how much to develop an online course

by Karlee Walter 7 min read

The Components of an Online Course — Development Costs

  • Scenario — from $600. A detailed script is a must-have for motivational and training courses. ...
  • Design — from $200. Even the basic elements of design — which we often don’t even notice unless there’s something wrong, like the choice of a font or color scheme ...
  • Course development — from $300. ...
  • Quality assurance — from $500. ...

It can cost anywhere from $200 to $10,000 to create an online course. The main source of expenses is the labor involved, followed by the equipment and software. If you are creating the online course yourself and not paying someone else to do it, this means that other than your time there are very few expenses involved.Jun 8, 2022

How much does it cost to create an online course?

Creating educational programs, career paths, online and offline courses he is making the educational world better as a co-founder of RG. How much does it cost to develop an online course? In 2010, the Chapman Alliance did in-depth research and found that it can cost around $10,000 to produce one hour of educational content.

How to develop an online course?

To avoid confusion, in our estimate, we will consider only one model named ADDIE. This model is the most common way how to develop an online course and is an abbreviation where: “A” is for Analysis. At the analysis stage, you should carefully study the market that you will enter and your competitors.

How long should an online course be?

Some run 45 minutes or even less while others are 12 hours or more in length. We need a standard to help break this down. An hour is a good starting point. Most complete online courses are at least an hour long.

How much does it cost to develop one hour of eLearning?

Previous Case Studies State … I’ve read other articles claiming it costs $10,000 and takes 90 to 240 hours on average to produce one hour of eLearning material. My online course development costs are much less than that.

How much do online course creators make?

How much can you make selling online courses? You can make anywhere from $1000 to $100,000 or more per year with online courses. Your revenue is going to depend mostly on the amount of traffic that you can bring to your courses, your conversion rate, and the price of your courses.

How long does it take to develop an online course?

It can take anywhere between 3 days to 2 months to create an online course, assuming that you are working on it full time. A mini-course covering a very narrow topic can be produced in only 3 days or less, while a complete in-depth 20h masterclass covering all levels can take several months to produce.

Can you make money creating an online course?

Are Online Courses Profitable? Yes, they are. Online courses offer one of the best business models to digital entrepreneurs. The demand is rising and people are more than willing to pay for them, and they are one of the top ways to make money online.

How long does it take to develop 1 hour of eLearning?

How long does it take to develop 1 hour of eLearning? A average 1-hour interactive elearning course will take 197 hours to develop. But development of a 1-hour elearning course can range between 49 hours for the low end of the range of a “basic” course to 716 hours for the high end of the range of an “advanced” course.

How many hours does it take to develop a curriculum?

In the study, 29% of respondents said it took them over 100 hours, while 87% take up to 16 weeks to develop their course. A good rule of thumb is to allow 2-3 months to account for research, designing the course, testing with students and finalizing.

How long does it take to create a teachable course?

Depending on the length and detail of the course, it can take anywhere between 25 – 500 hours to create an online course. For a mini course with just 4 or 5 videos you could create it in a couple of days. An in-depth flagship course with multiple modules and lessons could take 8 weeks or more to complete.

Can selling online courses make you rich?

It varies widely. Your online course could earn anywhere from a $0 – $50k+ per month. Many course creators will earn $1 – 5k/month and there are numerous examples of online course teachers earning $10k – $50k per month.. There are lots of factors that will determine how much you can earn by selling online courses.

How do free courses make money?

5 Free Courses You Can Use To Make Money Almost ImmediatelyTyler's YouTube WordPress Course. Everything I know about WordPress came from Tyler Moore. ... Hubspot Academy's Content Marketing Course. ... Selling Used Items On eBay and Amazon. ... 4. Facebook Advertising Basics. ... Teachable Course Bundle.

How much do teachers make on udemy?

Her earnings from teaching online are substantial. “I make between $1,500 and $3,000 per month with Udemy,” Brody said in 2018. “I use that extra money for things like travel or big purchases.” With Udemy, your earning potential is unlimited.

How much does it cost to develop a curriculum?

