Better Data with Learner Personas

Creating amazing learner personas is a great trick picked up from marketing experts. Top marketers create buyer personas. These are a hypothetical group of people who meet a specific demographic based on the brand’s target market. Entire marketing campaigns are built around these personas.

It works because we all want to feel we’re important so when an advertisement seems like it’s speaking directly to us, we are more open to adopting its message. We can borrow many of the same techniques from marketing and use this same concept to create learning personas that vastly improve the learning experience. Let’s start by discussing the definition of a learner persona.

Simply put, learner personas are hypothetical profiles that we create based on the individuals for whom we’re designing the learning program. This persona is based on demographics, training, individual goals, educational background, experience, attitude, skill level, etc.

We put on our storytelling hat and use this information to create a fictional character. We describe their backstory, personality, likes, dislikes, and even give them a name. This process breathes life into this learner persona, thus defining the audience for whom we’re designing the learning course.

Why is a Learner Persona so Important?

Personas are just as powerful when creating a learning program as they are for marketing. They accomplish four essential goals.

A learner persona sheds light on your learners’ habits. Understanding what makes a person tick will help you create content that delivers a personalized learning experience. You’ll gain insight into their needs, desires, decision-making skills, and questions.

As we learn from marketing, people are more willing to adopt a message that’s directly addressed to them. Most important though, learner personas allows you to make better decisions. At every turn, you would ask “What would Aleeyah think”, with the name customized to your persona’s name. It’s a key tool to personalize the learner’s journey through the content of the course. Without a defined learner persona, you might accidently create content that appeals to your personal preference rather than the target learner.

Being acquainted with the learner allows you to predict their reaction to the content. If an essential module is sure to bore them and there’s no way around it, then you can make sure to follow it with something that appeals to them. You’ll also know their preferred learning platform and can design content accordingly.

A learning solution is more consistent when there is a clear understanding of its audience. Without a clear direction, different teams will instill their personal preferences in their content. This leads to inconsistency across the learning course. Rather than inconsistently jumping from one model to the next, having a clear path creates unity across the entire platform by ensuring that all teams are on the same page.

Overall, learning programs that are catered to a specific audience are higher quality. With the right tracking in place, you can even enhance the persona as your learners grow. This fosters long-term development so the learning course doesn’t become stagnant.

Create a Powerful Learner Persona in Just Three Steps

Creating the right learner persona is the key to unlocking all the benefits we just discussed. Fortunately, there is a foolproof three-step process that is used to create a powerful learner persona.

Step 1: Gather Intel

There are two methods primarily used to gather data on a target audience. Luckily enough, marketing gurus have already mastered this process , so we don’t have to create it completely from scratch.

The two forms of analysis used to define a learner persona are quantitative data and qualitative data. We can gather this by speaking directly to future learners and/or their supervisors.

Gather quantitative data related to demographics, level of education, schedules, relationships, work environment, and ask them to identify their preferred learning platform.

Once you have that information, gather qualitative data by asking about their needs, goals, personal motivations, frustrations, dislikes, and ambitions.

Step 2: Analyze the Information

It’s time to give context to all that raw data. Look for information that repeats from person-to-person and then add that to another list.

Using this list, write a descriptive profile. This is your learner persona. Give it a name and then attach that list to this persona.

Collaborate with your entire team when creating learner personas so you get a few fresh perspectives. Now use the same process to create a few personas based on employees.

Step 3: Activate the Learner Persona

Share these learner personas with your entire team so they have a clear picture of the learning platform’s target learner. Discuss these personas regularly so you can make slight adjustments. Follow up with the learners you interviewed earlier and ask them for feedback.

Reap the Benefits of your Learner Personas

By using learner personas that are rich in relevant details, you are building a foundation for a successful learning platform. Learner personas are a proven, efficient, and cost-effective way of improving the learning experience. Show workers that you care about their unique needs and desires.

About the Author

Danielle Wallace is the chief learning strategist at Beyond the Sky, a provider of custom learning solutions. She combines proven marketing techniques with adult learning principles to create learning that sticks. Previously, as a marketing executive with Procter & Gamble and PepsiCo, she learned strategic marketing and advertising principles, which she applies to learning and development to create compelling breakthrough solutions. Her thought leadership and free infographics can be found at www.beyondthesky.ca

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