Date
8-9-2024
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)
Chair
Richard Bragg
Keywords
teacher burnout, smartphone, social media, Maslach, student defiance
Disciplines
Education
Recommended Citation
Koelle, Joseph Ryan, "Secondary Teacher Burnout: Student Smartphone and Social Media Use in the Classroom: A Hermeneutical Phenomenological Study" (2024). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 5897.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/5897
Abstract
The purpose of this phenomenological research was to uncover the experiences of secondary school teachers regarding student smartphone and social media use in the classroom and teacher burnout. Due to the focus on teacher burnout, the guiding theory for this research is Maslach’s burnout theory. Maslach’s theory was chosen due to the nature of what professional educators encounter in the classroom setting regarding student smartphone and social media use during instructional time and the potential effects on secondary teachers of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. How can student smartphone and social media use in the classroom influence secondary teacher burnout? The methodology that was utilized in this phenomenological research was based on primary research on the lived experiences of secondary educators in the classroom and the influences of student smartphone and social media use on teachers. The sample consisted of 10 seventh and eighth-grade teachers, and the setting was to be at two public school sites where over 2,000 students attend. There were three forms of data collection: individual interviews with teachers, survey questionnaire, and a focus group. The data retrieved produced three prominent themes that manifested. The main themes catalyzed into three unique interpretations with the experiences secondary educators have encountered in the instructional setting within the sphere of student smartphone and social media use in the classroom.
