What are you trying to calculate it from? From a storyboard? From a produced mod? Some people do basic calculations using the word count the storyboard docs. If you have audio, then consider about 100-120 words per minute for normal human speech. At least the same can be estimated for quizzes as well as some additional estimated time, usually another 1:30 or so per question. I don't know if my methods count as "industry standard" though. The 100-120 number comes from my voiceover experience. Hopefully this helps you somewhat.
There are a few metrics I've seen. As rules of thumb, I find them fairly arbitrary and inaccurate as a result - so I like to break large arbitrary estimations down into more granular and less arbitrary judgements.
Here's one of the rules of thumb I don't really like but have seen used quite a bit:
The scale indicates that the screen complexity goes up with level of interactivity, so does the amount of time the learner will spend on a screen. As I mentioned, I am not a fan of this method - this method reduces design estimation down to quantity of content and it's not at all accurate unless the design is terrible / cookie-cutter-cut-n-paste. I'm also not a fan of the typical definition of interactivity, particularly not of the lexicon used in the common levels of interactivity models. This combined with the propensity of folks in the government space to estimate by the whole hour ("I want two hours of level 2 imi") makes for a waste of $$$ in the end. These are a few of the many reasons I don't like the reduction of estimation to screen count or by hour.
A better estimate is breaking each activity or task down into a design level projection or by the *message*. Ideally, I want the amount of time a learner spends in an activity or acquiring a message to be by design, not by happenstance. In the case of narrative, you can estimate the push elements by calculating the length of audio and adding a modifier for the amount of time you think your user (assuming you know your user) will reasonably spend on the screen or activity. These assumptions can be further validated with user testing. Once you have your patterns user tested, estimation will edge closer to the center of the target. Gestalt science... estimation is a fun game to play once you've seen enough to make them accurate.
I just posted an estimation resource for narration. It's best to validate any estimator against a real value whenever you can to make your estimate more accurate:
I think 1:30 per question is a bit high, but I suppose for scenario based questions requiring careful consideration or outside reference a question could require significant time. I'd apply an algorithm to estimate the question experience = time to process stem + time to process distractors + time to consider answer + time to digest feedback. Most questions I've built take 30-45 seconds based on this model, less if the feedback is simplified, more if it's a complex question (edging into the 1+ minute range for a single complex question or more for a question chain).
I've been tracking this thread for a while now, and I have a question. The last two links pertain to how long it takes to DEVELOP the course and costs involved, which is very helpful information.
I'm much more interested in how to estimate how long it would take a student/user to complete my e-learning course (to 'take the class', if you will). This is very important for me because I need to determine how many certification hours a student can receive for taking the online course rather than in person.
I feel that I can't take the amount of time the presentation has on Articulate, since the student should be taking notes, then taking quizzes, etc. I can't test the time it takes by going through it myself, since I created the course and know all the info (so it would be a lot faster than someone taking the course). I also can't rely on giving it to someone else to take it and recording the time.
I'd like something more on the benchmark that Steve gave... unfortunately, the course I've made is very technical and I expect the rate to be less than 50 screens/hour.
I need to create a sample training schedule that allows for employees to take e-learning sessions.
Shelly - what, exactly, is the business requirement that you have?
I'm unclear as to what exactly you have been asked to "create".
Training length depends on the requirement, and what else is being done OUTSIDE the training - see here for further information.
You can create courses of any length - it all depends on what the business problem is that has caused the training to be a requirement, (if indeed it IS a requirement...), and whether (for example...) a student revisits content.
E-learning module is learnt by learner. All learners may not go through same sequence in module; moreover, different learner takes different time to complete the module. The important thing here is; if learner completes the objectives of the module, some hours (for calulating the Man-hours) should be credited in his account by LMS.
When any learner takes the e-module, he should be informed that approximate some hours or minutes will required to complete this module. There is no industry standard for this. The designers' fair judgement should be used to state in how much time the module will take to be completed.
Great topic and I see this thread has gotten some great feedback so far! This topic reminded me of a blog post I wrote recently, so I thought I'd share in case it can help you, or someone else, out:
The best way to get an accurate estimate on the time it takes to complete a course is to do real-life testing and have a few participants from various demographic/technological backgrounds complete the course, and time them, then calculate the average.
In order to calculate time to complete e learning course it is very necessary to figure out the learners capability to grasp, no. of slides used, level of interactivity used, amount of audio & video used..
50 Screens/ Hour??? I consider myself a fast developer, but 50 screens/hour is ludicrous. Even with a just plain text/click next module, it means you are taking about 1 minute for each slide. I hope I never take a course where someone only spent 1 minute per slide/screen.
And don't forget to add time for creating content, gathering information from SMEs, review time, etc.
This interesting fact that came out of a recent Articulate discussion while attending the training in Toronto. Since it's being asked I shall pass this along for your information/consideration.
Course Design Estimations Timeline:
This estimation based on 30 mins of face-to-face curriculum converted to Articulate.
