AI is changing the game when it comes to how training content is created, delivered, and exchanged. In fact, many of the tools now adopted by instructional designers and other learning professionals are all about tenfold (or more) accelerating time to completion on a project, reducing the time it takes to build something from a week to a day (or even an hour), not just amping the overall quality.

Organizations are leading the charge in this revolution, providing custom eLearning development services that use AI to enable small businesses, startups, and nonprofits to create cutting-edge training content quicker and more professionally.

This article takes a closer look at how AI tools are shaping eLearning—from the brainstorming and scripting stage to voiceovers, video avatars, interactive testing, and SCORM packaging—and answers important questions such as:

• How much does it cost to create an online course today?
  
• What AI tools are worth investing in?
  
• How do you ensure your training remains engaging and effective?
  
• What’s the best LMS for a small business?

Let’s get started.

AI Tools for Developing Training Programs

But before we get into the details of how AI speeds up development and makes it more efficient, let’s take a look at the types of AI tools that exist today and see how they are being used in the various stages of the course creation pipeline. From planning to print, AI is not a novelty anymore — it is part of the foundation.

1. Content Ideation & Scriptwriting Tools

Instructional designers used to start from scratch when outlining a training course. Today, AI-driven tools like ChatGPT, Jasper, and Copy.ai can help generate:

• Course outlines based on a learning objective
• Training scripts and dialogues
• Summaries and key takeaways from existing documents
• Icebreakers, discussion prompts, or quiz questions

These tools are especially helpful for non-writers or subject matter experts (SMEs) who need help translating technical knowledge into learner-friendly language.

Example Workflow

• Prompt ChatGPT: “Create a beginner-friendly outline for a sales onboarding program for SaaS.”
• Receive a 6-module structure within seconds.
• Use it as a foundation to build your training assets.

2. Voiceover & Narration Generators

Once you have a script, AI can step in to produce the narration.

Tools like ElevenLabs and WellSaid Labs use neural networks to clone realistic human voices—often indistinguishable from professional voice actors. Features often include:

• Accent selection
• Tone customization
• Multi-language support
• Pausing, emphasis, and inflection control

This step alone used to take days of coordination, recording, and editing. AI narration tools now make it possible in under 15 minutes.

3. AI Video Creation Tools

If you’re building an onboarding video or explainer module, you no longer need expensive cameras or editing suites.

Platforms like Synthesia, Veed.io, and Pictory allow you to:

• Select an AI presenter/avatar
• Add your script for narration
• Upload brand visuals or slides
• Export HD videos ready for LMS use

You can also localize these videos for global teams by simply changing the language input—no need to recreate the visuals or re-record.

4. Automated Instructional Design & Authoring

Tools like Articulate 360 (especially the new AI Assistant), Rise, and Adobe Captivate now integrate AI to speed up content formatting and instructional scaffolding. They can:

• Recommend assessments for each learning goal
• Auto-populate templates with sample content
• Suggest visuals and interactions based on text input

This is particularly useful for teams that know what they want to teach but aren’t sure how to translate it into engaging eLearning content.

5. Assessment & Feedback Automation

AI can also assist in

• Auto-generating quizzes from existing course material
• Providing real-time feedback based on learner responses
• Analyzing learner data to adjust future training content
  

For instance, some platforms like Docebo, LearnUpon, or 360Learning offer built-in AI analytics that adapt content paths or suggest reinforcement learning materials based on performance.

6. Localization and Accessibility Tools

Translation and accessibility used to be major time sinks. AI has significantly eased this burden with:

• AI-powered translation engines that maintain context and tone
• Auto-captioning and screen reader optimization
• Synthetic dubbing into multiple languages without re-recording

These tools ensure your training programs meet compliance requirements and are usable by a global, diverse workforce.

With these tools in place, you’re no longer building training from scratch. You’re assembling it intelligently—choosing the right components, customizing as needed, and focusing your team’s energy where it matters most: engagement, accuracy, and results.

Why Speed Matters: AI’s Impact on Content Production and Prototyping

In the traditional course development cycle, each phase—content writing, scripting, narration, animation, LMS setup—could take days or even weeks. But with AI tools now automating major chunks of that process, we’re seeing a shift toward rapid prototyping and iteration.

