Understanding the association between training in new technology and teachers’ well-being will help school leaders support teachers amid future challenging circumstances.

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Acknowledgements

Thank you to all participants for their time and contributions. Thank you also to our School Staff Advisory Board for their valuable insights and assistance.

Funding

This research was supported by the Center for Clinical Translational Science and the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences through grant number 5TL1TR001997. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40536-0086, USA

    Madeline Dunfee, Heather Bush, Candace Brancato & Erin N. Haynes

  2. College of Arts and Sciences, University of Kentucky, Kentucky, USA

    Kate A. Leger

  3. College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Timothy J. Hilbert

Authors
  1. Madeline Dunfee
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  6. Erin N. Haynes
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Contributions

Conceptualization, M.D., E.H. and H.B.; methodology, M.D., E.H. and H.B.; formal analysis, M.D.; resources, M.D., E.H. and H.B.; data curation C.B. and M.D.; writing—original draft preparation M.D.; writing—review and editing, E.H., H.B., C. B., T.H., and K.L.; supervision, E.H.; project administration, C.B.; funding acquisition, E.H. and H.B. All authors have read and agreed to the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Madeline Dunfee.

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Institutional Review Board Statement

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the (blinded for review) Office of Research Integrity (Procedure #62619, 2020).

Informed Consent

Statement: Prior to participation, potential participants received a consent statement, which described the study objectives, the voluntary nature of the study, the anticipated time required to complete the survey, risks and benefits, protection of data, confidentiality and who to call with questions. No signature was required as consent was assumed upon completion of the online survey.

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Dunfee, M., Bush, H., Leger, K.A. et al. Impact of Implementing New Technology Into K-12 Classrooms on Teacher Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic. TechTrends (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-024-00957-y

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