Project managers preparing for an instructional design project must develop a budget to reflect the many resources used in the project. During the course of the project, any variations in the estimated budget should be addressed in a timely manner in order to assure that the project is able to be completed on time and within the funding resources assigned to the project.
In order to develop the best budget estimates, project managers can utilize a number of resources, including insights from peers in the profession who have completed similar work. Here are a few resources I have found helpful in creating a budget estimate for my project of converting an instructor based course to an e-Learning opportunity.
Convert ILT to eLearning - Estimating
Dr. Tony Karrer provides insight into the related costs of converting an Instructor Lead Course (LIC) to an e-Learning course. Dr. Kerrer is the CEO/CTO of TechEmpower and is respected as one of the top technologists in eLearning. After teaching computer science for several years, Dr. Kerrer has led many start up projects, including eHarmony.
Dr. Karrer uses this blog to answer questions and to guide instructional designers and project managers towards accurate estimations of the costs of establishing an e-Learning course.
Case Study: Converting an Existing Course to E-Learning
By Bill Qualls
http://www.astd.org/LC/2009/0409_qualls.htm
Bill Qualls is the vice president of curriculum and instruction at Caliber Data Training. In this case study, Mr. Qualls provides a summary of questions to consider when estimating the costs and benefits of converting a course to the e-Learning format.
Once it is determined that e-Learning is the best option for delivery of a course, the project manager should consider many factors in establishing a budget and schedule. Some of the factors that will affect the project budget and schedule include:
• Does the course already exist in ILT format?
• If there is an existing ILT course, does the courseware exist in electronic form? Is it useable?
• If there is an existing ILT course, how complete is it? • Are there any hands-on labs in the ILT course? Will these need to be converted? Is it feasible to do so?
• Is the person doing the conversion already familiar with the product or service being taught?
• Will subject matter experts (SMEs) be available for consultation as needed?
• Will the person doing the conversion be dedicated to this project exclusively?
• How many people will be working on the conversion team?
• How much animation is required?
• Is the scope of the conversion effort clearly defined?
• What is the approval process? Who will sign off on the project?
• How will the finished product be implemented within the organization?
• Does the organization use a learning management system (LMS)? If so, will this product be required to interface with that LMS?
• How will learning be measured?
• Is the person doing the conversion familiar with the e-learning software? Does the person doing the conversion have prior experience with similar projects?
Please read the Case Study for details on how these factors affect the conversion plan.
What Training Costs
Beth Chmielowski posts some thoughts about estimating the costs of a conversion form an ILC to an e-Learning course and the best practices she believes will provide the most accurate budgeting for such a conversion.
In her post What Training Costs Part I: Converting Content from ILT to WBT Beth explains why she believes that the real correct answer to “What will it cost” actually is “It depends”. Beth highlights her analysis of several factors:
1. The compression ratio of a project is typically 50%.
2. The development costs can be based on content and interactivity.
3. There are “reusability savings” for materials that exist in the ILC that are available in electronic format and can be easily converted for use in the new format.
In her second article, What Training Costs Part 2: Building ILT and V-ILT Courses, Beth establishes the cost of a project using the formula
Length of course in hours x development ratio x (blended) cost of resources
Her formula takes into consideration several additional conditions:
4. The “Level of Effort” required to perform each task will impact the overall cost.
6. There is a “blended” rate that can be used for the various resources working on the project.
In addition, Beth provides several “caveats” that can lead to additional costs and should be given special consideration when budgeting. Those include:
7. If multi-media is to be used, include a special Level of Effort analysis for the production of the course material.
8. If this is the first use of e-Learning there must be consideration to the cost if integrating your current technology with the learning management system.
9. If the course is to be completely online, consider the cost of providing facilities for those who will be participating.
10. If you have to train the person who will be facilitating the course, allow extra time for allowing them to become familiar with the technology.
11. Build in the cost for a person to provide assistance with the course being delivered.
An additional resource for understanding the justification to make such a conversion is
Effectiveness and costs of distance education using computer‐mediated communication
Article from the September 1999 issues of T.H.E.Journal
http://www.itma.vt.edu/modules/spring03/telecomold/r4-2_virtual_classroom_design.pdf
This easy to read summary provides a step-by-step guide for conceiving, planning, designing, implementing, and maintaining a virtual classroom. The article includes the following graphic to provide a visual summary of the content of the article.
Chmielowski, B. (2009, July 30). What Training Costs Part I: Converting Content from ILT to WBT. In VMG. Retrieved October 3, 2011, from http://velocitymg.com/explorations/leveraging-learning/what-training-costs-part-i-converting-content-from-ilt-to-wbt/
Hsu, S., Marcus, O., Hamza, M. K., & Alhalabi, B. (1999, September). How to design a virtual classroom: 10 easy steps to follow. In T.H.E. Journal. Retrieved October 4, 2011, from http://www.itma.vt.edu/modules/spring03/telecomold/r4-2_virtual_classroom_design.pdf
Karrer, T. (2009, October 14). Convert ILT to eLearning - Estimating . In e-Learning Technology. Retrieved October 3, 2011, from http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2009/10/convert-ilt-to-elearning-estimating.html
Qualls, B. (2009). Case Study: Converting an Existing Course to E-Learning. In ASTD Learning Circuits. Retrieved October 4, 2011, from http://www.astd.org/LC/2009/0409_qualls.htm
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