Anh Nguyet Diep, Khuyen Dinh, Anne‐Françoise Donneau, Thanh Ngoc Phuong Phan, Minh Hien Vo, Céline Cocquyt, Maurice De Greef, Tom Vanwing, Chang Zhu
It is a challenge to promptly respond to the learning needs of students, particularly adult learners characterized by rich lived-experiences, (sometimes) negative prior learning experience, multiple and contrasting motivation types alongside considerable socio-demographic heterogeneity. Furthermore, developing a typology of adults’ learning needs remains a challenging endeavour given the different perspectives in learning needs conceptualization and the different theories concerning adult learning in both traditional and online and blended learning (OBL). In particular, no validated instrument currently exists to identify and measure adult learners' needs in OBL contexts, representing a gap that needed to be addressed. This paper developed and validated an instrument to identify adults’ learning needs based on adult learning, self-regulated and motivational theories, and technological acceptance models. We deconstructed adults’ learning needs into three categories based on the existence, relatedness, and growth (ERG) theory of human needs. Data (N=209) were collected from adult learners following blended learning programs in eight centres of adult education in Flanders, Belgium. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed that the instrument comprising of nine dimensions of learning needs displayed adequate model fit and factor loadings. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) highlighted that learners who differed in educational attainment, age, and ICT skills reported differences in their needs across the sub-dimensions. Motivational orientations, however, did not significantly differentiate learning needs at the multivariate level. The validated instrument, hence, offered practitioners a diagnostic tool for needs-based OBL design. Theoretically, the study challenged the assumption that motivational orientation alone predicted differentiated need profiles in OBL, opening new avenues for debate on the interplay between motivation, prior experience, and adult learning needs.