Option A - with instructional design complete e.g. content mapped, story-board complete, all assets gathered/recorded e.g. images, sound etc and assessments/question types determined is roughly 40 to 60 hours of human time to build in Articulate. Note: It took my team about 60 hours for "project x"
Option B - no instructional design complete e.g. requires content mapping, requires story-boarding, requires sourcing of assets and requires the design of assessments is roughly 140 to 160 hours of human time to build in Articulate. <-- add on no prior knowledge of articulate and you are looking at even longer.
Jerson, I think you are thinking about time to *develop,* where this is more about how long it takes for the learner to *consume* or *complete* the published course.
The metrics you were calling out seem to be for the learner to *complete* the course.
The metrics that Jennifer put forth are more like the metrics I have heard for *developing* the course.
I continue to have such a struggle with determining number of hours needed to develop a course. First, I think I am slower than many on this forum that appear to work so quickly.
There are so many things to consider along the way. And I find that even when I storyboard, I have many unanswered questions and can't make final decisions until I am designing that very slide - I don't like feeling pressured to meet a deadline and compromise a quality job because I have underestimated the time it takes to do quality work.
I also think that telling a client a 30 minute course might take 160 hours just raises eyebrows. But that is the reality - for me anyway.
No real question here - just sharing my experience - and challenge.
What do you do if you have a course that must be a specific amount of time? I am developing a course that MUST be two hours. Do you look only at the published time or do you take into account other factors that people have mentioned, like time spent considering scenario questions? Has anyone else out there had to develop a course with a mandatory time requirement? What did you do?
As silly as it may sound to some, I too have faced those kind of regulatory challenges of mandated training times. There are a couple of options to think about...
If your regulator is literally going to time the course out, then lock down the navigation to limit advancing screens before a certain duration. Then you can control things tightly.
In many cases, regulators simply want to know there is enough content. In these cases you can be merciful to your learners and include tons of "optional" content as resources they an download and read .... or not. Estimate the time it takes to read each resource (based on word count standards) and add it to the total content time of the traditional course slides.
I've done both successfully in the past, but you will want to check with your SMEs and or regulating bodies directly to see what is acceptable.
Hope these ideas help.... and keep reminding yourself that not all training is done this way! :)
20 Replies
What are you trying to calculate it from? From a storyboard? From a produced mod? Some people do basic calculations using the word count the storyboard docs. If you have audio, then consider about 100-120 words per minute for normal human speech. At least the same can be estimated for quizzes as well as some additional estimated time, usually another 1:30 or so per question. I don't know if my methods count as "industry standard" though. The 100-120 number comes from my voiceover experience. Hopefully this helps you somewhat.
There are a few metrics I've seen. As rules of thumb, I find them fairly arbitrary and inaccurate as a result - so I like to break large arbitrary estimations down into more granular and less arbitrary judgements.
Here's one of the rules of thumb I don't really like but have seen used quite a bit:
Level 1 Interactivity (page turner) - 50 screens / hour
Level 2 Interactivity - 40 screens / hour
Level 3 Interactivity - 30 screens / hour
The scale indicates that the screen complexity goes up with level of interactivity, so does the amount of time the learner will spend on a screen. As I mentioned, I am not a fan of this method - this method reduces design estimation down to quantity of content and it's not at all accurate unless the design is terrible / cookie-cutter-cut-n-paste. I'm also not a fan of the typical definition of interactivity, particularly not of the lexicon used in the common levels of interactivity models. This combined with the propensity of folks in the government space to estimate by the whole hour ("I want two hours of level 2 imi") makes for a waste of $$$ in the end. These are a few of the many reasons I don't like the reduction of estimation to screen count or by hour.
A better estimate is breaking each activity or task down into a design level projection or by the *message*. Ideally, I want the amount of time a learner spends in an activity or acquiring a message to be by design, not by happenstance. In the case of narrative, you can estimate the push elements by calculating the length of audio and adding a modifier for the amount of time you think your user (assuming you know your user) will reasonably spend on the screen or activity. These assumptions can be further validated with user testing. Once you have your patterns user tested, estimation will edge closer to the center of the target. Gestalt science... estimation is a fun game to play once you've seen enough to make them accurate.
I just posted an estimation resource for narration. It's best to validate any estimator against a real value whenever you can to make your estimate more accurate:
http://community.articulate.com/forums/t/3063.aspx
I think 1:30 per question is a bit high, but I suppose for scenario based questions requiring careful consideration or outside reference a question could require significant time. I'd apply an algorithm to estimate the question experience = time to process stem + time to process distractors + time to consider answer + time to digest feedback. Most questions I've built take 30-45 seconds based on this model, less if the feedback is simplified, more if it's a complex question (edging into the 1+ minute range for a single complex question or more for a question chain).
Not sure if you are looking for general or specific info but I had this link saved:
http://www.dls.com/1150_Prototyping.PDF
Of course I had another really great reference but can't find it. When I stumble across it, I'll post it.
Bryan Chapman at Chapman Alliance (formerly of Brandon Hall Research) has a research study available here:
http://www.chapmanalliance.com/howlong/
He presented this at the Training Magazine conference back in Feb. Of course, there are many caveats in trying to do such an estimate.
I've been tracking this thread for a while now, and I have a question. The last two links pertain to how long it takes to DEVELOP the course and costs involved, which is very helpful information.
