“We’ve Got Trouble in CyberCity:” A Quantitative Analysis of Online Faculty Stressors and Implications for the post-COVID-19 Classroom

This quantitative descriptive survey study conducted in 2021, during the continuation of the COVID pandemic, is a follow-up to the authors’ 2020 interviews with online adjunct faculty to identify their specific greatest sources of stress. Areas of stress were rated by faculty as extremely, moderately, somewhat, or not at all stressful. Results will be reported for administrative variables (e.g., being able to obtain desired teaching load, class size, external deadlines for grading, live class session requirements, lack of administrative support with student-related concerns, administrators’ perceptions of online faculty as disposable and replaceable) and student-related variables (e.g., student-related readiness to learn online, students’ technology skills, quality of student completion of course deliverables, communication with instructor). Special focus will be placed on recommendations for improvement of these stressful working conditions for online faculty in a post-COVID-19 world.