Want More Engaged Learners? Use Learner Personas

When a presentation is made just for you, your engagement with it likely skyrockets versus one that is broad and generic. The same goes for learners in your training sessions. 

Personalized training content is key to high engagement among in-person, remote, and hybrid learners, and the way to get more engaged learners is with learner personas. 

What is a Learner Persona?

Learner personas, also known as marketing personas, are super detailed, hypothetical characters created to represent your audience. Learning and development teams use learning personas to visualize who will be taking their courses and design programs around them. 

L&D teams interview past, current, and potential learners to understand who they are and how they learn. Data can include information like job responsibilities, skills, and education, as well as hobbies, attitudes, and geographic location. The information uncovered can determine how the language is constructed throughout the training, what types of cooperation and engagement will be included, and even the format and mediums used within the training sessions. 

The Benefits of Using Learner Personas to Get More Engaged Learners

When instructional designers build user-centered designs, learner engagement increases. Whether for corporate training, retail and hospitality training, or HR onboarding, more engagement leads to a better understanding of the content. 

And better understanding of the content leads to more productive employees, which should bring with it a more productive — and lucrative — business. 

Learners respond positively to well-constructed sessions given to them by trainers. So when training materials are built around a person’s skills, personality, and needs, learning and personal growth see a much better ROI than if a trainer threw a general training manual on their desk and instructed learners to read it. 

How to Utilize a Learning Persona

Once you’ve researched and built your learner personas, and integrated them into your instructional design process, it’s time to put them into practice. We recommend using a digital content delivery platform (or CDP) like Mimeo Digital to make it simple to construct courses around your learners. 

Mimeo Digital allows trainers and learning and development teams to organize and distribute all of their training content to their learners in a secure, simple-to-use platform. Their IP is protected while their ability to reach learners wherever they are in the world is magnified. Schedule a digital consultation to get started. 

Learner Persona Wrap Up

In conclusion, learner personas are an essential tool for creating effective training programs that meet the needs and preferences of your learners, and in turn make them more engaged learners. By gathering information about your target audience and creating personas that accurately represent them, you can design training programs that are more engaging, relevant, and effective.

Learner personas allow you to understand your learners’ needs, preferences, and goals, enabling you to tailor your materials to their individual learning styles. By doing so, you can create a more engaging and effective learning experience that is more likely to result in improved knowledge retention and application.

It’s crucial to remember that learner personas are not static and should be updated regularly. As your learners’ needs and preferences change, so too should your personas. Regularly reviewing your personas and updating them based on feedback and new data can help ensure that your training programs remain relevant and effective, without compromising your engaged learners.

By taking the time to develop accurate and detailed learner personas, you can create training programs that help your learners achieve their goals. This, in turn, can lead to a more engaged and motivated workforce that is better equipped to succeed in their roles.