Who ARE these people?
How well do you know your learners?
When I write, I try to think of a specific learner, so I can imagine how engaged or confused they might be as they use the material. The problem is, I usually don’t know anyone in the audience.
I hope you’re not so removed from your audience. And if your organization has some sort of discussion forum or blogs, you can get a lot closer to your learners by stealing the “Seven things you don’t know about me” meme that periodically moves through the blogosphere.
I’ve been tagged by Rupa to share seven things. I’m going to trim it down to three for my example:
- I like current affairs podcasts, international radio, and recorded books. Interestingly, a “learning styles inventory” claims I’m not “auditory” at all (I scored 0), which just encourages me to sniff suspiciously whenever anyone mentions learning styles.
- I play progressive clawhammer banjo, which means that I use an American folk style that isn’t bluegrass to play tunes that aren’t American folk.
- When I get stuck on a problem, I brainstorm by blasting Bollywood music and jumping on a mini-trampoline. Current favorite song: “Say Na Say Na.” Favorite Bollywood movie: Swades.
How might it help you to know little details like this about your audience? Even if the details aren’t learning related, they help provide depth to a learner who might have been described to you only as, say, a mid-level manager.
If you have a discussion forum or several bloggers in your organization, you might start this meme. You’ll learn more about your audience, and they’ll learn more about their coworkers. In the end, everyone seems more, well, human.
Your turn!
Got a minute? Use the comments to tell me (and the world!) three things about you that I don’t know. It will help me get a better sense of who you are, and, besides, it’s fun. Go ahead. Do it. It’s easy. Really. Just type.
on January 7th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Mine are already up under the “7 Things” (that’s , um, let me see, 4 more than 3) post on my blog @http://bozarthzone.blogspot.com
The top three (that would be 4 less than 7) are:
1. If they made a movie of my life I would want the part of me to be played by Debra Winger or Whoopi Goldberg.
2. One of my favorite possessions is a Story People card that says: “She accepts that she creates her own reality except for the parts where she wonders what the hell she was thinking.”
3. I would like to take credit for being brilliant and talented and gifted but in reality I probably owe most of my success to the facts that I can 1) follow instructions and 2) meet deadlines, which apparently hardly anyone else on earth can do.
on January 8th, 2009 at 1:06 am
Hi Cathy
Glad to know you like bollywood songs and movies
on January 8th, 2009 at 9:06 am
Using memes to know your audience – awesome idea. Awesome. You were bouncing on a trampoline when you thought of it, no?
on January 8th, 2009 at 11:01 am
1. My best ideas arrive when I’m doing dishes or in the shower.
2. I do dishes by hand because I hate the noise the dishwasher makes.
3. I’m a cross between a career developer and a software developer.
on January 8th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Thanks for the comments so far! Jane, I vote for Whoopi Goldberg.
Rupa, I was happy to find that the Netflix site has a lot of Bollywood movies, so I can rent them through the mail or even watch them online. Otherwise, they can be hard to get in the US.
Janet, I’m glad you like the idea. I don’t think I was bouncing. I think I was eating, which is my next favorite thing to do when stuck.
OK, everyone else, what are three things about you that I don’t know?
on January 8th, 2009 at 11:06 am
Bill’s comment snuck in while I was typing mine. Bill, I’m with you on the dishwasher noise. I’ve so far refused to install one. Everyone, if you click Bill’s name, you’ll go to his blog, which has a post about how telling a story about yourself can help a potential employer know you better.
on January 8th, 2009 at 11:47 am
On the dishwashing issue: First, find a spouse who sings while he/she does dishes. Do not be selective about the choice of songs: mine sings old folk/country murder ballads; whatever the hidden meaning of that may be, the dishes still get done.
Second: For heaven’s sake get a dishwasher with a timer! Then you can set it to run in the middle of the night, when presumably you won’t hear it. Is there not some irony in my telling y’all of all people to embrace technology?
on January 8th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Kia ora Cathy
Like Jane, mine are already up prompted by a meme that flew round last year – you’ve probably got a waft from the same sweep.
Okay, okay – I hear your reasoning:
1 Apart from less than a year teaching in a town in Scotland, as a teacher I’ve only taught in same-sex schools, though I’ve taught both sexes for many years and have no preference, funny enough.
2 I have a wheat alergy. So pizza, which I enjoy, must be made with a wheat-free base before I chomp into it. I’d recommend wheat-free pizza. It tastes fab. So does a sponge made with wheat-free flour, yuuuuumm!
