how to charge for custom online course development

by Jennyfer Schaefer 10 min read

If you are hiring freelancers for the job, the cost formula is this: (Hourly rate of Instructional Designer x no. of hours) + (hourly rate of Subject Matter Expert x no. of hours) = Cost of your online course According to Salary.com, the average hourly rate for an instructional designer in the US is $36.

Full Answer

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 to transform your course into a ready-made course?

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. Also, do not forget that the LMS setup is also included in the final check.

How do I build a budget for my online course?

Pre-sell the course: offer the first few training units and the rest as ‘coming soon’ for an early-bird price. This will help you build your budget while developing the course and getting feedback. Try live webinars: there is no need to record and edit new footage if you already conduct live webinars or classes.

How much should I charge to create an online course?

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.

How much should I charge to develop a course?

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 much does eLearning development cost?

How Much Does eLearning Cost? A corporate eLearning program typically costs between $200 and $900 for every minute of completed eLearning content. This may seem like a wide price range, and that's because there are many factors that can affect the price of your eLearning program.

How much do online course creators make?

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 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 create an online course?

Depending on the duration and detail of the program, it can take anywhere between 25 – 500 hours to formulate an online course. A mini-course with just 4 or 5 videos you could develop it in a couple of days. An in-depth flagship course with numerous modules and assignments could take eight weeks or more to accomplish.

How do you charge for instructional design?

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.

What is the average cost of an online course?

Among 170 public ranked colleges, the average cost credit hour for online college is $316 for the 2019-20 academic year. Among 168 private ranked colleges, the average price per online credit hour is $488.

How much does it cost to build an LMS?

Agencies may charge $80 to $300 per hour for the build, depending on the complexity of work. That will add up to anywhere between $30,000 to $120,000 for the first two months, server costs not included. You will need ongoing maintenance that is between $50-$220 per hour after your system is fully built.

How much can you make creating a course?

How Much Money to Expect From an Online Course. Your skepticism is probably firmly rooted in the fact that the amount people have earned from creating online courses varies widely. Your course could literally earn anywhere from nothing to upwards of $50K a month.

How do I become an online course creator?

Here are the multiple steps involved in starting a career as an online course creator:Step 1 - Market research.Step 2 - Understand your student.Step 3 - Create free content.Step 4 - Understand SEO.Step 5 - Create a sales funnel.Step 6 - Build a brand.Step 7 - Build a community.Step 8 - Validate your course ideas.

How do you sell an online course?

In this article, you'll find an overview of the 10 major stages of online course creation:Pick the perfect course topic.Ensure your course idea has high market demand.Create Magnetic and Compelling Learning Outcomes.Select and Gather your Course Content.Structure Your Modules and Course Plan.More items...•

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 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.

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 a storyboard in eLearning?

A storyboard gives you a map to organize your content for better delivery of your content to your audience. Storyboarding helps to list the navigation elements, chapters, and introductory/conclusion ...

What is storyboarding in video production?

Listed below are three main formats to use for storyboarding: Visual storyboards: These storyboards are image-based and is helpful to sketch out scenes and production plans in a training video.

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.

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.

Is it easier to create puzzles than videos?

But since these are often easier to create compared to a video, there can be a slight reduction in the development time and costs.

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:

Is online learning profitable?

The short answer is “YES it can be quite profitable!”. The long answer requires a more in-depth analysis. Creating and selling online courses is a highly profitable business with the potential to open up a passive stream of income.

Is it easy to overlook business costs?

Business costs are easy to overlook but that doesn’t mean they should. Quite the opposite; you should be on the lookout for less-obvious or hidden costs – for example, those found in your website hosting and customer/student support services.

What is content development?

The part of content development belongs to the course instructors, who understand clearly their target audience, and the audience’s level of knowledge in the field to produce a meaningful outline. The content is developed in English. Both lecturers of the courses have outstanding knowledge in their areas of knowledge, more than 10 years of technical experience, and the experience of providing knowledge-sharing presentations and workshops. Thus, the content they will offer for their students has a solid background of hard skills and profound expertise in “teacher-student” interaction. So, the lectures will be divided into theoretical and practical sessions, where students will be able not only to receive valuable information but also to put it into practice. And, if there are practical lessons, there is always a chance to correct errors on the spot.

What is online learning management system?

The system allows students to view course details such as syllabus and course instructions as well as their academic progress. The benefit of LMS is in the online communication between the peers and course teachers and flexibility in watching online material or carrying out tasks at your own pace. Online courses are divided into MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). These courses are produced by large organizations such as edX, Prometheus, Coursera, Udemy. And traditional courses by universities like Purdue, Stanford, Harvard, etc., are more private and only for specific audiences.

What is the best platform to edit text?

