Questions about lesson lengths and tools

Feb 28, 2014

Jeff Wade
By Jeff Wade

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Hi,

 

We are developing an e-learning course for high school students and are trying to get some advice about how to best structure our lessons to make them most interesting and informative. Our lessons are not required, but are for informative purposes and are time-sensitive (monthly rollout of content with multiple lessons).

 

We are hoping for some advice about:

  • What is the Ideal lesson length? We have some related topics we want to string together, but we are thinking that it is best rather than having a 15 minute course with one topic building on the next, that we have 3 separate five minute courses, but we would like feedback.
  • What types of tools are available to help structure the curriculum and lessons, particularly if there are related topics that may be woven through many different courses?
  • Does anyone have any tips about creating dynamic courses using Articulate, Prezi and/or Camtasia studios?
  • Does anyone have any tips about delivering these courses specifically within LearnDash?

Thanks!

1 Reply
Nicole Legault
10 years ago03/02/14 at 7:14 am (UTC)

Hey Jeff!!

Welcome to the community, and thanks for posting your great questions! I'll try to help you out with the following answers:

1) I don't think there is one ideal course length, because there are so many variables to consider including the material, the audience, and the objective, or goal, of your e-learning course. Also, your budget and the amount of time you have to develop your materials will also influence the length of your course. I definitely think a course can be too long. I personally wouldn't go over an hour for an e-learning module, but that might be for someone who's taking a course at home on their own time, or a course they've paid for, as opposed to something teens/high schoolers are supposed to do just for fun.

For your case I'd probably chunk it into 15 minute modules. I think it might be easier (for a lot of reasons including creating the materials, uploading them, and sharing them) to create 1 15-min module instead of 3 5-min modules. Just my opinion on that. 

2) I would try to use Storyline or PPT to template your courses, so you can set up your linking/branching and really get a good sense of how all the content is inter-connected. This way you can also hopefully copy-and-paste content from one project to another if there is related information. Using a storyboarding type tool that lets you lay out different slides representing your content or courses will probably be a good way to see how related topics can be woven together. 

3) Articulate Studio '13 and Storyline are both designed to help you easily create engaging and dynamic courses. There is a free 30 day trial you can try for all of our tools, so you should feel free to download it if you dont have it already. There are tons of tutorials, free downloads, blog posts and you can also check out the Showcase area where we feature some of the coolest examples of work created with our tools. Between all of those I'm sure you will be really inspired!! Once you get an idea of what you want to go with, if you ever run into any questions or problems, come right back and post your question and we'll be happy to help you work through it.

4) Here are some past forum discussions I've found of people who have used LearnDash LMS:

Hope this helps Jeff! Thanks again for joining the community!

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