Estimated time to develop 20 minute mildly interactive technical training module

Jul 15, 2019

Marlit Stubb
By Marlit Stubb

Hello,

I am reaching out to the Articulate community to get help in estimating development time for technical training modules. I do not have formal Instructional Design experience however, it is a significant portion of my job requirements. Can you please provide me with a realistic estimate of how long it should take to create a 20 minute (20-25 slides) mildly interactive technical (engines and components etc) Storyline training module.

I think I have identified the various steps that need to be completed as the following: 

Identifying SMEs
Gathering resources
Creating a cohesive look in PowerPoint
Developing a script from notes
Reviewing and editing script and slides with SMEs
Importing into and editing Storyline slides
Modifying the player and other settings
Recording and editing audio
Adding animation
Writing and adding 10 quiz questions
Adding failure/congratulations layers
Testing questions for failure/congratulations responses
Reviewing and publishing module
 

If I’ve forgotten anything, feel free to add your thoughts.

 Thank you in advance, I appreciate your response.

 

5 Replies
Tim Slade
almost 5 years ago07/15/19 at 2:01 pm (UTC)

Hi Marlit! 

I really like how you outlined all of the different tasks you need to consider with your project. This is exactly what I do when I’m estimating how long it’ll take me to develop a course. I would suggest you check out this thread, where this topic was recently discuss and I shared several of the considerations I take into account when scoping a project. 

Now, to answer your question...

If I were developing the course you’ve outline, below is a rough estimate of how long it might take, based on my experience and typical workflow. Note, these totals may vary depending on your experience / efficiency as a developer, amongst other things. 

  • Collaborating / Meeting / Interviewing SMEs - 3 hours
  • Gathering / Organizing Learning Content - 4 hours
  • First Draft of Storyboard / Script - 8 hours
  • Implementing Edits to First Draft of Storyboard - 2 hours
  • Development of Prototype in PowerPoint - 10 hours
  • First Draft of Course Developed in Storyline - 10 hours
  • Recording / Editing / Syncing Audio Narration - 4 hours
  • Implementing Edits to First Draft of Course - 3 hours
  • Review / QA / Publishing - 3 hours

So, that comes in around 50 hours. For some folks, this may be too many or too little hours. It really all depends, as there are so many different variables to take into account (see the thread I linked to at the top). One rule of thumb is to take how many hours you think it would take, and then increase that number by 30% or so, as it’ll usually take longer than you think.

I hope this is helpful! Let me know what you think.

Tim

Nicole Legault
almost 5 years ago07/17/19 at 1:42 pm (UTC)

Hi there Marlit!

Thanks for posting your question here in the E-Learning Heroes community! 

Tim has shared some great information and tips!! 

A few other resources that might be helpful for you are here:

Get to Know The 3 Levels of E-Learning. This might help you identify exactly what level of e-learning you're looking to build. Sounds like you're probably around a level 2. 

There's also this interesting article from ATD https://www.td.org/insights/how-long-does-it-take-to-develop-one-hour-of-training-updated-for-2017 which is from 2017 and contains some updated survey details on dev time.  

And also keep in mind that (from my experience) one of the things that can most affect the development time is the review cycle. Getting feedback from reviewers can take weeks/months... so just good idea to keep that in mind as you're planning your delivery. 

Hope this helps! :) 

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