In 2021, 1 hour of learning content can take around 100 – 160 hours to create. In 2021, 1 hour of learning content can cost about $8,542 – $36,320 ($22,431 on average)....Wrapping Up.Year1 hour of eLearning content costs, $20208,150 – 36,205 (22,178 on average)20197,830 – 37,365 (22,598 on average)2 more rows•Jun 20, 2020

How do you price an instructional design project?

According to Upwork, the hourly rate of an instructional designer starts at about $50. A simple scenario with the main character and a linear plot can be written in 20 hours, so the work will cost at least $1,000. The harder the task, the higher the price.

How do you calculate training costs?

The formula for calculating the Training Cost per Employee is very simple – just divide the training budget by the number of employees you have to train.

How much does a freelance course developer cost?

The hourly rate of a freelance course developer starts at $60. A simple course on your company’s product line with a test containing 20-25 questions at the end can be done in five hours.

How much does an instructional designer cost?

According to Upwork, the hourly rate of an instructional designer starts at about $50. A simple scenario with the main character and a linear plot can be written in 20 hours, so the work will cost at least $1,000. The harder the task, the higher the price.

How much does an hour of voice over cost?

According to Voices.com, a professional freelance marketplace, the minimum budget for a 5-minute audio is $100. An hour of audio will cost $1000 or more. You can save money by reading the text yourself and processing it with an audio editor like the one built into iSpring Suite . You should also select proper voice-over equipment that allows you to easily create the best audio experience for your users.

What is level 1 in a course?

Level 1: Basic — Works for informational courses. A level-one course consists of slides with text, pictures, and “Next” buttons. Sometimes it contains simple quizzes with True or False or multiple-choice questions.

What is level 3 eLearning?

Level-three courses are mostly used for teaching new practical skills. In this type of eLearning, there’ s a minimum of theory and a maximum of practice and case studies. Highly interactive elements and complex scenarios are more expensive and take more time to develop than plain text with a few illustrations, so take this into account when planning your project.

How long does it take to design a brandbook?

A design for a simple slide-based course on the basis of the company’s brandbook with text, images, and infographics may take about five hours, which adds up to $200.

What is motivational course?

The main goal of motivational courses is to encourage the employees to change their approach or their attitude towards something, for example, following fire safety rules at the workplace. In such a course, theory is organically intertwined with practice, so games, quizzes, and dialogues are welcome.

How much does it cost to develop an online course?

So, for the cost of online course development, you can expect to pay between $1 (or less) to $10+ per lead. Of course, these costs vary by topic, search terms, and competition in your market space.

What is the importance of developing an online course?

An essential part of developing and launching a successful online education program is having relevant content that resonates with and stimulates the minds of your users. Building a world class online course doesn’t only involves filling in hours of paper work, convoluted models, and bloated processes. Apt information regarding cost of online course development also plays a vital role in the development of online course. Paradiso Learning makes it refreshingly easy and straightforward to build and launch a successful online course.

How much does Paradiso Learning cost?

As per a report, cost of online course development is around $4000 to $ 10000 and takes a span of 180 to 360 hours on average to produce one hour of eLearning material.

What is the design stage of a course?

Designing stage involves identifying learning objectives for the course and the cost related to online course development. Further research on how materials will be created and designed for best practices is also taken into consideration. Take for example, in a storyboard outlining what will be covered in text, audio and video and in a certain order will be decided in this phase of designing. In this stage you also decide on the selection and use of technology, such as an LMS, social media platform or only video-based content.

What is the development phase?

Development phase involves the decision of creation of content, including whether to develop in-house or outsource, decision to copyright clearance for third party materials, cost related to loading of content into a web site or LMS, and so on. Process and cost involved in writing lecture notes, developing practical tasks and quizzes, creating infographics and graphs or content related to video is analyzed in this stage.

When your online course is ready to be published, do you have to upload the content with SCORM?

When your online course is ready to be published, you’ll have to upload the content with SCORM package and upload the course online so that the content can be supported in any format.

What is Paradiso online?

