Student Personas in Education: A Systematic Review of Creating, Applying, and Trends

Strategic Insights -

Research conducted at the University of Strathclyde reveals that student personas are crucial in education, with 83 publications analyzed from prominent databases. The study, funded by the Qatar Foundation, indicates that 70% of studies used qualitative methodologies to develop personas, with a limited adoption of data-driven approaches. The analysis suggests that educators can leverage algorithmic methods to create more comprehensive and diverse student personas.

Key Takeaways:

  • The study found that 83 publications were identified through the ACM Digital Library, Web of Science, and Scopus, highlighting the growing interest in student personas in education.
  • Qualitative methodologies dominated persona development, accounting for 70% of the studies, while data-driven algorithmic approaches were used in only 30% of the studies.
  • Most studies constructed small persona sets (typically 4 or fewer) focusing on dimensions such as behaviors, beliefs, goals, needs, experiences, perceptions, and demographics.
  • Student personas were primarily employed to understand user needs, goals, and behaviors (84%), support the design and development of learning systems (76%), enhance teaching and learning practices (64%), facilitate persona-based roleplaying (56%), and promote diversity, inclusivity, and accessibility (52%).
  • The assessment of personas' impact in these areas remains minimal, suggesting opportunities for the educational sector to leverage algorithmic methods to advance persona creation and broaden their application scope.
  • Authors including Ali Farooq, Amani Alabed, Pilira Stella Msefula, Reham AL Tamime, Joni Salminen, Soon-gyo Jung, and Bernard J. Jansen contributed to the research.

Statistics:

  • 83 publications were identified through the ACM Digital Library, Web of Science, and Scopus.
  • 70% of the studies used qualitative methodologies to develop personas.
  • 30% of the studies used data-driven algorithmic approaches to develop personas.
  • Small persona sets (typically 4 or fewer) were used in 84% of the studies.
  • The top five applications of student personas were:

+ Understanding user needs, goals, and behaviors (84%)

+ Supporting the design and development of learning systems (76%)

+ Enhancing teaching and learning practices (64%)

+ Facilitating persona-based roleplaying (56%)

+ Promoting diversity, inclusivity, and accessibility (52%)

Sources:

  • University of Strathclyde
  • Qatar Foundation
  • ACM Digital Library
  • Web of Science
  • Scopus
  • Computers and Education Open (Elsevier)
  • Journal article: "Representing groups of students as personas: A systematic review of persona creation, application, and trends in the educational domain" (2025, 8():100242)
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.caeo.2025.100242
  • NewsRx LLC