Dick, Carey, and Carey identify several characteristics of the learner that should be considered.

• Knowledge, Skill, and Ability - What is the learners' prior knowledge and skill level? What are the general ability levels of the learners? For an online course, what are the learner's technology skills?
• Attitudes Toward Content and Potential Delivery System - What are the learners' attitudes about the topic and how it might be delivered? Does the learner have any preconceived notions? (For example, online education is lower quality; people in general do not do well in research and statistics)
• Attitudes Toward Training Organization - How do the learners feel about the organization providing the training? Do they have a positive view of management and peers, or are they cynical about leadership?
• Motivation - How motivated are learners to learn? What is there level of interest? and how much is it likely to interest them? How relevant is the instructional goal to the learner?
• General Learning Preferences - What types of learning approaches do the learners prefer? Do they prefer lecture, discussion, individual, case study, small-group?

In the web-based environment, it is especially important to consider learner's technological skills and in design aim to serve the lowest common denominator. It is also important to consider the learners' knowledge and skills to navigate the delivery platforms and technologies integrated into the course, for tutorials and technological support may need to be planned.

As an educator or an ID, there are two ways in which you can create a useful working document that describes the learner for whom you are designing instruction:

• A chart of learner characteristic data
• A factitious learner profile of the average target student