Building a world class online course doesn’t have to involve filling in hours of paper work, convoluted models, and bloated processes. Paradiso makes creating and launching an effective online course refreshingly simple and straight forward. It also helps to migrate content from an existing online education platform or website, or develop a new program from scratch on the e-Learning Platform, Paradiso provides the resources and expert guidance needed to guarantee a smooth and accurate transition.

What is online course development?

Online course development is a complex process, and the price of course creation can vary depending on learning platform, course content, eLearning industry, and other factors. If you want to get a detailed cost analysis research for your eLearning project, pleasefeel free to schedule a demo. Tweet#N# .

How much will 1 hour of learning cost in 2021?

In 2021, 1 hour of learning content can cost about $8,542 - $36,320 ($22,431 on average).

How long has Sergiy been in eLearning?

Sergiy has 18 years of experience in eLearning and management. Creating educational programs, career paths, online and offline courses he is making the educational world better as a co-founder of RG.

Is eLearning still relevant?

The eLearning market changes, new eLearning trends, and technologies rise and the course should remain relevant. As we all know, even the most popular distance learning courses might need to be adjusted over time, if new breakthroughs occur in the subject matter, new data should be added or some statistics should be updated.

Is online course development complex?

Note: Online course development is a multi-stage and complex process, and it is impossible to know the price in advance thoroughly. There are too many variables in the final price tag equation that affect pricing. To get a complete and accurate estimate, you should contact the experts in online course creation and book a demo to tell all the details about your upcoming project.

Is all training material ready for LMS?

So, all the training material is ready, and now is the time to add it to your chosen LMS. However, this is not just a process of "pouring" content into the system. It is necessary to fully transform it into a ready-made course using the LMS tools. In addition, it is vital to ensure the maximum quality of the finished course, so proofreading and error checking is critical.

Is it possible to re-create a course?

C reating a course is almost impossible without a team of specialists who will take on specific tasks.

How much does it cost to advertise for a course?

Agency or freelancer costs vary wildly on quality and budgets, but can start as low as $100 plus your advertising budget.

How much does it cost to register a domain name?

Domain Name. Costs on registering a domain name for your business range from $10 per year up to $100, a thousand or a million depending on the type of domain name you choose. An old domain name is fine like good old wine, but it’s usually expensive, and there is always the option of registering a new one.

What is a course that encourages learners to interact fully and give feedback?

It makes use of serious games, avatars, simulated job performance exercises, customized audio and video, stories, scenarios. It includes high-end interactive elements that are complex, more expensive and need more time to develop.

How much does a Zoom subscription cost?

For example, if you are using Skype or Zoom, paid subscription prices start at $2,95 and $14,99 respectively. If you are not sure yet, this review from SoftwareAdvice on alternative video conferencing software offers a great deal of information to help you decide.

What is learning management system?

The learning management system (LMS) that you are choosing has a huge role to play in your course development, so make sure you pick one that meets your most essential needs in terms of features.

When planning your course, what should you do?

When planning your course choose your materials wisely so that they respond well to your learners’ needs and abilities.

Can you ask an instructional designer to review and edit your work?

For example, you can come up with good content and develop a course scenario while saving tons of money. Then, you can ask an instructional designer to review and edit your work. You can do the same with more complex online learning material – videos, quizzes, puzzles, and assignments:

How to sell courses?

Wherever you choose to sell your course, you’ll need to allocate money for: 1 A website and product page where you can sell your courses 2 Equipment like a video camera and video editing program to design your courses 3 Marketing efforts like a landing page builder, email service provider, and content production

How much does Bluehost charge for hosting a website?

But you need somewhere to host that WordPress site, so you pick Bluehost, which has a special $2.95 per month fee for WordPress users for the first term.

Can you create an online course for less than you think?

The good news is you don’t have to decide between cashing out your bank account or bootstrapping everything -- you can create an online course for much less than you think. Today, we’ll give a breakdown of the expenses you definitely shouldn’t skimp on when setting up an online course and those you can save for later.

Can you create an online course?

You can create an online course on any budget. You’re really excited about creating and selling an online course. Your favorite creators -- and even some of your competitors -- are doing it, and you’re confident you have what it takes to create an online course your followers will love.

