Title: Approaches to identifying personalised learning needs: an analysis of evidence

Authors: Billy Tak-Ming Wong

Addresses: Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong, China

Abstract: Personalised learning prioritises the creation of an environment tailored to learners' interests, abilities, and needs. The first step in achieving personalised learning is understanding students' needs. To address this, various approaches have been developed to identify and address these needs. This paper analyses the approaches to identifying personalised learning needs, focusing on the types of learning needs examined, the data collected, and the approaches used. A comprehensive review of 458 journal articles published between 2012 and 2023 sourced from Scopus was conducted. The findings highlighted various personalised learning needs, with learning content, learning experience and tutoring being the most common. Personalised learning needs are often identified through learning platforms, learner profiles and learner assessments. Data on learner characteristics, performance and behaviours are frequently collected to identify these needs. These findings serve as a foundation for offering appropriate support tailored to cope with learners' diverse needs and enhance their learning experience.

Keywords: learning needs; personalised learning; personalised education; personalisation; individualisation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMLO.2026.150382

International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation, 2026 Vol.20 No.1, pp.1 - 23

Received: 10 Feb 2025
Accepted: 25 Apr 2025
Published online: 12 Dec 2025 *

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