UbiTips  How   long  should  your  eLearning  v ideo  be?

How  long  should  be  an  eLearning  video?  

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1.  Never  longer  than  60  minutes  per  session

The attention & concentration time of an adult is about 40 to 60 minutes. So make sure to keep the daily eLearning sessions shorter.

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2.  Always  shorter  than  a  classic  classroom  training  

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The classic classroom training is split into days (6 or 7 hours) because of organizational constraints.

An eLearning course is by definition shorter & is supposed to go to the essential. ELearning videos must therefore be shorter and more synthetic than classroom courses .

3.  Divide  the  video    in  chapters

Divide your videos in several chapters or sequences, it will allow the learners to have time markers and to measure their progression in the module without being discouraged.

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4.  Be  Interactive  &  synthetic

A video that is interactive & synthetic: it’s the key to maintain the learner’s interest throughout the whole eLearning session.

Animations, examples, short & dynamic sessions are all ways to rise & keep your audience’s attention.

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5.  And  why  not  try    micro-­‐learning?

Micro-Learning is based on short videos lasting 5 minutes, tops, and listing the main points of the lesson to remember.

It can be a way to help learners who are very busy, and do not have a lot of time for their training.

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6.  There  is  no  standard  timing

There can not be ONE ideal & standard timing for eLearning videos.

Today, a new challenge appears: mobile learning. It changes the definition of « time ». The lesson can be followed anywhere, anytime, which makes even harder to evaluate the time spend in an eLearning program.

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How  to  estimate  the  time  of  an  eLearning  Video  from  the  storyboarding  phase?

1.  Count  your  Slides The rule says that, 1 slide is 1 minute. However, this rule is very relative, the time spent on a slide may depend on its importance or complexity .

Indeed, the number of slides is to be considered but always keeping in mind that this information is relative.

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2.  Count  the  words

The number of words can be a good way to estimate the time base of your module: 1 minute is about 130 words.

Don’t forget to consider: - Interactions & animations - Complex diagrams - Individual differences

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3.  Test  in  live  

One of the safest way is to perform tests with different audiences. Then, you can calculate the average time for each tester to complete the learning module.

Finally, you can obtain a relevant average of the learning time needed to finish the program.

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Now,  it’s  your  turn!    

Create your own eLearning rich media videos with UbiCast.

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