How much it costs to successfully articulate an online course in 2022 depends on several factors coming into play.
These factors range from who the course is made for, who creates the course, you or another party, and the complexity of the course.
Creating and trading online courses is a highly profitable business with the potential to generate a good stream of passive income. However, creating a valuable course that will generate income and add value to the student’s life is an investment that you have to be
prepared for.
Let us dig in and find out how much it actually costs to create an online course and the important course elements.
Cost of Building an Online Course
1. Creating Course Content
This is the first step in course creation, with the different types of content to be created being:
• Presentation slides for video
• Graphics and branding for the course material
• Written content, e.g., PDFs, website, presentation decks.
In terms of video content, most online courses range between 2-and 8 hours in length. Typically, this length will have between 21,000-and 84,000 words, with the numbers being slightly less if presentationstyle videos are not included. The cost of outsourcing copywriting will range from $2,016-$8,064.
When it comes to developing graphic design elements, you can use the free version of Canva, but an unlimited graphic design element would be better. Kimp is a reasonably priced graphic design element, and it charges as low as $272.
If the course is longer and needs more graphic elements, you can use a two-month subscription with Kimp and pay $661. If the course has slides for presentation videos, the estimate is 10-40 hours for 240 slides in an 8-hour long course. Upwork charges $20/hr for creating presentation slides, with the total cost being between $200-and $800. Therefore, the total cost for content creation will be $2488-$9,525 if everything is outsourced. The costs are significantly lower if the creator does everything on their own.
2. Recording Course Videos
The cost of course videos depends on the video quality and the type of videos to be on the course. If the course has screencast videos created through a screencast software, the amount spent can be roughly $130. First-time creators working on a budget can use their smartphone cameras to shoot videos or an external webcam that costs around $80, and a tripod stand costs not more than $24. The total cost for course videos can sum up to $384 if the creator uses a smartphone camera.
For editing, Upwork charges $30/hr for experienced editors taking 3 hours to edit a 1-hour video. If the course is 8 hours long, the time taken to successfully edit is between 6-and 24 hours. The cost of editing can go up to $720.
3. Setting Up the Course
Once the content creation has been finalized, it needs to be uploaded to an online course platform for it to start selling. There are a variety of such platforms, with Thinkific being among the best for beginners because it offers value for money. With Thinkific’s basic plan of $49/month, you can accommodate unlimited students and get access to all the features you need. However, advanced features like live lessons need the creator to have a Thinkific pro plan which is available at $99 monthly.
If the creator is outsourcing the task, 15 hours is a better estimate to finish up everything, and some freelancers charge $35/hour. For the course platform and other inclusive software, you can spend between $100-and $149. This is on the minimum side, depending on the exact tech stack. If the whole project is outsourced, the estimated expense is $535.
Understanding Your Objective
Before developing the course, you have to determine and understand your set objectives and the course’s audience. Some of the important objectives to understand include:
• Who will participate in the course?
The format and contents found in the course are influenced by who the course is designed for, whether it is for a technical role, for newbies, or for more established people.
• How will the participants benefit?
A clear vision of how the course will impact the participants’ lives is important.
• How will the success be measured?
Regardless of the tools used or the type of content created, determining the success of your curriculum is as important as determining the cost needed to create it in 2022.
• What problem will be saved within the organization?
The course created should at least solve one, if not several problems within the organization.
Levels of eLearning Courses
These eLearning levels are based on the level of interaction between your course and the learners. If the curriculum is more in-depth, you can expect nothing but an enhanced learning outcome. However, more course interactivity means more money and time are needed to make the end product outstanding.
These levels include:
Level 1: Passive Learning
The presentation at this level is in PowerPoint-type format and requires little interaction. This level contains information about new products and new policies that have been formulated within the business. This level is easy and inexpensive to create because it does not require a ton of resources and time to create.
Level 2: Limited Participation eLearning
This level makes more use of audio narration, animation features, and basic drag and drop functions. The theory and practical elements are blended at this level to give learners a better understanding of how they can incorporate the acquired knowledge into their daily activities.
Level 3: Moderate Interaction eLearning
This level features occasional simulations, complex drag and drop options, and detailed branch scenarios. A more personalized learning experience is offered here, and more practical skills are taught. At the end of the course, the students are expected to have developed and acquired new abilities.
Level 4: Full Immersion eLearning
This level is extremely immersive, with progress only made depending on the level of interaction between learners and the available materials. It often includes interactive games, simulated job exercises, branching stories, and other multi-media forms.
Final Thoughts
Wanting to create an eLearning experience for students is one of the best decisions a creator can always make. As easy as it may seem, there are a lot of moving parts and programs involved, which do not come free, of course.
While creating a course, you need a team of specialists, each with their own responsibility. With the trends and technology that have cropped up, you need to keep the course as updated as possible using the most recent software.
Whatever you do while creating the course, just make sure it aligns with your budget and the students are satisfied.
