Wheel of Student Archetypes Turn, Turn, Turn, Tell us the Persona We Should Learn

Concurrent Session 9

Brief Abstract

Spin the Persona Big Wheel! Do you know who your students are? Did you design your course with them in mind? Let’s take a look at empathetic course design, creating student personas, and strategies for designing with empathy, compassion, and reflection.

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Dorothy Loftin, Oregon State University - Extended Campus

Dorothy Loftin holds a Master's of Science in Educational Information Technology and is an Instructional Design Specialist at Oregon State University, ranked Top 10 in the national by U.S. News & World Report. She has presented at national and international conferences and she trains course developers in an award winning faculty development program recognized by the Online Learning Consortium for Excellence in Faculty Development for online teaching. Dorothy is the lead expert on accessibility at Oregon State University Ecampus.

Co-presenter: Adam Davi, University of Arizona

Adam Davi is a Senior Instructional Designer at the University of Arizona who works with faculty to design engaging online courses. Adam has a Master of Science in Educational Technology as well as a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership. He has experience working directly with students as a teacher and learning specialist before transitioning to his role as an Instructional Designer. He is passionate about developing innovative courses that foster student success and promote ownership over one’s learning. He loves working in a field that encourages collaboration and creativity. When not working, he spends time volunteering for Arizona Camp Sunrise and Sidekicks, a children’s oncology camp, and enjoys playing games, watching baseball, and talking Star Wars with anyone who is willing to listen.

Extended Abstract

Students come to our courses with a variety of unseen barriers. These barriers may take the form of work, family, medical, or cultural reasons, all of which may affect the time the student is able to put into the course. Designing with empathy in mind can help account for those barriers and result in greater student success. When we design with empathy, we put ourselves in the shoes of our students and seek to understand their lived experiences in order to better communicate with them and show acceptance.  

In this session we will work together to create personas that summarize a particular subset of the student population. Participants will spin the Big Wheel of Student Archetypes to plug in behaviors, assumptions, and expectations that students have to create a student persona that can better inform the work of faculty and instructional designers. Participants are encouraged to engage with the presenters and each other to discuss the archetypes and develop a reliable and accurate representation of a targeted student population. We will then use this collective persona to discuss ways to build in activities to get to know your students in order to design with empathy in mind. We will examine how to identify the obstacles and challenges students face and put an emphasis on reflection.

After working together to create a shared persona, we will use that persona to examine how to use it to tailor the course design to meet the needs of that particular student archetype. Participants will then have the opportunity to work (in small groups or breakout rooms) with a template and start creating and sharing their own personas that reflect the student population which their institution serves. Attendees may choose to use the Wheels of Student Archetypes to create their persona or draw from their individual institution’s known population. 

Attendees will walk away being able to:

  • Describe what a persona, empathy, and sympathy are.
  • Create a persona.
  • Select design strategies to be included in course design based upon their student persona.

Game elements planned based on The Price is Right will help to create student personas, select design elements, and hand out (if in person) prizes.