How Long Does Elearning Development Take?

Best way I’ve heard to keep from saying it depends: “That’s like asking how much a house costs.”

However, a realtor would be able to estimate that cost for you based on what you want, and an instructional designer should at least have a starting point to do the same. If you don’t, here is a short document created by Karl M. Kapp, EdD and Maria Plano.

howlong-excerpt

An overview, but the whole document is well worth the read.

It shows both 1) how variable the process is based on main factors, and 2) that it’s time-consuming, no matter what. For those reasons alone, it’s a useful place to start for departments just starting their elearning efforts. In terms of its accuracy… every shop is different, so you tell me! And which other major variables affect your development times?

Props to the Chicago Lectora User Group for posting this resource on their website.

  • rummy

    What is the exact unit ?
    Man-hours, Person-months, days, ’000 dollars …

    please elaborate

  • Judy Unrein

    Rummy — The document doesn’t really specify, but in my experience, the numbers indicate hours of instructional design + development.