Assessing Learner CharacteristicsHo

Assessing Learner Characteristics
How do designers find out about the general characteristics of the target audience? If the designers are developing for their own classrooms, they can observe, talk to, and assess their learners to determine their characteristics. Even then they may wish to conduct some additional investigation to find out more about the learners. However, suppose a designer is developing instruction to be used by learners whom he has never met. How can he obtain information about this audience? Here are some of the things that he can do :
Interview teachers, trainers, and other educators who work with the target audience.
Interview and / or observe members of the target audience.
Have members of the target audience complete surveys that provide information about their backgrounds and interests.
Have members of the target audience complete assessment instruments that provide information about cognitive strategies, processing styles, and preferred instructional delivery modes.
Examine job descriptions and personnel profiles of organization.
Read texts and articles about particular age groups and developmental levels that provide information on their interests, social development, and physical characteristics.
Read texts and articles that discuss the interests and motivations of individuals with particular socioeconomic, ethnic, or racial backgrounds.

To avoid stereotyping members of a particular target audience, the designer should use several of these sources of information to describe the diversity as well as the similarities of the members.

Implications of Learner Characteristics for Design
A careful consideration of the general characteristics of the target audience may be what elevates a mundane segment of instruction into compelling, imaginative, and memorable instruction. These factors are considered when the designer determines what information and instructional techniques, which we call strategies, to use in the instruction. Following is a beginning list of instructional strategy factors that are directly related to learner characteristics. These information and instructional techniques, which are illustrative but by no means exhaustive, may be varied according to learner characteristics:
Speed of presentation (pace).
Number of successful experiences learners should have in practice.
Types of statements to convince students of the relevancy of the instruction.
Techniques for gaining and focusing attention and the frequency of use of these techniques.
Context of examples and practice items.
Amount of structure and organization.