Old vs. New Workflow

Net result: Training content that used to take 6–8 weeks to build can now be delivered in 1–2 weeks with the right AI-enhanced workflows.

That speed matters—especially for growing organizations dealing with team expansion, new customer onboarding, or compliance deadlines. AI isn’t just speeding things up—it’s helping businesses scale training without scaling their teams.

Key AI Tools Transforming eLearning (And How They Work)

Let’s walk through some of the most powerful tools now used by instructional design agencies like SkildLabs.

ElevenLabs: Hyper-Realistic Voice Cloning

Imagine creating a professional, multilingual voiceover in minutes—with zero microphone time. ElevenLabs lets you:

• Clone your voice (or choose from existing voices)
  
• Generate narrations in dozens of languages
  
• Maintain tone, emphasis, and realism
  
• Update content without re-recording

Use case: You’re onboarding new customer support reps in different regions. ElevenLabs lets you instantly generate voiceovers in English, Spanish, and French—without hiring three voice actors or using robotic-sounding TTS tools.

Pro Tip: Combine ElevenLabs with scripts generated by ChatGPT or Jasper for a lightning-fast narration workflow.

Synthesia: AI Video Avatars That Scale

Synthesia lets you create studio-quality training videos using AI avatars. Choose from 140+ presenters (or create your own custom avatar), input your script, and boom—you’ve got a professional video.

Benefits

• No need for cameras, actors, or studio time
  
• Localize with auto-subtitles and multilingual support
  
• Embed directly into your LMS or SCORM course

Use case: You want to replace your old 60-minute PowerPoint with a modern microlearning video series. Synthesia lets you break it into 5-minute chunks, delivered by a relatable avatar in your brand voice and tone.

Articulate 360’s AI Assistant: Smart Course Authoring

Articulate, one of the most trusted eLearning platforms, recently rolled out AI Assist, which can:

• Generate course outlines based on topic prompts
  
• Auto-fill content blocks
  
• Draft knowledge checks and assessments
  
• Suggest visuals for engagement

Use case: You’ve got an SME-approved outline for cybersecurity basics. Articulate AI can help you build an interactive module—complete with scenarios and quizzes—in less than a day.

Other notable AI tools

• Vyond AI: Animated video generation
  
• Descript: AI audio/video editing with transcript-based editing
  
• Tome: AI-powered storytelling slideshows
  
• Lumen5: Convert blogs into video content

The Economics of Smart Training: How AI Reduces Costs

How Much Does It Cost to Create a Training Program?

We have spoken and written at length about the cost of course development, but AI has definitely impact the instructional design world. In our experience, creating a fully polished 1-hour course traditionally requires approximately 60 to 260 hours of work, costing between $5,450 USD to over $13,500 USD, excluding the Subject Matter Expert (SME) fees.

Average cost of 1-hour course traditional development (USD)

$5,450 – $13,500 depending on length, complexity, and media.

With AI-enhanced workflows (in USD)

$3,000 – $12,500 for similar quality, length and often delivered faster.

Here are a few specific tasks that AI has had the biggest impact on:

As you can see, AI doesn’t just speed up production—it can slash budgets by 30–50% while maintaining high production value.

AI ≠ Cutting Corners: Ensuring Quality and Engagement

One of the most common concerns we hear is, “Won’t AI make our training feel robotic or low quality?”. In the early days of the AI revolution, the answer was yes. The output produced by a lot of AI-enhanced eLearning tools was poor, but things have caught up fast. The answer now is…

Not if you use the tools strategically. Here’s how AI-powered instructional designers can maintain quality:

Blended Intelligence

• SMEs still shape the content.
  
• Instructional designers fine-tune flow and pedagogy.
  
• AI handles repetitive tasks, formatting, and multimedia generation.

Engagement-First Design

Tools like Articulate Rise, LearnWorlds, and Adobe Captivate let you embed:

• Interactive scenarios
  
• Simulations
  
• Gamification
  
• Micro-assessments
  
• Branching logic

These work seamlessly with AI-generated content and avatars.

Accessibility and Inclusion

AI tools now support

• Real-time subtitles and transcripts
  
• Screen-reader friendly formatting
  
• Diverse voices and avatars
  
• Multi-language delivery for global audiences

Bottom line: AI helps you create content that’s faster, cheaper, AND better—as long as you use it intentionally.

