Talking About the Time it Takes to Develop One Hour of eLearning

Recently, I spoke with Rich Parris at Standard Imagination about an article I updated for ASTD Learning Circuits called Time to Develop One Hour of Training.

For the update, I worked with BU Instructional Technology alum Robyn DeFelice of DishingDesign to update the article. In fact, she and I are working on some more juicy numbers for 2010 but for now, check out the interview and see if these are questions you might pose concerning the time to develop one hour of instruction. If they are not, feel free to pose some questions in the comments!

Rich asked some good questions that I think many people had about the article. Check it out at 20 (or so) questions Karl Kapp.

Here is some of the interview

How good a yardstick is the time to develop one hour?

Karl: Using one hour is surprisingly controversial. People say “what is one hour of instruction” or that “one hour of instruction is a mythical measurement” We define one hour as the “amount of time it would take an average person to progress through the instruction moving at a comfortable pace.” How accurate it is, I am not sure, but I do know that the industry needs a standard unit of measure and one hour is a good standard. It is like the metric system. You might not agree that the metric system is the best method for measuring but if we both used a meter stick, we’d both get the same measurement. We might not like metrics but the measurement is consistent and I think that is how the industry should view “one hour of instruction” it is not perfect but we can all use it to measure.

Doesn’t it seem as though we’re going backwards as an industry when we look at these results?

Karl: Actually, I hope it is a look forward. I hope it means that more careful consideration is going into the design and that the focus is on creating effective instruction and not just shortening the delivery time. Focus on time is a production aspect but not a learning aspect. I hope, but don’t know for sure, that the time used to develop one hour of instruction is focused on creating one good hour and not just cranking out what my friend Marc Rosenberg calls “Shovelware” which is just courses created quickly and with little thought to development. I sincerely hope people are spending more time on design.

Check out the entire interview.
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