Using Peaceful Online Learning to Combat Stress and Burnout
- Author: Ekaterina Seliste
- Date:
We live in the culture of speed. Deadlines grow smaller, workloads become more unwieldy, and the pressure to “keep up” never eases. But all that rushing has a price tag to it: the onset of burnout. Burnout, or burn out, as it is spelled more typically, originally described severe exhaustion in extremely demanding occupations, such as teaching and medicine. The phenomenon has now spread to almost every part of society.
For teachers, that’s not merely theory. It’s waking up in the morning already drained. It’s going into the virtual classroom with a smile, but inside, feeling drained. It’s the constant sense of, “I don’t know how much longer I can do that either.” Burnout is something more than stress. It is a state of severe physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion that, left unabated, destroys wellness as well as professional purpose (Kotowski et al., 2022; Bishop & High, 2023).
But hope is real. The greatest antidote is not to work more, but to learn differently. That is, peaceful online continuing education can alter not only what one learns, but the very way that learning is felt. Here is how relaxing, mindful ways of learning can counteract burnout, break up habits of learned helplessness, and rebalance teaching and learning.
Understanding Burnout and Its Ripple Effects
Burnout is not sudden. It builds over time incrementally, usually beneath the radar, until suddenly it is too much to recover from. In teaching, common reasons include overwork, constant change, lack of support from administrators, and the emotional toll of supporting students who may also be struggling (Ormiston et al., 2022; Vallejo et al., 2023). Teachers are particularly at risk of secondary traumatic stress and compassion fatigue, in that having so much concern for others begins to take its toll on oneself.
It’s not just personal burnout. It has ripple effects. Burnout can make it harder to be innovative, patient, and considerate. Students notice. Classrooms become less manageable. Organizations become less resilient. Burn out is contagious.
However, research steadily indicates that social support can serve as a protective safeguard. Collegial connections, peer groups, and favorable environments can ideally dull the stress influence (Lin et al., 2023). That is where learning, especially peace-oriented online learning, can be a lifeline.
The Silent Trap: Learned Helplessness
If burnout is not managed, it can give birth to something even darker: learned helplessness.
It’s a mental state that is reached when people realize that they are unable to do anything to change their lives (Kolber, 2022).
It could sound something like this for teachers:
- “Why try something new at all? It'll never work out.”
- “Students don’t listen no matter what I do.”
- “I’ve lost control of my own classroom and my career.”
For students, learned helplessness can mean disengagement, non-participation during lessons, or even dropping out.
Online learning environments that are poorly constructed can actually reinforce that sense of helplessness. Imagine a teacher entering into a disorienting, isolating, and overwhelming course. Instead of experiencing support, they feel isolated. Instead of learning to grow, they feel frozen.
However, when peaceful online learning is carefully structured online and encourages reflection, aids resilience, and builds agency, it has the opposite impact. Reflective supervision, active participation, and incremental success, even in midstream, can replenish self-efficacy and confidence (Kolber, 2022). The transformation from passive to active ownership is immense.
Peaceful Online Continuing Education: A Pathway to Renewal
Calm, continuous learning from the web is not lessening challenges or reducing material. It is making the learning itself restorative by creating favorable conditions.
Instead of another imposition upon a packed calendar, quiet courses become moments of relief. They are flexible, respectful of personal rhythms, and attuned to emotional health. Students don’t learn things; they regain energy.
It’s backed by research. Courses that pair mindful practice with learning communities that hold each other up have been shown to reduce symptoms of burnout significantly and increase satisfaction substantially, especially in teaching professions (Kotowski et al., 2022; Bishop & High, 2023). In other words, online continuing education is professional development just as it is self-care.
Envision it as a virtual sanctuary. Just as people seek to escape to retreats or health programs to achieve balance, serene online learning environments enable all to experience peace everywhere, at any time. It is the convergence between learning and restoration.
Strategies to Foster Online Learning for Peace
So how do we turn theory into practice? Evidence and experience point to three basic methods:
- 1. Mindfulness Integration
- Concise, organized pauses, breathwork, mindful check-ins, or reflective journals, built into the course design, help to relieve stress and stay grounded for individuals (Kotowski et al., 2022; Kaihoi et al., 2022).
- 2. Supportive Learning Networks
- Isolation is a primary risk factor for burnout. Building peer networks, discussion boards, and mentoring groups creates a sense of belonging that offsets loneliness and enhances resilience (Kaihoi et al., 2022).
- 3. Cultivating Compassion Satisfaction
- From "What went wrong?" to "What good did I do today?" transforms teaching and learning from draining to fulfilling. Also referred to as compassion satisfaction, it is a practice that allows teachers to love their work and actually works to undo compassion fatigue (Despoina et al., 2024).
Conclusion: Learning as Healing
Burnout and learned helplessness are pressing issues in today’s learning environment. But they are not destiny. Shifting to peaceful online continuing education can help us learn to create learning that replenishes rather than depletes, that inspires rather than frustrates.
The actual promise of online learning is not only to acquire new knowledge but also to create learning spaces that nourish the mind and soul. Educational institutions and environments can and must be agents of healing.
Learning at Levoro Academy is like developing with purpose, not pressure. Online courses that are calm, welcoming, and based in wellness is something more than professional growth — it is the way back to equilibrium, clarity, and confidence.
References
Bishop, R. and High, A. (2023). Caregiving in academia: examining educator well‐being and burnout during prolonged stressors. Personal Relationships, 30(4), 1274-1292. https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12513
Despoina, A., Despoina, A., & Αναστασίου, Α. (2024). The level of compassion satisfaction, professional burnout, and secondary traumatic stress of primary and secondary education teachers. IJAMRS, 4(3), 1222-1228. https://doi.org/10.62225/2583049x.2024.4.3.2928
Kaihoi, C., Bottiani, J., & Bradshaw, C. (2022). Teachers supporting teachers: a social network perspective on collegial stress support and emotional wellbeing among elementary and middle school educators. School Mental Health, 14(4), 1070-1085. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-022-09529-y
Kolber, M. (2022). Learned helplessness of young people during the covid-19 distance learning: a research report. Lubelski Rocznik Pedagogiczny, 41(1), 41-52. https://doi.org/10.17951/lrp.2022.41.1.41-52
Kotowski, S., Davis, K., & Barratt, C. (2022). Teachers feeling the burden of covid-19: impact on well-being, stress, and burnout. Work, 71(2), 407-415. https://doi.org/10.3233/wor-210994
Lin, X., Ma, X., Yi, X., Qu, C., & Li, F. (2023). Effects of environmental and genetic interactions on job burnout in coal miners: interactions between occupational stress, coping styles, and nr3c2 gene polymorphisms. Frontiers in Public Health, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1237843
Ormiston, H., Nygaard, M., & Apgar, S. (2022). A systematic review of secondary traumatic stress and compassion fatigue in teachers. School Mental Health, 14(4), 802-817. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-022-09525-2
Vallejo, M., Madigan, P., & Lavian, S. (2023). Teacher burnout and student learning in secondary education in Kalundborg, Denmark. Journal of Education, 6(5), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.53819/81018102t5260