Building Smarter, Faster, and More Affordable Training Starts Now

AI tools aren’t replacing instructional designers—they’re amplifying them. And that’s good news for any organization that needs to create training programs quickly, cost-effectively, and at scale. By combining AI tools like Synthesia, ElevenLabs, and Articulate AI with a strategic partner like SkildLabs, you can:

• Launch better training programs faster
  
• Reduce development costs by 60%+
  
• Scale your internal and customer education without bottlenecks
  
• Stay ahead of the curve in today’s fast-moving digital workplace

We work with you as an extension of your team, whether you’re a scrappy 20-person startup or a growing non-profit with a new grant and new staff to train.

You bring the mission—we bring the training clarity, creativity, and speed.

Ready to Build Smarter Training Programs?

Don’t build your next course the old way. Let SkildLabs help you create a fast, engaging, and affordable solution using the best of AI and human expertise. Contact us to schedule a free consultation and discover how we can bring your training vision to life—smarter and faster.

The post AI Tools for Developing Training Programs Faster and Smarter appeared first on SkildLabs.

While you wouldn’t want to rely entirely on AI to create a quality course, tools like ChatGPT can be beneficial in the general construction process. This article will guide you through the steps to make your online course with AI. This specific guide will focus on ChatGPT for course development because it is an open AI software that is free for anyone to use.

1. Asking for Course Ideas

One of the best ways to use AI is to ask for idea generation. AI is very good at taking vast amounts of knowledge and condensing suggestions into simple lists. As you can see from the images above, you can ask ChatGPT to compile a short list of recommendations for course ideas. You can also see that AI does come with its limitations. It is not particularly specific on how these courses would be profitable outside of vague generalities, but its suggestions are still sound. Some would just take more work to generate income than others. For this article, let’s continue with the personal finance course idea.

2. Getting Specific with Course Topics

If you aren’t happy with the generality of ChatGPT’s answer, you can press it on specific topics, and it will do its best to expand. As you can see, you can ask ChatGPT what specific personal finance topic the course should focus on, and it gives several strong ideas. For this example, let’s build a retirement planning course.

3. Creating a Module Outline

Creating module suggestions is where the strengths of ChatGPT really begin to shine. It can immediately create a comprehensive module outline for a course on retirement planning. Using ChatGPT for course development is a fantastic way to streamline ideas and develop a solid outline. Of course, you should always have separate research done to verify the accuracy of AI, like ChatGPT. Building a course with online AI can go awry, especially for niche and specific topics, if you do not have fact-checkers.

4. Expand into Sub-Modules

Most AI, like ChatGPT, also has excellent memory retention, so you can ask it to expand the list of course modules and add separate sub-modules. It remembers the list of course modules previously generated and adds some short ideas for sub-modules.

5. Adding a Module and Sub-Module

Say you notice the AI omitted a topic you consider essential, like family planning. You can ask it to include another module in the list.

6. Writing Course Content

Of course, the most critical test is if ChatGPT can generate course content, not just ideas for course content. As you can see, you can ask ChatGPT to write a script of a specific length for one of your modules.

Although the results are not perfect, as you can see that the AI cuts off abruptly at the very end, they are extremely impressive. The writing doesn’t sound stilted and covers much ground without being too repetitive. After a few tests, it does struggle the more you increase the word count, so it’s not a perfect solution. You can also ask it to expand on specific points and then add that expansion into the larger script. While this might not be the best way to generate a genuinely competitive course script, it is a great way to form a rough foundation of what you want the course to look like. You can enhance this draft for your specific style and unique audience.

7. Creating Course Descriptions and Marketing

Another creative way to use AI in course creation is to help with course descriptions. As you can see, ChatGPT can come up with a pretty energetic and specific course description. It can also create marketing material, like ideas for a promotional Tweet.

8. Using Other AI to Voice Your Script and Make Visuals

So, once you have used AI to generate the script for your course, can you also use it to voice your script? The surprising answer is yes. Several useful programs will take your writing and have an AI read it using your voice based on the samples provided.

Using Descript for Overdub Recordings

One of the most popular programs is Descript. Descript is a cutting-edge audio and video editing tool that uses AI to transcribe and edit multimedia content. With Descript, you can easily edit your audio and video content like a text document. It is straightforward to cut, copy, paste, and rearrange your content. It has a pretty advanced AI that lets you edit content by editing the text transcription of the audio or video file. With Descript, you can search for specific words or phrases and find the exact moment in the recording where you spoke those words. This trick saves an incredible amount of time.

