Something I preach, but don’t practice well #302: audience analysis

I know better. I may not have an ID degree, but this is not a practice used only in the learning field. It’s something we spent more than enough time on in grad school. It’s the first principle of any type of design: “Know your audience.” I know it, and I understand its importance. Yet (and I’m ashamed to admit it), as an ID, probably less than five percent of what I do on any given project is spent conducting audience analysis. And, almost all of the information I do have about my learners is secondhand (at minimum). I don’t interact with the learner population very much. In fact, I usually only hear from students during ILT pilot courses. For e-Learning courses, I don’t see or hear from them at all, unless I happen to overhear talk in the break room or cafeteria, when they’re talking openly because they don’t know who I am or what I do.

So many of the courses I design are catch-alls—attempts to meet the needs of a large, diverse audience. I can’t possibly design for each job role, so I have a vague, fleeting idea of who my audience is and how day-to-day work is accomplished. Sadly, I’m pretty out of touch. I work with SMEs who, like almost all SMEs, can’t remember what it was like to be new and green.

I tend to get caught up in content—I love to understand how things work, I like details, and I like to organize information. If I give less than five percent to audience, I probably give at least fifty to content. Content is important, but I need to put my own likes asides and spend more time with my audience. I have to put into practice what I know (and what I spent so much time and effort on in grad school). I have access to real, live potential students. I just need to get up and go see them, talk to them, watch them. Convincing them to give me time may be a challenge—our human resources are so limited, it’s hard to get anyone’s time right now. So, I have to put other skills I learned to practice—persuasion.

I suppose I’m just another casualty to aDDIE (the analysis piece is easily skimmed over to the more creative, interesting endeavors). I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s guilty of inadequate (or even nonexistent) audience analysis. I accept that for my first five years in ID, I’ve been woefully, shamefully deficient in that arena. So, now to put intentions to practice—let the rubber hit the road. I’ll be sure to report on the journey.