Estimating Costs and Allocating Resources

       

Introduction       Projects, including instructional design projects based on the ADDIE process illustrated in the diagram above, are not only costly, but because they are also managed "in a world of limited resources" all stakeholders, including the project manager must strive for accuracy in estimating in order to realize the most return on their investment (Portny, S., 2008, p. 124).  Cost estimation, budgeting, and estimating duration of tasks (effort) are among the essential processes that characterize the planning phase of an instructional design process. I found the following web resources helpful as they gave valuable insight into methodologies for estimating cost and effort, and allocating resources in instructional design projects.      Thackaberry, C. W., & Rada, R., (1998).Estimation metrics for course maintenance effort. Journal of Universal  Computer Science, vol. 4, no. 3 (1998), 308-325. Retrieved from: citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.17...rep...       This article provided a systematic method for calculating  the total effort expended during the development phase of a project.  Development was broken down into  its sub-tasks: Design (De), Programming (Pe), Development of graphics, video  and audio (Me), Text entry (Te) and Testing (Te).  The average number of staff hours for each  task was provided empirically through historical data.    Thakaberry & Yada (1998) also proposed a formula which could be used to calculate the total effort for each phase of the project.    This article is a must read for budding instructional designers.  Gordon, S., He, W., Abdous, M., (2009. Using a web-based system to estimate the cost of an online course. Online Journal of Distance Learning  Administration, v12 n3 . Retrieved from:              http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall123/gordon123.html In the above captioned article, Gordon, He & Abdous (2009) explored the use of web-based software to improve the efficiency in estimating costs for the production of online  courses. They noted that the "increasing demand for online courses requires efficiency and low cost" (para 1).  The major advantage of  the web-based system proposed is that it allows users access to the software at any time and from any location.   The free downloadable interactive spreadsheet costing model is also a useful guide for estimating the cost of instructional design project activities.  Additionally, the empirical data and formulae presented definitely provide a framework on which activity and effort costing can be developed. Finally, instructional design project managers can derive historical analogies, or what other organizations have learned from their experiences with previous instructional projects, and expert opinions from this article (Cox, D., 2009, p. 97). Thus, it is a welcome addition to the instructional design project management toolkit of inexperienced instructional designers. Estimating cost and time in instructional design, retrieved from: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/costs.html To my mind, the real value of this article resides in the guidelines it provides on training costs. It included a breakdown of the salary rates for instructional designers,  the cost of producing professional videos  and slides, and reminded us that these costs depended to a large extent on 'type  of training, skill level, etc (para. 7). The article also presented invaluable information on estimating the development hours required to create one hour of training, and estimating instructor preparation time  for each hour of the training. I particularly liked the section on tips for reducing the costs of developing training. For example, the authors directed viewers to free photos on stock.xching, and gave other helpful advice on how open software can reduce the cost of producing a video or making a digital recording. I highly recommend this article as another "must read" for instructional design project managers. References: Cox, D., (2009). Project management for instructional designers, a practical guide. IN: iUniverse Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.