Classroom Digital Teaching and College Students’ Academic Burnout in the Post COVID-19 Era: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

The continued development of digital technology and its overuse in teaching and learning in the post-epidemic era have brought about digital health risks, which are associated with academic burnout among college students. This study focused on the relationship between classroom digital teaching and students’ academic burnout and designed the Classroom Burnout Inventory (CBI) and the Classroom Burnout Causes Inventory (CBCI) to conduct a cross-sectional survey of 206 Chinese university students. Correlations and regression analyses were conducted between key factors and burnout values through a path model of “Digital teaching-Teaching & learning process-Causes subjects-Burnout”. The results of the study show that an inappropriate and excessive use of unintegrated digital teaching and learning technologies in the classroom was positively correlated with academic burnout among college students. Burnout levels and the three manifestations were not correlated with students’ gender, grade, and major. In terms of causes, the academic burnout of college students was more correlated with their own personal reasons than with external factors such as teachers, universities, and environments. Integrating digital technology platforms, enhancing teacher leadership in the digital classroom, and strengthening peer support and students’ psychological resilience are all meaningful explorations of academic burnout prevention strategies.