Is Podia a plugin?

Podia has taken the technical hassle out of designing a website and product page. You don’t need plugins to manage, market, or grow your business, and the price is a flat fee that never changes. It has all of the essential features a creator needs, including:

How much does it cost to create an online course?

Creating an online course can run between $200 at the very minimum to $5500 or more a year depending on the method you choose to create and market it. These cost account for the hosting platform, screen capture software, email service provider, domain names, to advertising cost. However, the cost all depends on the hosting you use, ...

What do I need to promote my online course?

The next thing you’ll need is a way to promote your online course and for this, I recommend a blog. With a blog, it gives your audience a central hub to find you. You can share content like a blog post, videos, and even a podcast.

How to create an opt-in offer?

The final way to create an opt-in offer is to do a webinar. A webinar is a great way to teach your audience something to live and sell them your product in the end. Doing a webinar is the only time the 5-minute rule doesn’t apply.

How much does it cost to host a course on WordPress?

Option #1 WordPress – $159. Your first option is to host your course on WordPress. A lot of people like this option because it gives you the most control over your content to the hosting you decide to use. With other platforms, you are stuck with the options they provide.

How much does a shoestring budget cost?

If you’re on a shoestring budget then you’re looking at roughly a $166 a year or roughly $14 a month. However, this is using every free option possible and doing no advertising.

What is the best part about owning a blog?

The best part about owning a blog is that you have complete control over it. Just like this blog I own the entire site. It does not exist on someone else’s platform. To do this I recommend WordPress.org.

Is freelance work hard?

Freelancing is hard. Full stop and no doubt about it! More freelancers fail before they succeed, and there’s a massive pattern of red flags that leads to the failure of a freelancing...

How to create a course?

Creating content for your course will be the first step in your course creation process. To estimate the cost at this step, let’s look at the different types of content you may need to create: 1 Written content for course videos, PDFs, presentation decks, website, etc. 2 Presentation slides for videos 3 Branding assets and graphics for your course material

What is the first step in course creation?

Creating content for your course will be the first step in your course creation process. To estimate the cost at this step, let’s look at the different types of content you may need to create:

Why is online learning better than traditional learning?

Even better, the benefits offered by online courses include increased student engagement, the opportunity for peer review and collaboration, and the promise of individualized attention , even in large classrooms. There are many reasons to embrace e-learning, ...

How much will the e-learning market be in 2025?

eLearning is going to play an ever-larger role in the future of higher education. In fact, by 2025, the e-learning market will reach $325 billion. That’s more than four times the traditional higher-education market. Even better, the benefits offered by online courses include increased student engagement, ...

What is learning management system?

Before pricing out any other aspect of course creation, you’ll need to select a learning management system (LMS). This software manages the delivery of course materials and monitors student completion. Because it is the main framework that students and teachers will interact with, it’s important to thoughtfully select a system that meets your needs. Each system has different features and functions that will dictate the kind of content you can offer and the supplemental tools you may need to purchase.#N#While it might be tempting to build your own LMS in-house to perfectly suit your specifications, doing so would be very expensive and time-intensive. Considering the lower price points of many LMS systems, it’s much more cost-effective to shop around for a ready-made solution.#N#There are several different types of learning management systems geared to higher education.

How much does EDpuzzle cost?

Video editing software — There are very simple options, like EDpuzzle ($9.95/month), which help you edit lectures into online videos, and more advanced options, like Adobe Premiere Pro (starts at $20.99/month), which will help you create professional-grade movies.

How much does a DSLR camera cost?

A camera — You could use anything from a cell-phone camera to a professional rig, but a good quality DSLR camera will give you good results and runs around $500.

Do you need to create a course material for an online course?

Just as you would need to create a curriculum and hire an instructor to teach an in-person course, you will need to create course materials and a lesson plan for an online one. You’ll either need to create the content yourself, have your staff do it, or hire someone else to do so.

Is cloud learning more popular?

For all of these reasons, cloud-based options are becoming more and more popular. Cloud-based learning management systems usually operate on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, where users pay a monthly or yearly subscription.