I'm much more interested in how to estimate how long it would take a student/user to complete my e-learning course (to 'take the class', if you will). This is very important for me because I need to determine how many certification hours a student can receive for taking the online course rather than in person.
I feel that I can't take the amount of time the presentation has on Articulate, since the student should be taking notes, then taking quizzes, etc. I can't test the time it takes by going through it myself, since I created the course and know all the info (so it would be a lot faster than someone taking the course). I also can't rely on giving it to someone else to take it and recording the time.
I'd like something more on the benchmark that Steve gave... unfortunately, the course I've made is very technical and I expect the rate to be less than 50 screens/hour.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have the same question!
I need to create a sample training schedule that allows for employees to take e-learning sessions.
Shelly - what, exactly, is the business requirement that you have?
I'm unclear as to what exactly you have been asked to "create".
Training length depends on the requirement, and what else is being done OUTSIDE the training - see here for further information.
You can create courses of any length - it all depends on what the business problem is that has caused the training to be a requirement, (if indeed it IS a requirement...), and whether (for example...) a student revisits content.
E-learning module is learnt by learner. All learners may not go through same sequence in module; moreover, different learner takes different time to complete the module. The important thing here is; if learner completes the objectives of the module, some hours (for calulating the Man-hours) should be credited in his account by LMS.
When any learner takes the e-module, he should be informed that approximate some hours or minutes will required to complete this module. There is no industry standard for this. The designers' fair judgement should be used to state in how much time the module will take to be completed.
Hey John!
Great topic and I see this thread has gotten some great feedback so far! This topic reminded me of a blog post I wrote recently, so I thought I'd share in case it can help you, or someone else, out:
How to Calculate the Seat Time For Your E-Learning Course
A few of the things you'll want to consider:
The best way to get an accurate estimate on the time it takes to complete a course is to do real-life testing and have a few participants from various demographic/technological backgrounds complete the course, and time them, then calculate the average.
Hi John,
In order to calculate time to complete e learning course it is very necessary to figure out the learners capability to grasp, no. of slides used, level of interactivity used, amount of audio & video used..
50 Screens/ Hour??? I consider myself a fast developer, but 50 screens/hour is ludicrous. Even with a just plain text/click next module, it means you are taking about 1 minute for each slide. I hope I never take a course where someone only spent 1 minute per slide/screen.
And don't forget to add time for creating content, gathering information from SMEs, review time, etc.
This interesting fact that came out of a recent Articulate discussion while attending the training in Toronto. Since it's being asked I shall pass this along for your information/consideration.
Course Design Estimations Timeline:
This estimation based on 30 mins of face-to-face curriculum converted to Articulate.
Option A - with instructional design complete e.g. content mapped, story-board complete, all assets gathered/recorded e.g. images, sound etc and assessments/question types determined is roughly 40 to 60 hours of human time to build in Articulate. Note: It took my team about 60 hours for "project x"
Option B - no instructional design complete e.g. requires content mapping, requires story-boarding, requires sourcing of assets and requires the design of assessments is roughly 140 to 160 hours of human time to build in Articulate. <-- add on no prior knowledge of articulate and you are looking at even longer.
Thank you Charles Zoffuto for this information!
Is this thread about completing a course, or completing the BUILD of a course?
@Bruce I know what you mean. I think people are answering two different questions here.
There are different types of time all the time.
Jerson, I think you are thinking about time to *develop,* where this is more about how long it takes for the learner to *consume* or *complete* the published course.
The metrics you were calling out seem to be for the learner to *complete* the course.
The metrics that Jennifer put forth are more like the metrics I have heard for *developing* the course.
I continue to have such a struggle with determining number of hours needed to develop a course. First, I think I am slower than many on this forum that appear to work so quickly.
There are so many things to consider along the way. And I find that even when I storyboard, I have many unanswered questions and can't make final decisions until I am designing that very slide - I don't like feeling pressured to meet a deadline and compromise a quality job because I have underestimated the time it takes to do quality work.
I also think that telling a client a 30 minute course might take 160 hours just raises eyebrows. But that is the reality - for me anyway.
No real question here - just sharing my experience - and challenge.
What do you do if you have a course that must be a specific amount of time? I am developing a course that MUST be two hours. Do you look only at the published time or do you take into account other factors that people have mentioned, like time spent considering scenario questions? Has anyone else out there had to develop a course with a mandatory time requirement? What did you do?
Hi Suzann,
As silly as it may sound to some, I too have faced those kind of regulatory challenges of mandated training times. There are a couple of options to think about...
If your regulator is literally going to time the course out, then lock down the navigation to limit advancing screens before a certain duration. Then you can control things tightly.
In many cases, regulators simply want to know there is enough content. In these cases you can be merciful to your learners and include tons of "optional" content as resources they an download and read .... or not. Estimate the time it takes to read each resource (based on word count standards) and add it to the total content time of the traditional course slides.
I've done both successfully in the past, but you will want to check with your SMEs and or regulating bodies directly to see what is acceptable.
Hope these ideas help.... and keep reminding yourself that not all training is done this way! :)
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