One of the unique features of Descript is its ability to create “overdub” recordings. This feature allows you to add new voiceover content to your existing recordings, even if the new content wasn’t included initially. While you can use this ability to have an AI read out the entire script in your voice as a model, it’s typically better to just record a take and then use Descript to add short sentences or fix mistakes. Descript’s software is incredibly advanced but has limitations and can sound off-putting if used for the entire script without enough voice samples to model.

Using Synthesia and Elai for Visuals

There are also several alternatives to Descript, like Synthesia and Elai. These tools don’t use your voice as a model but instead use stock voices and human avatars, which are suitable for courses that want a human-like visual.

Synthesia is a powerful online tool that uses AI technology to generate realistic, human-like animations of characters and text automatically. Many businesses use it to create explainer videos, tutorials, or presentations. With Synthesia, users can quickly create professional-looking videos without needing any design or animation skills. There are many customization options, allowing users to choose from different characters, backgrounds, and even languages. Elai is a similar tool that acts in much the same way. It is newer than Synthesia, so it is less established, but it has many of the same perks and benefits.

Can you build a course by solely using AI?

Hopefully, this guide has shown you what a powerful tool AI can be in course creation. AI has already been used to develop and enhance online courses in numerous ways. One widespread use is AI-powered algorithms that can analyze student performance data and make personalized recommendations for study materials. Additionally, AI can go beyond creating scripts and generate more interactive aspects of a course, like quizzes or other learning activities.

While AI can be a powerful tool in creating and enhancing online courses, it cannot fully replace the expertise and experience of human instructors and designers. AI has limited domain expertise. It is built to be a general-purpose language model, meaning it knows a lot about many topics but lacks in-depth expertise in specific subjects. Because of this, a course built solely with AI will lack a lot of important nuances and obviously cannot provide knowledge gained through life experience. You should use AI to supplement and enhance the work of course creators. As long as its work is checked over and revised, AI can improve course development and streamline the process for creatives. Specifically, AI can ensure consistent quality of content, as it can produce content free of errors, typos, or other inconsistencies.

Looking to start an eLearning project?

Creating an eLearning course doesn’t have to be complicated. Book a consultation with us today to discuss your project. We can quickly provide you with an accurate estimate and help you along your journey of sharing your expertise and knowledge with others.

The post Harnessing the Power of AI in Course Development appeared first on SkildLabs.

According to a study by Statista, the global e-learning market is expected to reach $400 billion by 2026. In turn, this has created a huge opportunity for entrepreneurs and experts who are interested in creating and selling online courses of any kind.

Whether you are an expert in a field or just want to share your knowledge with others, there are many ways that you can generate revenue by leveraging your skills and expertise to create an online course. In this guide, we will discuss 6 key steps to successfully monetizing your brand and expertise through online learning and courses.

1. Identify your niche

The first step to monetizing your expertise is to identify a specific topic or set of topics that you want to focus on. This might be something that you are already an expert in, or it could be something that you want to develop your skills in and then offer to others. Whatever the case, it is important to have a clear focus so that you can create high-quality content and build your brand around a specific niche.

Many people dread this step, as it can be difficult to decide on a single topic. It is often easier to start with a broader topic and then narrow your focus over time, but the key is to pick something that tackles a real problem and also has a strong potential market.

There are many comprehensive courses out there that focus on the “Ultimate Guide” or “Complete Introduction to…” type of content, where the curriculum includes everything around the topic. These can be great courses, spanning hours of learning, but that does not mean that the topic is saturated or there is no space for new courses. You can always niche-down.

For example, you can breakdown a course into specific pain points, like this:

The Complete WordPress Website Builder Course

WordPress Landing Page Design (from Basic To Advanced)

WordPress Sales Pages and E-mail Automation for Real Estate

How to Create a WordPress Landing Page and Sell your Home Independently?

I can guarantee you that this little technique for dissecting a topic would come in handy during your research phase. If you want to get additional ideas for keywords and topics, you can always use tools like Ubersuggest and MarketMuse.

2. Create an outline for your course

Once you have identified your ideal topic, the next step is to create an outline for your course. This will help you determine the specific topics and subtopics that you want to cover, as well as how much content to include and how to structure the course.

