Time to create course?

[Jenise_RidgeViewMedia.com]

Hey Robert!

It all depends on complexity of the onscreen elements. For video, I've only needed to import a vid someone else scripted and produced, so I'm not sure about that one.

For Quizmaker quizzes, it could take only 1 hour or up to longer. For example, for this quiz sample of mine that includes native Flash, it took me 10 hours, including time to search for the photo images of the people:


Quizmaker Demo

For Engage, same thing... it could take anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours, depending on what you add to the provided Engage interaction in terms of images, audio, and/or video.

Because "things" always happen to projects, I like to give myself "padding" in the timeline so I can reduce Deadline Freakout. So, if I have either an existing PPT or a brand new storyboard, I still calculate 4 hours per PPT slide to be developed.

I used to do rapid prototyping, and now I'm using a combination of storyboarding (scripting) in a Word document first, and then building an initial prototype with placeholders for images, graphics, videos. The storyboard helps me to calculate time.

For example, I had a client ask me for six 5-minute mini-courses plus assessments. It took me 32 hours to script/storyboard the content in Word, and then we had two one-hour client review meetings, after which I incorporated their feedback... another 8 hours. Total = 42 hours.

The developers took about 40 hours to build the mini-courses, had two one-hour client review meetings, and used another 16 hours to make feedback changes.

That's 98 hours for six 5-minute courses, or almost a month.

Hope this helps, and I hope others contribute their thoughts on Robert's post.

[Jenise_RidgeViewMedia.com]

Originally Posted by meaallen

Great question, thanks for asking it. And as a beginner developing my first course, thank you so much Jenise for your detailed reply which will help me communicate to my managers when they ask what I've been up to for all this time!

Wonderful, meaallen, that's good to hear!

And, the Screenr.com video tutorials, the other Forum posts, and the Articulate blogs all help us to get faster. I'm noticing I'm getting faster on PPT slide builds. (Audio recording and editing... that's another "game". LOL)

Templates
To reduce time for future project builds, and I know other Forum users do this as well, save your completed AP Studio projects in a folder named "Templates" as well. Not only is this good file backup, but you can go back later, find a slide design or QM/Engage interaction and reuse them in your new project. Really helps!

Master Slides
Tom K. drilled into my head to use Master Slides. What a difference they make! So, learn from his blog posts and take full advantage of Master Slides. You create a look-and-feel once, apply it to as many slides as you need, and the onscreen objects stay in their places and don't move around (avoids that "jumpy" look after clicking Next).

Keep us posted on your progress, meaallen.

[Jenise_RidgeViewMedia.com]

Originally Posted by David Anderson

Here's an example of the typical Level 1 "Quick Turn" we used. Developers could assemble this level course in less than a day from script sign off: http://david.articulate-online.com/0894562848

David

Hey David! I'm getting more questions about the cost of e-learning design and development, and I have this thread in one of my blog posts. When I re-read your post, it's true that a simple setup (Level 1) similar to your example shortens development time.

However, I'm wondering... how much time did it take from the very first day of the project (Kickoff) to the day the script was signed off? Consultants have to factor in that time, and in-house specialists have to account for that time to their management.