To save costs, your number one text editing platforms are Google Docs and Google Drive . The first is used to ensure you produce quality content and transform it into the most favorable format, e.g. PDF. Google Drive is the best and secure place to keep all your lectures together.

Why is content planning important?

You are a guide and your course is a map. With the help of your course, learners should be able to get from point A to point B by a straight line. Every piece of information or video lesson should lead your audience closer to the goal of the course.

Is e-learning in demand in 2021?

E-learning has never been so in-demand as it is now in 2021. Suddenly, online courses became better and more informative than in-door studies. More and more users engage in online courses to acquire, accumulate and enhance professional skills. Statista claims that 50% of students in the world have taken at least 1 online course throughout the last years. For instance, in 2019 the size of the global e-learning market was lower. At present, the world experiences a massive transition towards learning computerization. And, it is predicted to grow, and reach $370 billion U.S. by 2026. Demand for e-learning is skyrocketing indeed.

Is online training good?

Online courses are a good way to make an impact and their curriculum development costs, as well as costs for additional features and devices, are relatively low. Compare these costs with the ones of the traditional courses for a BA degree and you’ll agree with us completely. So, if you are the author of a digital course, but still wonder how to develop online training courses with the help of your own LMS, contact us. We have expertise in building LMS solutions and accumulate experience in online training course development.

How long is a Level 2 eLearning course?

The following estimates are based on a highly experienced eLearning team (not an individual freelancer) creating a standard quality Level 2 eLearning course that runs 20-minutes of audio playback (3,000 words if you are not using audio). This is also based upon paying a 3rd party eLearning company to develop your course with your company providing source content (PowerPoint, training manuals, and other existing material) as well as subject matter expertise as needed. Finally, these estimates are based on typical eLearning vendors located in developed countries.

What is an eLearning budget?

The eLearning budget simply refers to the amount of money you have set aside for a given eLearning project. The budget should be based upon a solid understanding of the various roles and tasks required to complete a project and their hourly associated costs.

eLearning costs estimates: it all depends on the model

The online course design and development costs depend heavily on the instructional design model chosen. In this article we depict one of the most widespread and efficient instructional design and development approaches — the ADDIE model:

Conclusions

The eLearning market changes, new 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.

How long is a basic course?

A basic course can be completed in 4 to 10 weeks, depending on the level of instructional design needed.

What is a complex course?

The complex course package is for the organization that has very clear training goals and needs a custom eLearning vendor to handle all parts of the development process. Featuring simulations, interactive games, and fully immersive experiences, the complex course is the best transformative educational experience the industry can provide.

How long is an intermediate course?

An intermediate course can be completed in 10-16 weeks.

Is eLearning a one off budget?

Most eLearning courses are part of an overall training plan, and therefore, it is important to understand that an eLearning course’s cost is not a one-off budget item. Yes, there will be an initial cost to publish the course, but you should also plan for ongoing costs such as employees’ hours, scheduled updates, routine maintenance, ...

What Is a Custom Elearning Course Development Service?

Our custom elearning course development service will build professional online training courses on any subject or topic you need. You can provide existing course materials or we’ll develop everything from scratch for you.

The ProProfs Process

We’ve built hundreds of training courses and trained millions of learners, so we know how to do this. Here is our custom elearning design process:

The ProProfs Advantage

We will build your course using ProProfs Training Maker, an award-winning Learning Management System (LMS) that makes it easy to share, assign, and manage courses. When the course is ready, we will train you on how to use our platform to manage your learners and monitor how well the course does.

Custom Elearning Solutions

Browse through 100+ customizable & ready-to-use elearning courses on different in-demand topics.

Features

Design or redesign eLearning courses with the help of industry experts who follow the best practices.

Frequently Asked Questions

Instructional design in eLearning is the organized process of designing and developing eLearning courses. Instructional designers analyze the learning needs of a target audience and design content to achieve specific learning objectives. The idea is to build engaging online courses for positive learning experiences.

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Understanding The Task

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The exact budget for the development of an e-course cannot be calculated on the fly. If you’re going to fill your course with interactive elements as well as practical tasks, plus videos, be ready for the price tag to be significant. In this post, we aren’t suggesting belt-tightening, but efficient use of any budget. For this purpose, the k…
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Three Levels of eLearning Courses

  • There are three types of e-courses, depending on the goal and the number of interactive elements. The higher the level, the more expensive the course will be.
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In-House eLearning Team vs. Freelancers

  • eLearning offers three employment types to choose from: a permanent in-house team, a temporary project team, or freelancers. It’s worthwhile to consider the pros and cons of each option to find out which one fits you best. An outsourcing team will be a good choice if your company is small and you aren’t ready yet to create a full-fledged eLearning department. The ext…
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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.