Creating Learner

Personas for the

Library ClassroomAMANDA FOSTER, INSTRUCTION LIBRARIAN, WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY

What’s a Persona?

Web Design/User Experience Design

A narrative description of a user, who represents a user

“type” for whom a website or tool is designed

Education/Learner Experience Design

A narrative description of a student, who represents a

student “type” for whom a class is designed

What does one look like? Meet Rebecca:

Class Year: First Year

Major: Undeclared, but interested

in Psychology

Extra-curriculars: Plays on WFU

Women’s Field Hockey Team

Motivations: Student Athlete

Adviser recommended the course

to help with academic success

Wants to learn: Citations

Learning Style: solitary/self-study

Learning Barriers: overwhelmed by

field hockey and academic

schedules; has library/research

anxiety

Why make them?

Combats “self-referential” class design

Designing a class based on your own learning style

Creates empathy:

Personas force you to consider the background,

experiences, and learning styles of specific (fictionalized)

students as you design your learning outcomes,

activities, and assignments

Puts a “face” on a “type” of student that you may

unintentionally forget to design your class around

What might you include?

Demographics/Biological Characteristics

Sociocultural Information

Personality Traits

Extra-Curricular Interests

Motivations

Learning Preferences and Barriers

Creating Learner Personas

Quantitative Data

Measurable Data about students, such as their year in

school or major

Qualitative Data

Observable Data about students, such as their

motivations,

LIB100 By Class Year

First Year

18%

Sophomore

32%Junior

25%

Senior

25%

LIB100 By Major

Undeclared

44%

Social Sciences

26%

Business

8%

Humanities

10%

Sciences

11%

Education

1%

Wake Forest Quantitative Data

Gender: 53% Female, 47% Male

Ethnicity: 72.2% White, 8.4% African American, 7.8%

Asian, 5.8% Hispanic/Latino, 0.5% Native

Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 0.3% American Indian/Alaska

Native, 2.3% One or more races, 2.8% Not reported

Greek Like: 57% females in Sororities, 35% males in

Fraternities

Locals: 21% if our students are from North Carolina

Source: Wake Forest Factbook (2014-2015)

LIB100 Qualitative Data (Survey)

What made you decide to take LIB100?

What experiences (if any) have you had with

libraries and/or conducting academic

research?

What (if anything) gives you the most anxiety

about libraries?

What do you hope to learn in LIB100?

How do you like to learn?

Jian

Class Year: Junior

Major: Business & Enterprise

Management

Extra-curriculars: Finance Club,

Wake International Students

Association, photography

Motivations: Wanted one more

credit to round out his schedule

Wants to learn: how to navigate

the web and library

Learning Style: verbal & visual

Learning Barriers: isolation from

classmates, cultural differences

from professors/classmates

Janelle

Class Year: Senior

Major: Biology

Extra-Curriculars: BSA, AKA Sorority,

Resident Adviser for Davis Hall

Motivations: Taking LIB100 to

prepare for graduate-level library

research

Wants to learn: how to research

for honors thesis

Learning Style: labs/learning by

doing

Learning Barriers: professors

underestimating her, pressure from

parents expectations

Anthony

Class Year: First Year

Major: Undeclared, but interested

in Politics & Int’l Affairs (Pre-Law)

Extra-Curriculars: SG Senate –

Judiciary, Mock Trial, running

Motivations: Heard LIB100 will help

with research papers which he

struggles with

Wants to learn: citations and

databases

Learning Style: logical /

mathematical

Learning Barriers: distracted by the

fraternity rush semester slump and

a sick parent at home

Bridget

Class Year: Sophomore

Major: About to declare Theatre

Extra-curriculars: WFU theatre productions, part-time job off-campus

Motivations: wanted to learn more about the library, citations, and academic research

Wants to learn: Navigating the stacks b/c stacks are intimidating

Learning Style: group work/social

Learning Barriers: first-generation student, financial stress, undisclosed to professor (but documented) learning disability

Are they useful?

Anecdotally, yes.

Purposeful use when planning during the instructional design

process: learning outcomes, assessments, etc..

Further Reading

Cooper, Alan. About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design. 3rd Edition. Wiley, 2007.

“Guide to Patron Personas.” Wayne State University Libraries. Web.

Maier, Ronald and Stefan Thalmann. “Using Personas for Designing Knowledge and Learning Services: Results of an Ethnographically Informed Study.” International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning 2.1/2 (2010): 58-74.

Massanari, Adrienne. “Designing for Imaginary Friends: Information Architecture, Personas, and the Politics of User-Centered Design.” New Media & Society 12.3 (2010): 401-416.

Muir, John. “User Personas in Instructional Design.” The Ohio State University, 10 Jan. 2014.

“Personas.” Usability.gov. Web.

Turner, Phil and Susan Turner. “Is Stereotyping Inevitable When Designing With Personas?” Design Studies 31.1 (2011) 30-44.

Image Credits:

Rebecca: Simon Boardman. Image, April 1 2009. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/s_boardman/4777864843/. Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Jian: Beryl_snw. “Daily” Image, November 18, 2012. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/beryl_snw/8229692506. Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Janelle: Converse College. “Science” Image, October 22, 2013. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/conversecollege/10843768855/. Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Anthony: tgidenvery. Images, February 8, 2014. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/tgidenver/12409524644/. Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Bridget: Carros de Foc. Image, June 1, 2014. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/carrosfoc/15225096507/. Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/