Target Audience
Activity: M3a: Target audience • At what stage of course development should you analyse the profile and needs of the target audience?
In order to begin the development of any course (on-line, face-to-face or blended) you need to have in mind a target audience and a profile of who it is you are working with. However, it is not sufficient to do this the once and not revisit this at any later stage: you will need to analyse the profile of the audience once they have registered on the course (Are they who you thought they would be and were your assumptions about them correct?), and you will need to revisit the content of the courses, or the way in which the content is presented as a result of your analysis. In addition, once a course is ended and you start recruiting for the next cycle, it is important to reflect on any changes you expect to your target audience, which can be affected by changes in policy, the employment market, your clientele, your profile etc… • What factors should you consider when analysing the target audience? You may think about things such as personal characteristics, previous experience, cultural background, access to technology and so on.
There are two main purposes for analysising a target audience 1) to make sure that you are pitching your course to meet their needs and learning styles and 2) to identify the groups of people that you aren’t successfully engaging that you could/should be. For the first purpose it is important (in training such as the work related training that we deliver) to have an overview of the type of organisation they work for, their role in that organisation and their objectives for attending the course. You also need to know about their availability, their access to the required IT systems and their proficiency and confidence in using IT. Unlike with face-to-face training where geography is hugely important, this doesn’t impact on on-line learning, however their preferred learning style and getting to know
In order to begin the development of any course (on-line, face-to-face or blended) you need to have in mind a target audience and a profile of who it is you are working with. However, it is not sufficient to do this the once and not revisit this at any later stage: you will need to analyse the profile of the audience once they have registered on the course (Are they who you thought they would be and were your assumptions about them correct?), and you will need to revisit the content of the courses, or the way in which the content is presented as a result of your analysis. In addition, once a course is ended and you start recruiting for the next cycle, it is important to reflect on any changes you expect to your target audience, which can be affected by changes in policy, the employment market, your clientele, your profile etc… • What factors should you consider when analysing the target audience? You may think about things such as personal characteristics, previous experience, cultural background, access to technology and so on.
There are two main purposes for analysising a target audience 1) to make sure that you are pitching your course to meet their needs and learning styles and 2) to identify the groups of people that you aren’t successfully engaging that you could/should be. For the first purpose it is important (in training such as the work related training that we deliver) to have an overview of the type of organisation they work for, their role in that organisation and their objectives for attending the course. You also need to know about their availability, their access to the required IT systems and their proficiency and confidence in using IT. Unlike with face-to-face training where geography is hugely important, this doesn’t impact on on-line learning, however their preferred learning style and getting to know