Instructional Designers: Figuring out how many hours it takes to develop training

I get this question all the time and I give my students the ‘estimates’. These numbers are very useful when putting together a proposal and letting a client know just how much it is going to cost them. I have gathered these numbers from several sources which are posted at the end of this post. Now for the stats:

1.According to training magazine, money spent on training increased 13% in 2011 to $59.7 billion.

2. Average trainer (Instructional Designer) salary in 2011: $84,142 (elearning guild reports: $79,890)

3. Development times to create one-hour of e-learning (The eLearning Guild, 2002):

– Simple Asynchronous: (static HTML pages with text & graphics): 117 hours
– Simple Synchronous: (static HTML pages with text & graphics): 86 hour
– Average Asynchronous: (above plus Flash, JavaScript, animated GIF’s. etc): 191 hours
– Average Synchronous: (above plus Flash, JavaScript, animated GIF’s. etc): 147 hours
– Complex Asynchronous: (above plus audio, video, interactive simulations): 276 hours
– Complex Synchronous: (above plus audio, video, interactive simulations): 222 hours

4. Instructor presentation time of face to face courses:

Dugan Laird (1985), listed these instructor preparation times (based on U.S. Civil Service estimate):

– Course is five days or less, then 3 hours of preparation for each hour of training.
– Course is between five and ten days, then 2.5 hours of preparation for each hour of training.
– Course is over 10 days, then 2 hours of preparation for each hour of training.

5. Chart from ASTD 2009:

Type of Training per 1 hour

Low Hours

Per hour of Instruction

(2009)

High Hours

Per Hour of Instruction

(2009)

Low Hours

Per hour of Instruction

(2003)

High Hours

Per Hour of Instruction

(2003)

Stand-up training (classroom)

43

185

20

70

Self-instructional print

40

93

80

125

Instructor-led, Web-based training delivery (using software such as Centra, Adobe Connect, or WebEx-two-way live audio with PowerPoint)

49

89

30

80

E-learning Developed without a Template

 

 

 

 

Text-only; limited interactivity; no animations

93

152

100

150

Moderate interactivity; limited animations

122

186

250

400

High interactivity; multiple animations

154

243

400

600

E-learning Developed within a Template

 

 

 

 

Limited interactivity; no animations (using software such as Lectora, Captivate, ToolBook, TrainerSoft)

118

365

40

100

Moderate interactivity; limited animations (using software such as Lectora, Captivate, ToolBook, TrainerSoft)

90

240

150

200

High interactivity; multiple animations (using software such as Lectora, Captivate, ToolBook, TrainerSoft)

136

324

60

300

Limited interactivity; no animations (using software such as Articulate)

73

116

NA

NA

Moderate interactivity; limited animations (using software such as Articulate)

97

154

NA

NA

High interactivity; multiple animations (using software such as Articulate)

132

214

NA

NA

Simulations

 

 

 

 

Equipment or hardware (equipment emulation)

949

1743

600

1000

Softskills (sales, leadership, ethics, diversity, etc.)

320

731

NA

NA

 Source: http://www.astd.org/LC/2009/0809_kapp.htm

Sources:

http://www.trainingmag.com/article/2011-training-industry-report

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/trainsta.html

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/costs.html

http://www.trainingmag.com/article/training%E2%80%99s-2011-growth-spurt

From nwlink.com: The eLearning Guild. (2002). The e-Learning Development Time Ratio Survey. Retrieved October 27, 2007 from: http://www.elearningguild.com/pdf/1/time%20to%20develop%20Survey.pdf

From nwlink.com: Laird, Dugan (1985). Approaches To Training And Development (2nd ed.). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

http://www.elearningguild.com/research/archives/index.cfm?id=148&action=viewonly

http://www.astd.org/LC/2009/0809_kapp.htm

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