How Long Should an Online Course Be (Lessons + Modules)

Success Unscrambled Podcast

Eva sat in front of her desktop, contemplating how to set up the online classes she dreamed of launching. ‘But how long should an online course be?’ she thought. She didn't want to prepare online content that would be too cumbersome for students to complete. For over two years now Eva has been a digital marketer, and quite successful at it, but now she wants to launch into the online course space. For what exactly? To bring her knowledge and skills to students who want to learn. She glanced over at her email list to see the number of emails requesting her to start already; it made her more determined. If you are also like Eva, seeking to also put your course out there in the online space, you might find yourself asking questions like these: What is the ideal class length? How long should I make courses, so that my students can enjoy the lessons? Will people appreciate a longer course, or do they prefer shorter ones? Will my prospective students be willing to pay for the course if it's too long or too short? How long are master classes? Will I make more sales if I make the course a bit longer? Will people feel my teaching won't have value if it's short? I think I need to increase it a bit, say 8 hours or more. All these are valid questions, so stick to this resource if you want good answers that will guide you through. In this post, you'll learn everything you need to help you determine the ideal length of your online course including lessons and modules. Factors That Affect The Length of Your Online Course It's not just about putting out online programs. You want your students to get value from what you will teach them in your e-learning course. Depending on the course and the technicality, course content shouldn't be less than 30 minutes or more than 4 hours. There is no set rule on what the length of an online training should be. However, from the process of course creation, you will understand how teaching goals affect online course length. There are other things you might want to consider about the length, which include activities you will provide, what course material you will use, how thoroughly you will dwell on the subject, and so on. An ideal online course length can depend on a variety of factors. In all, your course should be long enough to cover everything that your students need to know without taking much time. What Course Material Will You Use Before putting together a course for your online training, you need to keep these things at the back of your mind: Check the content material you are putting together and ensure it's not too complex for the learners. Knowing a particular subject well doesn't automatically translate to knowing how to put that knowledge together to teach someone else via online learning. Why this? Most course creators make the mistake of thinking their students are at the same knowledge level as them. They make the course so complicated and too long to the point that it is too difficult for students to understand. You have to identify common gaps in your student’s knowledge. Put yourself in their position and ask, as a beginner with little or no knowledge about this subject, will I need all of these? Your aim shouldn't be to make sales but to impart knowledge, skills, and valuable information, so let your priority be the students. How Do I Spread Out The Modules and Lessons At the time of compiling the course, if it's getting too long, then you should consider dividing it into modules and lessons. Covering your course topic by spreading out learning materials can help your students reach their learning objectives in less time. Spreading out the information in this way will help the lessons be concise for better comprehension. Ideally, the range of each should be between five to twenty minutes, a maximum of twenty-five minutes. As earlier stated,