You may want to create a detailed outline, or you might prefer to just have a general idea of the topics that you want to cover. Either approach is fine, as long as you have a clear structure in mind before you begin creating your course materials.

When creating an outline, I always use these two guiding principles and make sure I have one of each for every lesson produced.

The Learning Objective

These are statements that describe what the learner would be able to do after completing the lesson. They are simple to write and are a great way to set expectations. For example, a learning objective can be “At the end of this lesson, the learner would be able to differentiate between discrete and continuous statistics“. This is a straightforward and clear statement.

The Why Statement

This is the fun part! A why statement “pressure-tests” your learning objective and clearly explains the reason for the lesson and its real-world application. A why statement can be something like this “Knowing the difference between discrete and continuous statistics is critical, as that is the number one question asked by clients”.

3. Develop your content

Once you have an outline in place, the next step is to develop your actual course content. This will likely involve creating video scripting, shooting live-action videos or recording screencast and audio content. You may also want to include resources such as worksheets, templates, or quizzes to help your students learn and practice the concepts that you are teaching.

Ideally, your content should be organized into sections so that users can easily navigate and complete the course. This will also make it easier for you to keep track of your progress and ensure that all of the content is included in your final course.

A smart way to organize your content and get a real sense of how your final course will look is by using a storyboard. A storyboard can help you visualize the flow and structure of your entire course before you begin production. At SkildLabs, we have developed an eLearning Storyboard template that is available via our partner Canva and will help you kick off your course development journey.

4. Choose a platform or tool for hosting and selling your courses

There are many different platforms and tools that you can use to host and sell your online course. Before you make a decision and especially if you are developing a course for your company, I highly recommend you to take a look at our guide on how much it costs to develop an online course in 2022 as this will give you a rough overview of the total costs.

Also, it’s important to note that there are two main types of platforms that are often confused: those that focus on acting as a marketplace where you can sell your course and Learning Management System (LMS) platforms where you can build and host your course, but have to bring your own audience.

Online Learning Marketplaces

For example, some popular platforms include Udemy, Skillshare, and LinkedIn Learning. These platforms are ideal if you want to scale your own brand, as they provide a simple way to host your content, set a price for your course and also advertise it to an existing base of students.

However, they also take a percentage of the profits, so you may not want to use them if you are selling high-priced courses. The best part of these platforms is that they require very little up-front investment, making it a great option for those just starting out. Overall, they take care of the marketing for the course, allowing you to focus on creating content.

Pros (+)

• Low up-front investment.
• On-site marketing and promotion of your course.

Cons (-)

• Large percentage of profits may be taken.
• Competition from other instructors on the same platform.
• No ownership in the platform.

Learning Management Systems (LMS)

An LMS platform is a great option if you want more control over the course and don’t need as much marketing help from your platform. For example, you may want to create a custom domain that links directly to your sales page. You can also add other marketing elements such as opt-in boxes and CTAs.

One popular option is Thinkific, which provides a custom domain, a course portal to host your content, and several other tools to help you sell your courses. You have 100% ownership of your content and luckily, Thinkific also has a free tier, so you can always explore the platform.

Pros (+)

• More control over your course and sales process; no percentage taken from the profits.
• Ability to create a custom course website and branded sales pages for your course.
• More customization options and integrations with other software.

Cons (-)

• Need to invest more time and money upfront to build your site and create your course.
• Often, a flat monthly fee for more premium tiers.

You can also create your own cohort-based course or grow a community around your expertise with platforms like Disco.

Disco brings learning and community together on one platform with all the tools you need to build, operate, and scale your learning experience. This platform might be a better option if you have a specific brand or audience that you want to target, or if you want to host live learning and interact with your audience in a more personal way.

5. Market your courses

Once your course is ready to go, it’s time to start marketing it (even if you have gone the marketplace route). There are many different ways that you can promote your course, including through blog posts, social media, online advertising, email marketing campaigns, and more. The key is to choose a few channels that you are comfortable with and that make the most sense for your particular audience. A few of my promotional go-to techniques include:

Offer a free course preview

One way to increase your sales is to offer a free preview or demo of your courses. This will allow prospective customers to get a sense of what your course is like without having to commit any money upfront.

