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What Is The Ideal length of an online course? |

Feb 13, 2023

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What's the most effective length for a course when you teach online? It's become a truism that you require 10,000 hours of practice to get really good in certain things. But that seems a bit excessive.

So, if not 10,000 hours, how long should you make your online class? What is the length of each part? Each video?

The statistics we've put together will determine which course lengths yield the highest profits. But that's just one part of the puzzle. Before planning your online training, you'll need be able to identify your goal.

The teaching goal affects the length of an online course

It's your idea to create an online class, and you're drawing up an outline of the course. If the subject is one that you are passionate about and would like to impart your knowledge, you might find it hard to set a cap on how many hours of learning time students will spend.

If you're running an online course--which means you make a substantial amount of money offering online courses, it's tempting to create endless hours of course content. Since more course content means more money, right?

Not necessarily. Keep in mind that clients have their own goals at heart. They're looking for a comprehensive understanding of the topic, but they don't want to spend a lifetime learning the subject.

Imagine that your class, "Introduction to Music Theory," is 120 hours long, but your competitor's duration is only 48 hours. It is possible that you will miss out on a swath of students eager to write their very first orchestras in the near future.

Don't take the time to cut your course just yet. Skip over the essentials of sight reading and your music students may demand a refund.

But get bogged down in the details, and your team may switch to a quicker answer. Your goal should be to balance time efficiency with the utmost thoroughness.

If you're a company trainer, the goal is to educate students on the field as quickly as is possible. Although it's cliché, time is actually money. The longer your customer--who is also your student's employer, and the longer (and cash) they'll waste.

In this instance, set concrete learning outcomes--proficiency with a certain app, for instance--that you and your clients will agree to. Then, find the fastest way to reach those outcomes.

The more efficient your plan and the better your client will feel. That can lead to referrals and repeat business.

The most profitable length of online courses

Let's cut to the chase. Based on what we've observed on the internet, the best duration of a course is between 10-25 hours.

In the lower end, 5-10 hour courses are about 75% as profitable. And at the higher range, longer courses--25-100 hours--are slightly less profitable than the shorter ones.

Says who?

According to us. We collected information on the creators of 40,000 courses to calculate our figures. In the average, course creators who have 10- to 25-hour courses make a profit of 10,000.

A graph that compares online course length to profits
The length of an online course vs. the profitability

If you're thinking of launching your first online course, you could do worse than set a runtime between 10 and 25 hours. This being said, caution vender. Although this information is helpful to provide a general overview of the length of courses and their performance however, we would like to make an important point the length of a course isn't a predictor of revenue growth.

Caveats to using the most profitable length of online courses

While based on our data, 10-25 hours is an ideal but it's not the ultimate goal for course lengths. What matters more than your duration of the course is the benefit and value you're providing through your course. Below are some aspects to consider in deciding on course length.

Rarity of online course material

If you're offering a specific subject that hasn't been covered in detail elsewhere online, you have less competition to benchmark against. They will have less decision-making to make when comparing alternatives with regards to the time and effort necessary to reach their desired result.

So, if you firmly believe your students need 30 hours of instruction before they start breeding race pigeons absolutely create an instructional program which will spend 30 hours in the classroom teaching your students.

The fact that there is no competition doesn't mean you should abandon caution and make sure you plan your route as long as necessary. Keep your eye on the pupil's goals and what you can do to give them the best chance of achievement.

In contrast If your public searches "how you can breed race pigeons," and is able to find all the information they need fast, you'll need to factor in the increased supply of competitive offering. If this is the case duration of the course could become an additional competitive benefit. Your course will need to be both more detailed and effective, requiring less time and energy that it will take to sort through the competing sources study the topic extensively, and even instruct themselves.

The subject is complex and a complicated issue

There are times when you can't rush. The ability to compress information only allows to a certain extent before diminishing in value. If that's the case concentrate on teaching the subject in depth and not sacrificing any information to make it fit into the sweet spot between 10 and 25 hours.

If your subject runs especially lengthy--it's found that you require 50 hours of time to learn basic pigeon breeding basics--and you're looking to cut the length of your program closer to 10-25 hours (maybe to be in line with the competition) Consider breaking up the subject into smaller chunks. You could have an eight-hour class about the background of racing breeds of pigeons as well as their genetics as well as a 12 hour course in properly housing, feeding and training pigeons and on.

However, if the subject you're teaching only needs 5 hours of instruction Do not overburden your course by cramming it with useless information to reach 10 hours. Your students won't appreciate this dead weight and they'll leave.

If you're in this situation, make use of brevity as a selling point--or create an unpaid introduction to the topic, and invite students to expand their skills by taking paying courses. You can utilize the Mini Course Template to design an online course that functions as a free lead magnet and gives them an idea of the other courses is available for purchase.

