Tan, Kim-Lim, Eze, Uchenna Cyril, and Sun, Yi (2024) I did my part! How can I further minimize emerging adult learners’ burnout in an online learning environment? Educational Studies. (In Press)

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Abstract

Emerging adults are a crucial group in our society, and research indicates that they rarely consider themselves adults because their cognitive, social, and emotional capacities are undergoing transitionary changes, affecting how they learn. Prior studies have not considered sufficiently the characteristics and needs of emerging adult learners in an online environment. This study aims to address this gap in the literature by examining the psychological needs and academic burnout of emerging adult online learners during the Covid-19 pandemic. Through self-determination theory (SDT) and Stimuli-Organism-Response (S-O-R) theory, the key arguments and constructs include the effects of structural and social bonds on emerging adult learners’ psychological needs, the effect of psychological needs on academic burnout, and the moderating roles of mindfulness. A valid sample of 294 collected through the survey was the basis of the analysis. PLS-SEM was used to analyse and test the hypotheses. Findings indicate that structural and social bonds affect psychological needs at varying strengths, which is generally consistent with prior findings but with different groups of learners. The moderating roles of mindfulness, however, were mixed. The model robustness further highlights the predictive analysis, which complements the exploratory perspective. This study contributes to the literature by identifying the predictors that fulfill the basic psychological needs of emerging adult learners and examining the effect of this fulfilment on the burnout during the online learning. In addition, this study implies how online trainers and educational institutions can build an optimal environment to reduce the burnout and then improve the learning effectiveness for emerging adult learners. Limitations, and agenda for future research were further discussed to conclude the study.

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