• Ask the other stakeholders – these could be teachers, lecturers, societies or individuals involved in arranging the learning and teaching event. Concentrate on finding out what the learners know already and what they need. The latter is easier to find out than the former, as those booking your teaching may not know about the learners’ prior experience of information skills. Try to ask more than one individual and triangulate – for example, in a school, college or university you might want to talk to teacher/lecturers about what the learners need and also IT or media technicians about their experience or observation of the group.

• Ask the learners. This can be by prior arrangement – sending out presession questionnaires could be useful but be careful with your questions as people will often under- or overestimate their expertise or knowledge. Alternatively these questions could be asked on a session booking form (if used). Try to ask specific questions rather than asking learners to rank themselves. Ask for qualitative answers rather than tick box or ranking scales.

• If pre-session questions to the learners or their sponsors are not possible or appropriate, then make a point of asking the learners as they join your teaching session. Position yourself near to the doorway or chat as you wait for latecomers. Do not interrogate but ask friendly, targeted questions as people arrive. This means that you will need to be flexible with your planning – there is no point ploughing on with something if they have told you that they already know it or it is apparent that it is irrelevant.

• Ask directly what your learners want from the event and then incorporate this into a revised set of learning outcomes.