3 I read books – lots of them But unless the book is a novel I’m inclined to read it like a reference book – very inefficient, I know. But there it is. A habit of mine is to pick up a book and start reading it from the last page. I try not to do that with novels
Catchya later
on January 8th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Glad to see you back in circulation, Cathy.
My three:
(1) Although I almost never can narrow down to a favorite in any category (songs, movies, cities, what have you), my favorite novel is “I, Claudius,” which along with “Claudius the God” I have read at least once every five years. I’m a pushover for the blend of character, history, satire, and that tragicomic genius, Claudius’s boyhood friend, King Herod Agrippa.
(2) I’ve served as a Maryland election judge (voting precinct worker). Working a minimum sixteen hour shift with people who’ve done this for 20 years and more gave me new respect for what volunteering really means: doing the work and not worrying about who gets credit for it; serving the client (in this case, the voter) with respect and integrity.
(3) I’ve always liked Gordon Lightfoot, but found out only a few years ago that (unlike Lightfoot) I was present at the launch of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
on January 8th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
I go ballistic if the tap drips while I’m reading, but I do my best writing in a crowded, noisy coffee shop.
I get my best ideas when I’m running, swimming or bicycling. I get my worst ideas after the second beer. Fortunately, the latter are short-lived.
I once told my daughte never to lie, and then told her to tell a friend of mine I wasn’t home when he called on the phone. She passed the phone to me and said, “Here, you tell him.” I don’t tell her what to do anymore.
on January 8th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
I know that our company name is silly.
Our other company is called Vida Films after Vida Goldstein who was the first woman to run for public office in the southern hemisphere – she didn’t ever win, but was inspirational to us for “giving it a go”.
I love audio podcasts too – bbc phisosophy programs, anywhere in the world at the click of a mouse – how fantastic – and you get to make dinner at the same time.
My dog is called Gavin after a famous Australian indigenous footballer called Gavin Wanganeen.
I was 40 before I discovered the joys of watching football – why didn’t anyone describe it as real life drama unfolding live?
Our training film distributor in Mumbai is 90 years old, still goes to work every morning in a crisp white shirt and loves technology. What a legend.
I once moved into Whoopi Goldberg’s old appartment in Chelsea NY and it made me feel really special to read junk mail addressed to her.
on January 9th, 2009 at 4:21 am
Three things?
I was brought up on Rogers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific and The King and I, and knew them off by heart when I was 8.
I tripped over the drummer from the Kinks sleeping off a post-gig binge.
I spent a year working in Egypt as the result of tossing a coin with an Irishman in a London pub.
on January 9th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Thanks for the comments! It’s quite the mix. Whoopi Goldberg eats wheat-free pizza in a noisy coffeeshop on the deck of the Edmund Fitzgerald while an 8-year-old sings “Some Enchanted Evening,” and all of it is filmed for distribution in Mumbai by an elderly man in a crisp white shirt. And the dishwasher is way, way below deck where no one can hear it.
on January 9th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
This is the first time I have read your blog–what an introduction!
Three things?
1. The first record I ever bought was Surrealistic Pillow by the (then) Jefferson Airplaine. Favorite song–”Someone to Love.” Am I showing my age?
2. At a time of life when most people are counting the days until retirement, I am trying to start up a new career–e-learning. I have had more careers than most–teacher, insurance adjuster, fraud investigator, medical cost analyst, medical salesperson, training coordinator. What’s one more?
3. Can I have a turn on the trampoline? I need some great ideas!
on January 9th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Cathy,
Love the idea of using the meme for good…. finding I am enjoying this round. Quite the collection of characters.
Three things (besides the 7 from the meme).
Although I have been a Mac user since before most of the Apple store employees were born, I also have Windows boxes hidden in my offices.
I have occasional recurrent nightmares that the school comes back and takes my BFA for doing bad artwork, or anything they deem as unworthy. Alternating with the I’m smoking again after 25 years.
I often wish I got musical talent instead of visual. I have an illusion (and recognize it as illusion) that there would somehow be more recognition attached.
on January 9th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
When creating a new product or feature, product marketing managers are taught to use “personas” – archetypes of a typical user or two that really helps personalize how your proposed new widget is going to make that person’s life better. Awesome idea to apply that theory to learning, too. If it helps, Pragmatic Marketing has an excellent batch of articles and materials to help create personas: http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/personas/buyer-personas.
Three things about me: 1. I wanted to be a zookeeper when I grew up. 2. I snorkeled with a shark once. Not on purpose, but I lived to tell the tale. 3. I am a co-holder of a Guinness World Record for the world’s largest Irish jig.
on January 9th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
This is serious entertainment, so I’ll toss in my 2 cents (not presuming I’m by any means entertaining, i just don’t like to feel left out of fun).
