Understanding your audience becomes fundamental – it helps your message shape the way learners can resonate with. Be it in designing a presentation, conducting a training or building a product, thorough analysis of the target audience helps you choose the appropriate information, and in case of trainings, figure out the most effective instructional strategy.

Mere assumptions about their needs, goals, and motivations undermine the intended impact, and act as a hindrance in creating a learning environment where learners feel included and supported

Safety, as a subject, needs attention-to-detail and interest of the audience, to penetrate deep within the minds of the learners. E-learnings are preferred for their precise information-reach. In safety, they translate generic and job-specific safety data to the learners in engaging ways.

In EHS and OHS, when we use the term ‘connected worker’, we mean –

• Linking workers with access to information
• Strategies and digital technologies that better connect with their work environment for productivity, safety and quality gains
• Fostering effective communication and knowledge sharing

It is a proactive approach wherein emphasis is more towards continuous improvement – understanding and being mindful of the employee needs is therefore, crucial. It drives adoption and helps transform the safety culture.

Now this does not mean getting to know your target audience individually – it isn’t usually feasible. But again, this is not a challenge unique to the learning industry, and hence, one should bridge the gap using some techniques.

To steer away from this adoption traffic jam, companies should focus on quick and sustainable wins across training and learning programs. All of this becomes viable when accurate audience analysis becomes the key – with those analysed factors, one can put on the thinking cap and design an E-learning course accordingly.

Following information can be used as a template to carry out audience analysis:

Demographics

E-learnings have the potential to personalize the training experience through consistent and scalable information-delivery. Assessing general characteristics like age, primary language, education background, profession and current role in the organization can help design the best conditions for learnings in a given setting and identify learners who need targeted support.

E-learning courses are generally undertaken by a group of learners, and while designing courses, find out –

• The size of the learner group
• Experience (novices, executives, experts or technicians)
• Geographical location
• Job-nature – whether they work in an office workspace or are involved in any physical activity (at factory floor, shop floor, on-field or any site)

Consider a scenario wherein a middle-aged worker is working on scaffolds on-site. He may or may not have the appropriate skills to operate a computer. Designing an informative course for them can be challenging, but once aware of their limitations, a course that requires minimum handholding and interaction with the computer can be sought after.

Audience expectations

Knowing the answers to the questions listed below becomes necessary if one needs to find out why a learner wishes to undertake an E-learning course.

• What are their learning preferences?
• Is the course voluntary or declared mandatory?
• Does the course solve their job-related issues?
• What are the learning outcomes?
• Will the course enhance their skill level?

It is important to assess the prior knowledge of the subject matter to establish realistic training goals. Only then one can add a persuasive tone to the course and determine how receptive they will be to the information you impart.

Micro learning establishes everyday learning habits without taking an individual off the floor or away from an ongoing task. Utilizing E-learning in safety trainings helps reduce work inefficiencies by delivering short and consistent learning touchpoints. To facilitate the same, deep understanding of what your audience wants from the course, how they wish for the course to be delivered is essential – it develops a common lexicon and helps you delve deeper into their situation professionally and psychologically.