Background: Creating an online learning environment for today’s adult learner that is engaging and conducive to meeting the various needs can be a challenge for any educator, new or seasoned. Understanding the students’ perspectives of what they need from faculty to be successful is underexplored. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the students’ perspectives of their learning needs and motivation as reported in a faculty developed Graduate Student Learning Assessment Questionnaire (GSLAQ).

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive survey design was employed and consisted of 120 non-traditional adult learners in graduate nursing school. The demographics are as follows: 100 females (83.3%) and 20 males (16.7%) with a mean age of 34.9 years.

Results: Five themes emerged: (1) motivation, (2) time orientation, (3) autonomy/role change, (4) caring, and (5) authentic engagement/communication.

Conclusions: Understanding students’ concerns as well as their perceptions of what they need from faculty to be successful enables faculty to better communicate with the students as well as provide the needed support as expressed by the students.