Work-life balance of teaching staff at higher education during COVID 19 pandemic

Abstract

The issue of work-life balance of teaching staff at higher education institutions is becoming more interesting for the researchers due to complexity in responsibilities of teachers which include not only teaching and preparation of lectures, but primarily scientific research and scientific papers writing, as well as various administrative and managerial duties (vice deans, department chiefs, etc.). This topic is getting importance not only in regard to women in higher education teaching positions, but to overall attracting and retaining talent This complex problem has been particularly evident in disaster circumstances such as the COVID-19 virus pandemic. This paper studies attitudes (in the form of interviews) of teaching staff -teaching assistants, lecturers (languages), assistant professors, associate professors and full professors towards the achieved work-life balance during period of working from home during the lockdown imposed in Serbia from March, to May when the most higher education institutions returned to semi-regular ways of operations on the example of the School of Engineering Management from Belgrade, the Republic of Serbia. Even though the sample is small, it can be concluded that all levels of teaching staff have had difficulties in maintaining work-life balance during the work from home, especially the ones with children of school age.

Intelligent Upgrading and Transformation of Multimedia Classrooms in Universities Under the Smart Teaching Environment

“…(1) Change the teacher's computer display screen to a touch screen. Due to the need for multi window scheduling, after changing to a touch screen, the teacher can freely drag and move the content to be displayed, providing a better experience; (2) The tilt angle of the touch screen and the bracket that carries the touch screen must be selected in accordance with the humanized usage habits of teachers, and the stability of the bracket must be ensured. When selecting the type, the focus should be on the material and fatigue testing frequency; (3) Network security: For live streaming or classroom interaction needs, classroom computers must have a running speed of 100 megabytes or above to obtain a good user experience; (4) Only by increasing the training of teachers and forming usage habits can we improve the input-output ratio of construction.…”

“…Smart teaching has attracted attention and been promoted in various countries around the world [1,2]. It not only requires a change in people's understanding and concepts, but also requires the support of various software and hardware [3][4][5].…”

Perceptions toward achieving work-life balance and job satisfaction in online teaching

“…Greenheads et al ( 2003) defined work-life balance as "the extent to which an individual is engaged in an equally satisfied work role and family role. " Campbell Clark (2000, in Ilic-Kosanovic 2021 stated that it is "satisfaction and efficient work having the least amount of role conflict both at work and at home." Thus, a teacher engages in a job and tends to his/her family as well.…”