1. I’m still trying to devise a way to get paid to sit in a coffee shop and read all day.
2. I really, honestly love zombie and kung fu movies. Mainly for the passion and the non-emotionally-risky aspect of them, but also for the sociological aspects. Especially zombie movies. Think about it.
3. I know I try to bring things up in conversation that I’d like to be identified by, even though it can be socially awkward or make me seem self-centered. By the way, I lived in Scotland and I LOVED it. Also, I’ve been a dancer my whole life.
on January 12th, 2009 at 5:42 am
Three things you probably did not know about me:
1. I collect unbuilt plastic construction kits in original boxes.
2. I visit the beer festival “Oktoberfest” in Münich, Germany each year.
3. I almost flunked college due to playing the highly addictive game “Civilization”. I still play it from time to time.
I like the idea of memes. For training analysis I describe personas rather than job roles. My favorite open questions are: “what makes a good day at work/what makes a bad day at work”. I say you have to meet the target audience (the learners) in order to design effective training.
on January 12th, 2009 at 8:09 am
Hello, Cathy
In addition to what you already know about me, I am becoming too addicted to the internet. So much such that learning to me is about using the internet.
I also enjoy alot of Cameroon and African music each time i am tired or not understanding something.
Finally, i enjoy being with friends especially when we understand one another and work for a common goal or for the good of everybody.
on January 12th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Cathy I appreciate your question to those of use reading your blog and the challenge of knowing one’s audience. Every good people builder (speaker, teacher, trainer, mentor, coach…) knows those they serve. The better they know them the more profound impact for good they can have.
1) From 1991-1993 to was a missionary in South Africa and Swaziland.
2) I love the outdoors (climbing, backpacking, running, cycling…).
3) I enjoy the challenge of growing my capacity and ability in all aspects of life.
Keep up your great work.
on January 12th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Thanks for the continued comments! We’re an incredibly varied bunch with a surprising number of dancers (I’m a dancer, too).
I’d like to encourage everyone to click the link that Beth Griese posted. On that page, you’ll find a link to a Word doc that’s designed to help you develop a persona for marketing a business product. Just a few tweaks and it becomes a worksheet for building a persona for designing and marketing training. It’s the strongest approach to persona-building that I’ve seen.
on January 30th, 2009 at 3:55 am
Hi Cathy,
Three things about me:
I became an instructional designer five yers ago, by chance and am loving it.
I stumbled upon your blog by chance last year, and am loving it.
I’m looking forward to the latest Bollywood relase, Luck By Chance. I have a feeling I’ll like this film.
on February 20th, 2009 at 5:09 am
I have been reading ur blog for the last couple of months. I am loving it! I am able to clarify lots of my doubts about the ID work throught ur writings.
Well, now I have a small request. The query is how do you start knowing your audiences when you are physically far off from ur targeted audience. The run of the mill method is conducting Interviews through mails, and telephone. In addiion, u also said that creating blogs will help to know more abt ur audience. Can u elaborate on that, please?
on February 20th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Janaiah, I think phone interviews are still a good approach and are better than email, since over the phone it’s a lot easier to get a sense of the person. It could be as simple as asking for the phone numbers of 3-4 learners and giving them a call. If you’re an external developer you might have to encourage the client to let you do this, since I’m not aware of it being a common practice, though I think it should be.
I think that blogs written by employees help you learn about the employees, especially if you start something viral like the “7 things” meme. If no learners are writing blogs but you write one in that company, you might be able to get some information out of learners by writing an interesting or even controversial post about the topic of the course you’re working on and asking for their comments. For example, you might wonder if anyone ever uses the manual for the process you’re covering, and if not, what should replace it.
on February 23rd, 2009 at 7:02 am
Thanks Cathy for the info on the audience analysis. That seems quite reasonable.
Another approach came to mind, in the tarditional audience analysis, is Focus Groups discussion or participation. In this kind of approach, the ID acts like a facilitator rather than an interviewer. Here the challenge is to create an environment for the audience to speak out on the expected topics. But this approach will be possible only when u can reach out ur audience geographically.
on March 4th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Hi Cathy–just stumbled across your blog by way of trying to avoid grading papers by looking for ways to make my online classes more fun for everyone involved.
3 things:
1. I’ve built 3 wooden boats, and if I had more time, I’d build more.
2. 25 years later, I can still recite the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales in Middle English.
3. When I saw your photo on the about me page, I thought, wow, she looks just like that lady who posts the banjo videos on youtube. Oh, wait . . .