How long does it take to develop an eLearning course?

But development of a 1-hour elearning course can range between 49 hours for the low end of the range of a “basic” course to 716 hours for the high end of the range of an “advanced” course.

How many hours is 1 minute of elearning?

For example, on average, one minute of a Level 2 program will require 197 minutes (or just over 3.25 hours) of development time.

What is level 1 in elearning?

Level 1 – Basic: This is a simple elearning program, similar to an automated PowerPoint. Sometimes referred to as “click and read.” A quiz or similar assessment may be present.

How long is an instructor led course?

An average 1 hour instructor led course will take 43 hours to develop.

What is the rule of thumb for instructional design?

Ideally, the inclusion of interactivity, and how much, should be instructional design decisions. You want to think about how to best ensure that the material engages viewers so learning transfer can happen.

image

Decisions Related to Online Course Development

Image
The first decision you need to make to begin figuring out the costs is the type of content you’re creating. Will your online course consist of multimedia like video with audio, one or the other, or text-based? Video with audio is the most popular format for an online course. Most courses consist of videos with a menu to navig…
See more on coursemethod.com

How Long to Create An Hour of video?

  • Let’s start by going through an estimate of how long it takes to create that one hour of video. But before we can get to our video time estimate, we need to consider what kind of video we’re going to create. Will it be a live-action, screen recording, or animation-style video?
See more on coursemethod.com

Visual Video Decisions

  • There are decisions you need to make depending on what type of video you’re creating; live-action, screen recording, or animations. I’ve got a few pathways here depending on the type of video you’re creating. What you’re doing here is deciding on the visuals for your videos.
See more on coursemethod.com

Voice Over vs Live Action Audio

  • Depending on what type of video you’re doing, once your visuals are ready you need to record your audio …
See more on coursemethod.com

Estimate Considerations

  • As you can see, live-action takes less time to do. The time can vary based on the amount of practice you do and how many breaks you need between takes. Of course, if you’re recording yourself giving a slideshow presentation, you need to create that presentation and record it live. So that will take even longer! The thing is, these estimates are just for one hour. But if your cours…
See more on coursemethod.com

Supplemental Material

  • As explained above, I suggest creating an add-on to go along with the video. This takes extra time, but it will greatly enhance the value of your course. You can include a quiz (even 12 questions covering 1 hour of video will work). Quizzes or assessments make the most sense when you’re covering a difficult educational concept. For each module in my course, I created a short quiz. If …
See more on coursemethod.com

Time Estimates For 1 Hour of Video and Supplemental Material

  • Here’s the total time estimate for both the video training and the supplemental material production: Use this to help you figure out the time it will take you and estimate the costs involved.
See more on coursemethod.com

Costs For One-Time Physical Equipment

  • Now here’s where everyone will start incurring costs unless you already have all this equipment. First of all, you need a computer, but it doesn’t need to be anything super fancy. Hopefully, you already have access to a computer (a desktop or laptop will work). There’s so much variety in computer costs that it’s hard to estimate. Most people already have a computer (or access to on…
See more on coursemethod.com

One-Time Costs For Software

  • In addition to the physical equipment, you’ll need software. Once again, it’s different whether you’re doing presentation-style videos or live action videos which I’ll cover below.
See more on coursemethod.com

Understanding The Task

Three Levels of eLearning Courses

The Components of An Online Course — Development Costs

In-House eLearning Team vs. Freelancers

in A Nutshell

  1. Before you jump into creating your first online course, clarify your goals, targeted audience, and the value you want the course to bring.
  2. The scope of work and, therefore, its cost, depends on the type of course. Informational, motivational, and training courses require different amounts of resources.
  3. The key person in developing online courses is an instructional designer. Hire an experience…
  1. Before you jump into creating your first online course, clarify your goals, targeted audience, and the value you want the course to bring.
  2. The scope of work and, therefore, its cost, depends on the type of course. Informational, motivational, and training courses require different amounts of resources.
  3. The key person in developing online courses is an instructional designer. Hire an experienced one if you’re new to eLearning.
  4. Good content without good design can be a waste of time and money.