The purpose of this mixed methods embedded case study was to determine the frequency of burnout of faculty who taught online graduate courses within institutions in the Tennessee Board of Regents system using the Maslach Burnout Inventory - Educators' Survey (MBI-ES). The study also identified possible contributing factors for those who experience burnout, and resources and strategies that could effectively mitigate potential for burnout among those who teach distance learning graduate level courses. The contributing or mitigating factors were identified by the researcher using the participant responses to the Perceptions of Burnout of Online Instructors (P.B.O.I.) survey developed by the researcher. The research methodology consisted of quantitative and qualitative analyses that revealed several categories and emerging themes. No participant's scores on the three subscales met the criteria for placement in one of the three burnout categories, no/low, moderate or high. Thus, the identification of burnout among participants as measured by the MBI-ES was inconclusive. While the general findings from the MBI-ES suggest that while there was not overall burnout in the participants of the study as defined by Maslach et al. (1996), the data suggest that there was burnout on the dimensions or subscales (i.e., Emotional Exhaustion [EE], Personal Accomplishment [PA], and Depersonalization [DP]). TBR online instructors had an average score on the EE subscale, low score on the DP subscale, and a high score on the PA subscale. In contrast to the other two subscales, higher mean scores on the personal accomplishment subscale correspond to lower degrees of experienced burnout on the subscale due to reverse scoring. There is an indication that the participants in the study are had experienced high feelings of competence and successful achievement in their work with students by being classified as no/low on the personal accomplishment subscale.

Specific recommendations related to subscale findings and participants' perceptions of possible mitigating and possible contributing factors are discussed. Findings may be useful for the following categories of professions: Faculty, Instructional Designer/Academic Technology Consultants, Administrators, Deans, Distance Educator Directors. Several questions are included which should be considered by Administrators when setting policy regarding distance education.