How long should videos be in an online course?

vagabondette · 09-16-2009, 05:47 PM

When I was a financial planner I developed a seminar series on the basics of how to manage your money. I can no longer teach it since I no longer live in the US but I still get a lot of interest in the class and several people have asked about ebooks or online seminars. As a result, I've been thinking of turning my seminars into an online training series using videos.

I'm wondering though, how long should each video be? 5 minutes? 10? 15? It seems like if they are too long people will lose interest but too short could make it hard to adequately cover the topic. My IRL seminars last about 12-18 hours depending on the audience.

Can anyone who has developed an online training series jump in on this? What do you provide in addition to the videos? I was thinking I would provide a printable key points page, worksheets for each section, and an outline so they can follow along. I will probably also be offering an ebook.

I'd appreciate any thoughts folks might have.

JohnMcCabe · 09-16-2009, 05:56 PM

I haven't developed anything quite that extensive, but I do own a few on DVD.

Your idea of providing a cheat sheet for each video is a good one, it helps people stay engaged in the content.

As far as how long each topic should be, the smartass answer is exactly as long as you need to cover the topic properly, and not a second longer. On a more practical note, if you could sell the course on DVDs, 60-90 minutes per disc seems about right. That would likely cover multiple distinct topics.

For ease of future reference, you might want to structure your videos the ways movies do - the main feature, divided into scenes, along with any supplemental topics.

If you're putting the course online, this would be even more important, as people watching the course on their computer would likely have more distractions and more need to break thigs up into manageable chunks.

I hope this gives you some ideas...

vagabondette · 09-16-2009, 06:18 PM

Thanks John. I hadn't considered distributing them on DVD. I'll have to think about that more. I think the overhead could be a lot higher.

Anyway, I was thinking of structuring it like the online CFP class that I took. There are 6 classes so there will be 6 training paths. When you open the first one you'll have a summary page telling you what will be included in that path and what each segment will cover. Then down the side will be tabs for each segment. Once you've watched a segment you can click a "done" button which will grey out the segment tab so you know you've completed it. You can go back to it later if you want but this way you'll always know where you are.

I'm thinking it will probably end up with each segment being 5-10 minutes as that seems like a good timeframe to allow people to sit down and do a segment when they have a little spare time rather than doing something longer that might be interrupted.

Thanks again!

09-16-2009, 05:47 PM	#1
vagabondette HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Currently in Mexico Posts: 273 Thanks: 50 Thanked 43 Times in 30 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	How long should videos be in an online course? When I was a financial planner I developed a seminar series on the basics of how to manage your money. I can no longer teach it since I no longer live in the US but I still get a lot of interest in the class and several people have asked about ebooks or online seminars. As a result, I've been thinking of turning my seminars into an online training series using videos. I'm wondering though, how long should each video be? 5 minutes? 10? 15? It seems like if they are too long people will lose interest but too short could make it hard to adequately cover the topic. My IRL seminars last about 12-18 hours depending on the audience. Can anyone who has developed an online training series jump in on this? What do you provide in addition to the videos? I was thinking I would provide a printable key points page, worksheets for each section, and an outline so they can follow along. I will probably also be offering an ebook. I'd appreciate any thoughts folks might have.

09-16-2009, 05:56 PM	#2
JohnMcCabe Happy Hooker War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: North of the Peace River, Southwest Florida, USA. Posts: 7,626 Thanks: 2,687 Thanked 4,399 Times in 2,394 Posts Social Networking	Re: How long should videos be in an online course? I haven't developed anything quite that extensive, but I do own a few on DVD. Your idea of providing a cheat sheet for each video is a good one, it helps people stay engaged in the content. As far as how long each topic should be, the smartass answer is exactly as long as you need to cover the topic properly, and not a second longer. On a more practical note, if you could sell the course on DVDs, 60-90 minutes per disc seems about right. That would likely cover multiple distinct topics. For ease of future reference, you might want to structure your videos the ways movies do - the main feature, divided into scenes, along with any supplemental topics. If you're putting the course online, this would be even more important, as people watching the course on their computer would likely have more distractions and more need to break thigs up into manageable chunks. I hope this gives you some ideas...
	Salad is not food. Salad is what food eats... -- The REAL PETA, People for Eating Tasty Animals "I did not fight my way to the top of the food chain to eat tofu!"

09-16-2009, 06:18 PM	#3
vagabondette HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Currently in Mexico Posts: 273 Thanks: 50 Thanked 43 Times in 30 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: How long should videos be in an online course? Thanks John. I hadn't considered distributing them on DVD. I'll have to think about that more. I think the overhead could be a lot higher. Anyway, I was thinking of structuring it like the online CFP class that I took. There are 6 classes so there will be 6 training paths. When you open the first one you'll have a summary page telling you what will be included in that path and what each segment will cover. Then down the side will be tabs for each segment. Once you've watched a segment you can click a "done" button which will grey out the segment tab so you know you've completed it. You can go back to it later if you want but this way you'll always know where you are. I'm thinking it will probably end up with each segment being 5-10 minutes as that seems like a good timeframe to allow people to sit down and do a segment when they have a little spare time rather than doing something longer that might be interrupted. Thanks again!