Designing Authentic and Engaging Personas for Open Education Resources Designers

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Published: Nov 8, 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14434/ijdl.v8i2.22427
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Design Cases
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John Baaki
Old Dominion University
Jennifer Maddrell
Designers for Learning
Eric Stauffer
James Madison University

Abstract

To guide designers developing open education resources for adults preparing for a high school equivalency exam, we developed six authentic personas that represented adults without high school diplomas. Our goal was to assist open education resources designers to develop empathy toward their learners and place themselves in their learners’ shoes. The purpose of this design case is to share our journey in designing, constructing, and integrating authentic personas for the open education resources designers.

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How to Cite
Baaki, J., Maddrell, J., & Stauffer, E. (2017). Designing Authentic and Engaging Personas for Open Education Resources Designers. International Journal of Designs for Learning, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.14434/ijdl.v8i2.22427
Author Biographies

John Baaki, Old Dominion University

John Baaki is an Assistant Professor of Instructional Design & Technology at Old Dominion University. His research interests are how persona construction, reflection-in-action, and taking stock in external representations affect instructional and human performance design.

Jennifer Maddrell, Designers for Learning

Jennifer Maddrell is the founder of Designers for Learning, a nonprofit that coordinates service-learning opportunities. She is also an instructional design consultant.

Eric Stauffer, James Madison University

Eric Stauffer is the Director of Instruction and Instructional Design with Libraries and Education Technology (LET ) at James Madison University. Eric is also an adjunct instructor in the Online Educational Technology M.Ed. program at James Madison University and is completing his doctoral work in Instructional Design and Technology at Virginia Tech.

Copyright © 2026 by the International Journal of Designs for Learning, a publication of the Association of Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), published by Indiana University Libraries Journals. Permission to make digital or hard copies of portions of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee, provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page in print or the first screen in digital media. Except as otherwise noted, the content published by IJDL is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. A simpler version of this statement is available here.

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