Controlling Costs

It is not possible to accurately estimate the cost of a custom eLearning project until a thorough discovery and content review process has been performed. Discovery involves a comprehensive question/answer session between the client and the production team to identify issues such as course topic, expected content length, audience, production quality, etc. The content review process involves reviewing a reasonable sample of the source material the client will supply. It is also highly advisable that a brief 5 minute or less prototype be developed as a proof-of-concept that the client can use to establish the baseline from which the entire course will be developed. Following are several of the factors that contribute to the final cost of eLearning production:

Visual Complexity Desired

Rapid vs. Commercial Grade eLearning

Rapid eLearning can be as simple as “page-turner” content whereby learners simply read pages of content (sometimes supported with a still image and audio) and click next to proceed. Commercial-grade eLearning has a high degree of audio and visual appeal.

Authoring Tool

Rapid eLearning can be developed using a number of tools including FlashForm, Articulate, Captivate, and others. Custom high-quality eLearning is generally developed using Flash.

Illustrations/Animations

Courses that are replete with custom 3D artwork, animations, or illustrations require specialized expertise and time to develop.

Addition/Subtraction of On Screen Items

Flash designers can perform a high degree of “bump-and-nudge” tasks to produce sophisticated and elegant looking special effects synchronized with audio.

Metaphorical Instructional Design

Courses can be designed with a specific metaphor in mind that is then supported by graphical and narration elements in a sophisticated psychological manner. For example, courses may be developed with a special theme/metaphor/analogy in mind to make the content more interesting and easier to grasp conceptually.

Source Material Quality and Quantity

Content Complexity

Content that is of low or moderate technical complexity generally is easier to work with and results in fewer instructional design hours. Highly technical content may require longer hours to convert into eLearning scripts, require more IDs, or require more expensive IDs based upon specialized knowledge.  

Content Quantity

Content that is largely written already (e.g. PowerPoint with detailed lecture notes, plentiful supporting imagery, etc.) is considered to be of good quality and generally costs less to convert into eLearning.

Content Quality

Content that is well organized and written and that is easily converted to eLearning storyboards will require less time from the IDs and therefore cost less to develop.

Client Availability/Responsiveness

SME Access

Clients that make dedicated SMEs available to the Production Team as-needed find that the process goes along more smoothly.

Quality Review

A speedy yet conscientious review of draft materials is essential. Additionally, comments from clients must be specific and actionable such that the Production Team can interpret their comments, edit the content, and submit for final sign-off.

Interactivities

Template-Based

Standard interactivities such as drag-and-drop, hot-spot, multiple select, multiple choice, etc., are relatively straight forward.

Games-Based

Some interactivities are games such as Jeopardy-style, concentration, etc. Templates exist for creating such games, however; the instructional design process takes longer for these types.

Custom

Custom games/simulations/interactivities are by nature complex and require much more time on both the instructional design and programming aspects. Courses with high levels of custom interactivities are more complex and therefore more costly to build.