Your target audience will play an important role when you create your elearning course. This is why you need to conduct a thorough research of who they are.
It is actually the same as companies who do a market research while creating a new product. They try to understand what their target market want so they can meet a need. This is an important characteristic of any product because it will lead to the creation of a demand. When there is a demand, the profit will rise.
The same theory is applicable in any online course or training program. When you understand the target audience, your elearning course will get 5 important benefits.
- You can identify what is valuable to them. This is how you create a demand for the course you are creating. Nobody would want to waste their time learning something that they will not use. Make sure the course can meet a need or answer a problem that they have. In essence, you can improve the market or industry that the target audience is involved in.
- You can ensure that your course will be supported by the audience. This is how you can guarantee that any investment that you made on the course will be returned as your audience opts to go through the course you created. It lowers the risk of the investment that you made on the course.
- You can improve the market of your target audience. This is another affirmation of the value of the course – but the benefit will be felt, not by the audience, but by the whole market. The best people to know what is lacking in the market are the very people who are working in it. By giving the workers the skills and knowledge that will help address what is lacking in the market, it will go through a general improvement. It will not only benefit the productivity of your target audience, it will also reach those who rely on this market.
- You can create a personalized learning experience. Since you are getting to know your target audience, you can understand how they can learn properly. This will allow you to set up a support system that can make the learning experience more effective and efficient. If they prefer learning through games, this is what you can provide in the elearning course. If it is through a simulation, then you know what activities your course should have. In case your audience is always in the field, you can use mlearning or microlearning methods to help them learn.
- You can forecast future learning needs. This will require you to think in a more forward manner but it will benefit the future elearning courses that you will create. By identifying the needs of the market, you get to understand the tools and knowledge that the learners will require as the industry itself evolves.
These 5 reasons should validate the need to get to know the target audience of your elearning course. On an added note, this knowledge will also allow you to identify the learning obstacles that the learners will go through. You can prepare the tools that will help them complete the learning process without much difficulty.
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