Why use personas in course design?
Questions
What do you usually think about when you sit down and design a new course you want to teach in the coming academic year, either onsite or online?
More precisely, in your design stage for a course, do you think about your potential students’ background, where they come from geographically, employment status, motivations, relationship status, the challenges they face, and interests?
What is a persona?
In online teaching, mainly when educators are designing a course, they are encouraged to draw up personas that are fictional yet realistic descriptions of a potential learner.
However, personas are usually drawn up for non-typical students, who are less advantaged, less likely to succeed, which may exclude them from learning.
What is the benefit of having student personas?
- Having student personas means easing the path for your students’ learning by clearing the obstacles for their learning before they begin to walk on that path. Your students will feel welcomed by this since their difficulties will be dealt with without their awareness. This will ultimately contribute to your student’s success, and no learner will be left behind since, as an educator, you will carry all your students forward.
- Furthermore, having students personas can help you draw up learning activities that could be suitable for the needs of those most disadvantaged students you will have. Ultimately, most of your students will find some aspects of your teaching appealing to them and become active learners. After that, engaging students could contribute better to the knowledge construction stage of teaching, which will benefit the educator and the learner.
- Having student personas can also provide educators with an opportunity to teach at a scale. People from all around the world can develop an interest in these courses, and you can find yourself delivering your expertise to a larger group of people. Consequently, as an educator, you may gain maximum impact on the opportunities available to your students by broadening their horizons for a better life.
Persona forming is a widespread phenomenon in online teaching, and it is usually done in the design stage of a course. However, I think the basic features of student persona formation should be utilised for onsite teaching too. I am sure it will bring about the similar benefits I set above. Will you give it a go?
