View in EDS PDF Full Text

Understanding Teacher Workload in Blended Learning: Insights through the Job Demands-Resources Model

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Understanding Teacher Workload in Blended Learning: Insights through the Job Demands-Resources Model
Language: English
Authors: Zhao Cheng, Fan Yang, Chang Zhu
Source: Electronic Journal of e-Learning. 2026 24(1):125-137.
Availability: Academic Conferences Limited. Curtis Farm, Kidmore End, Nr Reading, RG4 9AY, UK. Tel: +44-1189-724148; Fax: +44-1189-724691; e-mail: info@academic-conferences.org; Web site: https://academic-publishing.org/index.php/ejel/index
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 13
Publication Date: 2026
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Secondary Education
Descriptors: Faculty Workload, Blended Learning, Elementary School Teachers, Secondary School Teachers, Teacher Attitudes, Teaching Conditions, Foreign Countries, Teaching Experience, Barriers, Educational Strategies, Teaching Methods
Geographic Terms: Belgium
ISSN: 1479-4403
Abstract: Blended learning (BL) has become an increasingly prevalent instructional model in primary and secondary education, yet its implementation has intensified concerns about teacher workload and well-being. While prior research has documented workload pressures associated with digitalization and AI integration, there remains limited empirical insight into how teachers experience, interpret, and manage these demands in blended learning environments. Guided by the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, this qualitative study investigates how BL reshapes teachers' job demands and resources, and how educators respond to these changes in practice. Specifically, this study explores how BL influences teachers' perceived workload (RQ1), the specific challenges they encounter during BL implementation (RQ2), and the strategies and resources they employ to manage these demands effectively (RQ3). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten primary and secondary schoolteachers in Flanders(Belgium) who had experience implementing blended learning. Data were analysed using a reflexive thematic analysis supported by NVivo, following a systematic and iterative coding process. The JDR model informed the analytical lens, enabling the identification of workload-related demands, available resources, challenges and coping strategies within teachers' everyday practice. Regarding RQ1, the findings demonstrate the dual nature of blended learning as both intensifying workload and providing supportive resources. Teachers reported increased demands from dual-mode lesson design, technological integration, expanded assessment requirements, and institutional platform mandates, leading to cognitive and emotional strain. Conversely, automated assessment, reusable digital materials, learning platforms, and inclusive tools reduced administrative effort and supported organization, partially decreasing these heightened demands. With regard to RQ2, workload pressures were intensified by challenges in digital classroom management, frequent technical disruptions, and the continuous need to learn and support new technologies. Teachers also reported emotional and organizational strain linked to ineffective collaboration, time constraints, infrastructural shortcomings, and resistance to pedagogical change, particularly during early stages of blended learning (BL) adoption. In response to RQ3, teachers described a range of coping strategies and supportive resources. These included reusing and adapting digital materials, employing AI-supported tools for automated assessment, developing digital skills through peer support, and implementing structured classroom routines. Institutional resources, such as reliable IT support, modular professional development, collaborative planning, clear BL guidelines, and leadership support, functioned as key job resources that buffered workload pressures and supported sustainable BL practices. This study contributes to the literature by applying the JD-R model to the K-12 blended learning context, offering a theoretically grounded account of how workload pressures and supports interact in teachers' daily work. Beyond documenting challenges, the findings generate actionable insights for school leaders and policymakers, highlighting the need for systemic workload-sensitive BL implementation, structured collaborative planning, and sustained professional development aligned with instructional realities. By reframing blended learning through a job demands-resources perspective, this study advances understanding of sustainable technology integration in compulsory education.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1497420
Database: ERIC
FullText Links:
  – Type: pdflink
    Url: https://content.ebscohost.com/cds/retrieve?content=AQICAHj0k_4E0hTGH8RJwT4gCJyBsGNe_WN95AvKlDbXJGqwxwFKe4HwoDPh2M1Q144wGSVZAAAA4zCB4AYJKoZIhvcNAQcGoIHSMIHPAgEAMIHJBgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwHgYJYIZIAWUDBAEuMBEEDMMi3fFwORRwHaOvWwIBEICBm-0FMg-vYR6P8o3NO7kReLjusRZffCeVYRBKtv77QJhZvo5IB8XfTtWOK_WCaxm8CYgSK5MZDiIgK3cm7cDJWKwVFHJLXlfW8dmY5HqQ7_cIoICDGPAEoPnieBvUI-V5uurKy-S_sIsDMJtMI7w-DgIww_sJUNac_yxF3rKVRh5yfqz6oHN-_axeKsKkzI3By7AWY9zbx4EW2eyP
Text:
  Availability: 0
CustomLinks:
  – Url: https://eric.ed.gov/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=EJ1497420
    Name: ERIC Full Text
    Category: fullText
    Text: Full Text from ERIC
Header DbId: eric
DbLabel: ERIC
An: EJ1497420
AccessLevel: 3
PubType: Academic Journal
PubTypeId: academicJournal
PreciseRelevancyScore: 0
IllustrationInfo
Items – Name: Title
  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: Understanding Teacher Workload in Blended Learning: Insights through the Job Demands-Resources Model
– Name: Language
  Label: Language
  Group: Lang
  Data: English
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Zhao+Cheng%22">Zhao Cheng</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Fan+Yang%22">Fan Yang</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Chang+Zhu%22">Chang Zhu</searchLink>
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Electronic+Journal+of+e-Learning%22"><i>Electronic Journal of e-Learning</i></searchLink>. 2026 24(1):125-137.
