Designing with Purpose: How User Research Creates Student-Centred Online Learning

In today’s changing world of education, it’s really important for students to be at the centre of online learning. Teachers are working hard to help all kinds of students learn online. This article talks about how we can make online learning better by studying what students need and like. We’ll look at how we can design online classes that fit what students need and how they like to learn. By looking at what students need and how they learn, we can make online classes more interesting and helpful for everyone.

Online Learning

The educational process has been going on for a long time, along the way the process of transferring knowledge has developed and experienced evolution. The education journey has been marked by innovation, adaptation, and transformation. One of the things that has changed is the media used by teachers as providers of knowledge, starting with using blackboards, chalk, and textbooks in the classroom to modern media such as smartboards and e-books. Moreover, in the past learning only occurred in the classroom, now with the help of technology, the teaching and learning process can occur beyond the walls.

Online learning, also known as e-learning or distance education, is where educational content and instruction are delivered through the Internet. This allows every student to take courses or even earn degrees without having to attend classes in person. Another advantage is students are able to access these at any time and at their own pace. Online learning comes by breaking the geographical barriers, it opens doors of opportunity for all learners from all backgrounds and circumstances. Whether you’re a beginner level of young-adult learner who wants to learn foreign language to pursue your dream education abroad, stay-at-home mothers or fathers looking for personal development or a working professional seeking to upskill for a better payment, online learning offers flexibility, iniquity, and inclusivity to education.

Student Persona based on Use Research

Yet with great opportunity comes great responsibility, and the success of online learning not just on the technology itself, but on the thoughtful design and the implementation should align with the needs of the learners. This is where user research plays an important role, providing complete and in-depth information to designers that online learning must not only be convenient or accessible but the most important thing is that it is designed by prioritising the needs of the students served or student-centered design.

User research helps instructional designers identify who are the target learners, and how to create the content for the targeted audience. In order to understand the learners, instructional designers should create students’ personas. A persona is a representation of a person or group that is based on user research. This representation should give a clear picture of the needs and expectations of the users who interest in using the site. To get a more realistic persona, surveys and interviews can be conducted with those who seem interested in online learning. Personas require several key pieces of information, including the user’s educational background, language proficiency, learning goal, and learning style, challenges and barriers as well as age, and occupation or responsibility. Because online learning requires skills in operating a computer, information on the user’s digital literacy level is also needed.

Example of student persona,

	Name : Marlena Kora Age : 19 years old Educational Background: She is a student at University of Cenderawasih Jayapura – Papua. She is studying business administration. She wants to take a Master of Business in Australia.
Language Proficiency	She is a pre-intermediate English learner. She understands everyday English conversation. But, she finds it challenging to write academic essays and comprehend complex reading.
Challenges & Barriers	She struggles with grammar rules, academic vocabulary, and understanding complex sentence structure in English.
Learning Goal	Her goals are to improve her English language skills for academic purposes, and achieve a higher score on IELTS.
Learning Style	Maria is a visual and auditory learner .
Technology Proficiency	She is comfortable using technology and has access to a laptop and smartphone. She lives in a house which has a high-speed internet connection.

Student-Centered Design

Most teachers and e-learning designers might be thinking that they know their target learner from their teaching experiences. However, creating a persona will surprise the teachers and e-learning designers with aspects they might not have been considered before. This is also an opportunity for the teachers especially when they are going to develop the learning material. It helps them to review and reflect on their ideas and to personalise the content.

The learner-centered model is all about making sure students get what they need to learn well. The goal is to help students feel good about learning online, so they can understand everything easily. For instance, in order to design a learning experience that suits Marlena Kora (example of student persona), the teacher will provide interactive learning resources to her visual and auditory learning styles such as videos, multimedia presentations, and recording of lectures or podcasts. Moreover, Maria will be assigned to an IELTS Preparation class in which the teacher will focus more on her writing and reading skills.

In conclusion, the evolution of education has been marked by constant innovation and adaptation, with online learning representing a significant milestone in this journey. This mode of education, facilitated by the Internet, goes beyond physical boundaries and offers flexibility and accessibility to learners of all backgrounds. However, the success of online learning is based not only on technological advancements but also on a thoughtful design that prioritises the needs of students. User research plays a crucial role in this process, enabling instructional designers to create educational experiences to the diverse requirements of learners. By developing personas and understanding the digital literacy levels and preferences of the target audience, educators can ensure that online learning content is student-centered.

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