This looks really interesting. I have found success using the Mergener Formula which calculates estimated completion time based on word count, question count and degree of difficulty.
http://touchcalc.com/calculators/mergener
This is very impressive. I have used word count to calculate run time for each slide and to estimate for complete delivery. However this form is very impressive looking and a much easier form for business stakeholders to digest. Thanks for sharing! This is truly gift.
This may be a silly question, but how are you getting the word counts?!? I haven't found a nice easy function like those I'm accustomed to in Microsoft Word, for example. When a project is exported to Word, the slides are exported as images, not editable (or countable) text. My team has been using the "Translate" functionality as a (somewhat clunky) work-around, but if we're missing an easier trick, we'd love to hear it!!
Hi Mike,
I realize this is two years in the making. However, I am also interested in learning an easy way to get word counts (as posed by Chris Barnett in the Comments above). Would you please share your insights?
I have been at many eLearning agencies and estimating seat time is always a massive, complex hurdle. I would suggest using a calculation based on content and complexity over anything built in or averaged from users so that you're estimates are consistent, demonstrable, and replicatable.
Also I would say that 300 is extremely high for an average reading speed, it's closer to 250 for fun easy reading, 150-200 for educational reading at the learners appropriate understanding level, and 100-150 for complex topics that the leaner has low familiarity with.
For word count estimation I would suggest using http://touchcalc.com/calculators/mergener
If you have video you would need to add that on top, images would need to be accounted for in the wordcount or complexity. A diagram could have... Expand
I have been at many eLearning agencies and estimating seat time is always a massive, complex hurdle. I would suggest using a calculation based on content and complexity over anything built in or averaged from users so that you're estimates are consistent, demonstrable, and replicatable.
Also I would say that 300 is extremely high for an average reading speed, it's closer to 250 for fun easy reading, 150-200 for educational reading at the learners appropriate understanding level, and 100-150 for complex topics that the leaner has low familiarity with.
For word count estimation I would suggest using http://touchcalc.com/calculators/mergener
If you have video you would need to add that on top, images would need to be accounted for in the wordcount or complexity. A diagram could have no words for example, but add to the complexity of the content, or an infographic would have words that can be tracked into the estimate.
Using an average seat time from a group is not a great way to calculate seat time in my opinion. Often clients will also do this and will propose their own seat time in response, essentially trying to cut the cost and it's hard to account for how different learners will have different incentives to run through content fast or slow meaning your estimates will end up being meaningless.
I would also suggest avoiding the storyline seat time estimator. I believe it is using the timeline as it's main source of estimation, meaning you could put all of Tale of Two Cities on a slide in an interaction, set the timeline to 10 seconds, and the estimator will just tell you the seat time is 10 seconds.
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I have been at many eLearning agencies and estimating seat time is always a massive, complex hurdle. I would suggest using a calculation based on content and complexity over anything built in or averaged from users so that you're estimates are consistent, demonstrable, and replicatable. Also I would say that 300 is extremely high for an average reading speed, it's closer to 250 for fun easy reading, 150-200 for educational reading at the learners appropriate understanding level, and 100-150 for complex topics that the leaner has low familiarity with. For word count estimation I would suggest using http://touchcalc.com/calculators/mergener If you have video you would need to add that on top, images would need to be accounted for in the wordcount or complexity. A diagram could have... Expand