– Name: Avail
  Label: Availability
  Group: Avail
  Data: Academic Conferences Limited. Curtis Farm, Kidmore End, Nr Reading, RG4 9AY, UK. Tel: +44-1189-724148; Fax: +44-1189-724691; e-mail: info@academic-conferences.org; Web site: https://academic-publishing.org/index.php/ejel/index
– Name: PeerReviewed
  Label: Peer Reviewed
  Group: SrcInfo
  Data: Y
– Name: Pages
  Label: Page Count
  Group: Src
  Data: 13
– Name: DatePubCY
  Label: Publication Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2026
– Name: TypeDocument
  Label: Document Type
  Group: TypDoc
  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
– Name: Audience
  Label: Education Level
  Group: Audnce
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Elementary+Education%22">Elementary Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Secondary+Education%22">Secondary Education</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Faculty+Workload%22">Faculty Workload</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Blended+Learning%22">Blended Learning</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Elementary+School+Teachers%22">Elementary School Teachers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Secondary+School+Teachers%22">Secondary School Teachers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teacher+Attitudes%22">Teacher Attitudes</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teaching+Conditions%22">Teaching Conditions</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Foreign+Countries%22">Foreign Countries</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teaching+Experience%22">Teaching Experience</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Barriers%22">Barriers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+Strategies%22">Educational Strategies</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teaching+Methods%22">Teaching Methods</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Geographic Terms
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Belgium%22">Belgium</searchLink>
– Name: ISSN
  Label: ISSN
  Group: ISSN
  Data: 1479-4403
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Blended learning (BL) has become an increasingly prevalent instructional model in primary and secondary education, yet its implementation has intensified concerns about teacher workload and well-being. While prior research has documented workload pressures associated with digitalization and AI integration, there remains limited empirical insight into how teachers experience, interpret, and manage these demands in blended learning environments. Guided by the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, this qualitative study investigates how BL reshapes teachers' job demands and resources, and how educators respond to these changes in practice. Specifically, this study explores how BL influences teachers' perceived workload (RQ1), the specific challenges they encounter during BL implementation (RQ2), and the strategies and resources they employ to manage these demands effectively (RQ3). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten primary and secondary schoolteachers in Flanders(Belgium) who had experience implementing blended learning. Data were analysed using a reflexive thematic analysis supported by NVivo, following a systematic and iterative coding process. The JDR model informed the analytical lens, enabling the identification of workload-related demands, available resources, challenges and coping strategies within teachers' everyday practice. Regarding RQ1, the findings demonstrate the dual nature of blended learning as both intensifying workload and providing supportive resources. Teachers reported increased demands from dual-mode lesson design, technological integration, expanded assessment requirements, and institutional platform mandates, leading to cognitive and emotional strain. Conversely, automated assessment, reusable digital materials, learning platforms, and inclusive tools reduced administrative effort and supported organization, partially decreasing these heightened demands. With regard to RQ2, workload pressures were intensified by challenges in digital classroom management, frequent technical disruptions, and the continuous need to learn and support new technologies. Teachers also reported emotional and organizational strain linked to ineffective collaboration, time constraints, infrastructural shortcomings, and resistance to pedagogical change, particularly during early stages of blended learning (BL) adoption. In response to RQ3, teachers described a range of coping strategies and supportive resources. These included reusing and adapting digital materials, employing AI-supported tools for automated assessment, developing digital skills through peer support, and implementing structured classroom routines. Institutional resources, such as reliable IT support, modular professional development, collaborative planning, clear BL guidelines, and leadership support, functioned as key job resources that buffered workload pressures and supported sustainable BL practices. This study contributes to the literature by applying the JD-R model to the K-12 blended learning context, offering a theoretically grounded account of how workload pressures and supports interact in teachers' daily work. Beyond documenting challenges, the findings generate actionable insights for school leaders and policymakers, highlighting the need for systemic workload-sensitive BL implementation, structured collaborative planning, and sustained professional development aligned with instructional realities. By reframing blended learning through a job demands-resources perspective, this study advances understanding of sustainable technology integration in compulsory education.
– Name: AbstractInfo
  Label: Abstractor
  Group: Ab
  Data: As Provided
– Name: DateEntry
  Label: Entry Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2026
– Name: AN
  Label: Accession Number
  Group: ID
  Data: EJ1497420
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ1497420
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 13
        StartPage: 125
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Faculty Workload
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Blended Learning
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Elementary School Teachers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Secondary School Teachers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Teacher Attitudes
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Teaching Conditions
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Foreign Countries
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Teaching Experience
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Barriers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Educational Strategies
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Teaching Methods
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Belgium
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Understanding Teacher Workload in Blended Learning: Insights through the Job Demands-Resources Model
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Zhao Cheng
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Fan Yang
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Chang Zhu
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 01
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-electronic
              Value: 1479-4403
          Numbering:
            – Type: volume
              Value: 24
            – Type: issue
              Value: 1
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Electronic Journal of e-Learning
              Type: main
ResultId 1