Develop an Online Course

Illustration of an hourglassExpert opinions vary widely in the estimates of how long it takes to develop a course for delivery online.

  • In 2011 Pinder reported on Chapman’s survey (n = 249) that the average time to develop an online course is nearly 185 hours for each hour of delivered content.
  • The eLearning team at University of Texas at Dallas instructs their faculty that the development of a 3- to 4-credit course by their staff with the faculty as the subject matter expert should be allotted two full semesters.
  • The eLearning Guild in 2002 charted a range from 117 to 222 hours for development of specific e-learning

As the options and complexities for technologies increase, the time required for development is changing. In 2017,  Kapp and Defelice updated their original 2009 article, "Time to Develop One Hour of Training" for the Association for Talent Development (ATD), a well known training group. In this article, they wrote that development for one hour of instructor-led web-based training had increased from from 2003 to 2009, but 2017 results showed a decrease in time spent, though the authors acknowledge that there were changes in the assessment from 2003 to 2009, and the purpose of the 2017 assessment was to serve as an update. 

Photograph of camera lensSo—how long DOES  it take to develop an online course?

It depends on the lens you are viewing the process through! (Don't you just hate it when someone gives you that answer to your serious question?) There are no hard and fast rules. Development of any course is as much art as science, and any estimate is dependent on a number of variables including, but not limited to

  • Your technology expertise
  • The number and skills of any support team that may assist in course development
  • The number and complexity of tools you are implementing
  • The deadlines you've established or been given
  • The techniques you experiment with then abandon
  • The amount of graphic design and multimedia development you invest in

The Bottom Line

If you are developing a new course, or moving an existing course online, you will find that increasing demand for high-tech may increase your development time. While it's hard to give firm estimates, most estimates range from 5-30 hours of development time for each hour of instruction; a conservative estimate should be that you allot a full year before you first want to deliver your online course so be sure to plan ahead and realize that it will likely take you longer than you plan, or want, to have a course fully developed.

Next, let's get a little housekeeping task out of the way and talk about one of the activities that students expect of you as their online instructor and that can cut into your teaching time.