Name: Sue Learner (she/her)
Bio: College Freshman, currently Undecided. Graduated in top 25% of her high school class. From a small, rural community and attending a large public university. Follows van life influencers and is interested in building a tiny house. Age: 18 Race: mixed race Gender: female Motivation: Wants a job in “sustainability,” financial stability Key character traits: excited, self-motivated, positive, considers herself a Creative Key learning type: kinesthetic learner (learns by doing) Key challenges toward learning: does not like math, has trouble concentrating during lectures, requires highly structured instructions, wants all classes to be goal oriented. Games: Enjoys Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, and Breath of the Wild, has a Twitch stream with 250 followers. Prefers solo games, but likes to chat with her followers while playing. So, who is Sue and how did I make her up? For this blog post, I went on an entirely too long tangent. Creating a Geography metaphor: I got lost in the woods. I spent a long time trying to understand personas better. I found several articles that specifically spoke to the idea of Learner Personas rather than User or Gamer personas. Because of our previous experience with Quantic, I felt that I had a good understanding of my own Player Type (Slayer!), but I didn’t really understand how to use that information for a learning context. I asked myself a couple of basic questions: what matters to me as a gamer and as a learner? How do I derive learning lessons from games? I came up with a basic response: 1. I value visuals that reflect real-world environments, even if fantastic or cartoonish. 2. I value an engaging story, historical or fantastic, in which I'm an active participant. 3. I like logic puzzles that check in with my wits and knowledge. 4. I'm constantly looking for Easter Eggs that make me feel like I'm learning something unique. I dove more deeply into two online essays that directly addressed Learner Personas in order to design a template that might suit our client's needs and arrive at some sort of ideal geography learner. https://www.td.org/atd-blog/how-to-develop-learner-personas-for-effective-training “How to develop learner personas for effective training.” Vanessa Alzate, posted Thursday, May 20, 2021 Accessed February 17, 2024 This essay is particularly practical in how it lays out the definition of a learner persona: “Like fictional characters, we create these personas with great detail: names,, photos, backgrounds, demographics, skill levels, training goals, and more.” The designer must consider who the ideal learner should be – and this is not a single individual, but possibly many. and https://www.growthengineering.co.uk/how-to-use-learner-personas-to-understand-your-audience/ “How to use Learner Personas to understand your audience” Harry Cloke May 23, 2023 Assessed February 17, 2024 This essay also established the need to work directly with the client on their goals, and to gather data toward that end. Once data has been assessed, a learner persona can be created. Because the fictional ideal learner is derived from data from real individuals – perhaps even using a real person as an archetype, the designer understands the unique needs that each different type of learner might require. This site also offers several YouTube videos that I found particularly helpful in understanding how to conceptualize AND realize learner personas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar_hjcYBRls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H_vigZwDKw Once I was more comfortable with how to build a persona, I revisited the Client's description of the problem. With Geography being a "hidden" major and its declining enrollments, I looked to the AAG (American Association of Geography) state of the field essays on demographics. The AAG “State of Geography” that we read proves an excellent resource for understanding an ideal geography student. With a link to this article on student perception of “geography”, the State of Geography report indicates that the term “geography” is part of the problem, since students indicated a lack of familiarity. Instead, terms such as “sustainability” and “environment” were looked on favorably. The AAG site on gender identifies a significant disproportion of between students who identify as male and female. In 2021, there were a total of 5332 undergraduate degrees in geography: 3185 were granted to men and 2147 to women. The study didn’t consider students who identified as non-binary or who preferred not to self-identify. AAG also formally adopted a strategic plan on Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in 2021 to address a significant underrepresentation of non-white students in undergraduate geography programs. At the time of adoption, students from underrepresented populations made up only approximately 30% of undergraduate majors, although that number shifted at masters and doctorate levels. When thinking specifically of a Learner Persona, though, it became important not just to think about Geography majors, but about learners in general. I found a very helpful questionnaire from University of Connecticut to help learners understand their “type” of learning: visual, kinesthetic, or auditory. I took this survey to inform my own type, mentioned above. I used a variation on Growth Engineering’s Learner Persona Template to produce the persona that this blog begins with, with the caveat that I have not yet done significant research into the data or conducted any interviews or surveys. I did, however, choose a persona who represents a desirable ideal student whose demographics increase the diversity - and possibly the numbers - of the Geography field. The key questions I identified are: Demographics: Name, Age, Race, Gender Specific Biography: story of how they got to this point, unique interests or accomplishments Motivations: What do you want to do for a career? What do you enjoy doing? What kind of lifestyle matters to you? Persona characteristics: descriptions of behaviors and psychological or cultural motivations Learner characteristics: Do you learn best by doing? Best by listening to a lecture or a podcast? Best by watching a video or powerpoint? Do you take a lot of detailed notes? Do you draw models or visualizations of the thing that you're learning? Learner challenges: Is there something that prevents learning or makes learning difficult for you? Games: What do you do in your pasttime? Do you play any games? Do you participate in social media? Finally, I realize that I identified more than three resources. Here I'm going to provide the three that helped me produce the questions/answers for Sue. I consider the AAG data linked above to be "one" source. This was important information about the demographics of Geography majors and graduates and helps identify underrepresented populations that might be targeted to increase numbers within the discipline. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/09/17/5-facts-about-americans-and-video-games/ Pew Research Center Perrin, A. published September 17, 2018, Accessed February 17, 2024 “5 facts about Americans and video games” This information updates a Pew Research study (linked above) from 2003 that identifies college students/learners as regular gamers, with demographic differences particularly with regard to age and gender. https://achieve.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/391/2013/12/What-Type-of-Learner-Are-You2.pdf University of Connecticut Academic Achievement Center “What Type of Learner Are You?” Accessed February 17, 2024 At the end of the day, information about learner types is a fundamental data point to help define the type of game that might appeal to the ideal learner. I found this process extremely interesting, but again, I'm aware I invested heavily in a path of inquiry prior to discussing the client's goals. While Sue will do for the moment, I think that our ideal learner persona will evolve.
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Maureen the Gamer
Professor. Administrator. Gamer. Cat Lady. Not necessarily in that order. Blogging the game design process since 2020. Archives
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