Competing online courses

Research competing courses before planning the launch of your own. Where your competitors fall short are also areas where you have the potential to succeed. You should look for:

  • Knowledge gaps. Do your competition fail to address a crucial topic? This could become a centerpiece of your own training.
  • Done-to-death subjects. Find new angles or new methods to share your knowledge. For those who are woodworkers, and there are 57 classes for building birdhouses, take an additional course on making bat homes instead.
  • Out-of-date topics. Particularly in the field of technology, the realm of study is ever-changing. It is possible to outdo your competition in teaching the most recent versions of programming languages or by using the latest internet-based marketing techniques.
  • A really successful course. If you have a standout competitor dominating your niche, study what they're doing. What is it that makes them different from the rest? How can you do it better?

Course lengths that are required to be completed to continue training

If your students are taking part in continuing education or are meeting the criteria of a college or professional organization, you'll need to consider this when setting your course lengths.

As an example, based on the state where they operate, REALTORS(tm) are required to complete a certain number of hours of continuing education per year. If that's your target audience, you may want make your course content match.

What is the length of videos for online classes be?

There's a possibility that you can talk for hours on any topic you want to discuss however this doesn't mean that your instructional videos should be feature-length productions.

It is true that, as a result that shorter video clips are most effective in keeping learners engaged.

A study by SumoMe found that:

  • User engagement drops off sharply after about 2 hours. It doesn't appear to matter whether your video is 26 seconds long, or exactly two minutes--engagement stays about the same.
  • Between three and six minutes , engagement really decreases.
  • Between six and 12 minutes, the level of engagement is lowered.
  • In 12 mins, engagement once starts to decrease.

  Key takeaways:  

  • If your video content is brief, be sure the video is less than two minutes.
  • If it's long, make sure it's longer than six minutes--but if it's longer than twelve, proceed with caution.

In order to keep viewers entertained, you may have to cut your videos in half (divide the four-minute subject into two sub-topics) or build the content (combine two three minute topics to make a longer six-minute video. ).

Always keep students' interests in mind. If, without sacrificing important information, you absolutely can't reduce your video to the two-minute mark to even two minutes you can keep the length as it was originally. There is no reason to make an unprofessional video to increase the number of views.

How long should online course lessons be?

In terms of optimal lengths of online classes, the issue is not as straightforward as it is for videos.

The ideal timeframe to incorporate the lesson won't be just applicable to online course creators. Teachers from all backgrounds are faced with the challenge of choosing the right lesson length to keep the attention of students. If you're teaching in a schools that are public, it could depend on age; since you'll likely be teaching adults, it is important take a number of variables into consideration.

Consider: For example, are your students learning by choice, or by force? If they're already interested in the subject and are studying it to enhance their own lives, they could be more inclined to block out large amounts of time to study.

However If they're taking the class in order to fulfill the requirements of their company or professional They're not likely to feel passionate in the topic you're teaching. For that reason it's possible to stick to shorter lesson lengths, broken up with tests or quizzes.

Five ways to hold your students' interest

The science behind attention span is complicated and constantly evolving. There are however easy methods you can employ to ensure that your students are engaged no matter how lengthy the online classes will be.

  •    Let them have a smile.

Students pay more attention to teachers who slip humor into their teaching. There's no need to be a comedic genius; even some corny jokes or "dad jokes" may suffice to grab their attention.

  •    Shake it every 15 minutes.

The ability to change things up frequently can help break up the class and keeps students engaged. Consider sharing fun stories and asides, using new kinds of media, like video or image--or a question ("How do X apply to you ?").

  •    Create concrete ideas from abstract thoughts.

breeding racing pigeons as well as building bat houses are two tangible examples of online course topics. Real or fictional examples can help students get interested in a subject.

  •    Motivate them to be more enthusiastic.

Students might be able to come up with an abstract notion about why they would like to learn a subject. Show them the real-life outcome of what they're learning. "Learning this HR software will make your job easier," or "Building bat boxes will help to support the decreasing populations of the tiny brown bat (Myotis Lucifugus) around your location."

  •    Step outside of your comfortable zone.  

When a lesson is multimodal, it uses different methods to inform learners and keep them interested. If you're most comfortable using online slideshows, you might consider presenting some lessons with animated or live-action videos. Instead of presenting a piece of information to students, provide them with the information they'll require to study and draw their own conclusions.

Overall, 10 to 25 hours seems to be generally the most lucrative duration for online courses, keep this in mind just as a guideline and not as a standard. There are many unique factors to consider in determining the duration of the online course.