You can feature a few lectures from your course on YouTube or the sales page for your course. You can even include a free lesson that users can access after signing up for a waitlist. This is a great way to get more people interested in your course and increase conversions.

It is worth mentioning that the video you share, need to solve a problem and the audience can extract value right away. In that way, they are more likely to enroll in your full course.

Leverage snackable content on social media

Social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat have begun to dominate the short-form content landscape, and leveraging their abilities is key. If your course is new, you might consider partnering with a larger social media account to co-promote a course or perhaps create your own account, where you share small snippets of your course. This is an example of a partnership I did with Udemy that helped me increase sales and booth visibility for my course on the platform.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Udemy (@udemy)

Start a newsletter

This might sound like an old-school approach, but newsletters and written content are a dominant force in the eLearning world. A newsletter is a great way to generate first-party data that you own and can always leverage when promoting courses, digital products, or new releases.

You can use Medium, Substack or the LinkedIn Newsletters feature to host a newsletter and build an audience that is relevant to your courses.

6. Test and refine your courses

Once you have had your course running for a while and have welcomed your first batch of students, you will begin to collect data. This might include engagement rates for each video lesson, interaction with quizzes and exercises, and overall course completion rate. You will want to test different things, such as the course structure, content, and pricing options.

The goal is to refine your course until it is as effective and valuable as possible. This will help you attract more students, which will ultimately make your course a success. In addition, it will help you improve your course over time so that you can sell additional courses in the future.

Conclusion

As you can see, creating an online course can be an effective way to monetize your expertise and reach a global audience. However, building a course from scratch is no small feat. There are a few key steps that you will need to follow in order to achieve this goal, including developing an outline, creating content, choosing a platform or tool, marketing your course, and testing and refining it before launching.

That being said, if you don’t know where to start and are hesitant about how to build a course, you can always contact us and let us know what help is needed. We cover course development from beginning to end, including video scripting, storyboarding, production, and learning platform configuration.

Whatever path you choose, remember that the key to success is to be persistent, work hard, and never give up on your dreams!

The post How to Monetize Your Expertise with Online Courses appeared first on SkildLabs.

In 2025, at an estimated 60 to 260 hours required to develop a 1-hour course, you can expect to pay roughly $5,450 USD to over $13,500 USD to get a fully polished course, in addition to the cost of your SME (Subject Matter Expert). 

Since the explosive growth of AI a few years ago, anyone in the online learning and training space has had to quickly rethink everything they thought they knew. From the possibility of using new technology to create content more cost-effectively to the need to anticipate LLM use from students (86% of students regularly use AI now), the game is changing.

Naturally, this has an impact on the costs of course creation.

Whether you’re in the process of future-proofing existing courses by adapting them to this new, AI-driven era or building a program from scratch, this guide breaks down the kinds of costs you can anticipate. We’ll start by running through the basics of course creation, before moving on to contemporary issues facing the industry (and of course, the pricing in 2025).

Understanding Your Objective

Before you can develop your course, you need to have a clear objective and an understanding of your audience. 

To find your main objective, consider these points:

• How will your business benefit from this learning course? 
• What content is the most important for your employees to learn? 
• What content has the most employee interest? 
• How long do you want your course to be? 
• How much money do you have to invest in this course? 
• How will you motivate employees to take the course? 

When answering these questions, try to go beyond qualitative thoughts and think about the quantitative results you want to get. For example, how much do you expect employee retention to increase? Or how high of a productivity bump are you aiming for? Creating these projections will be very helpful in defining a clearer objective. 

It’s also a good idea to start drafting an employee exit survey for employees who finish the course so you can have them evaluate the effectiveness in other areas. 

Here are some more questions to consider before creating a course. 

Course Audience: Who will be taking the course?

Your audience will determine the format and the content of the course. Is this for new employees or people that are more established on your team? Is this for a technical role? These considerations are critical for course design because more established employees will have a completely different set of needs than new employees. Similarly, technical courses need to display and test knowledge completely differently than courses that focus on soft skills, like communication or leadership. 

How will this benefit them?

Have a clear vision of the problem this course will help your team combat. How will this course impact your company? How will it improve their workflow? It’s vital to set projected metrics, even if you don’t end up meeting them. Making these projections is how you can effectively determine how much you want to invest in the course and what kind of learning course you want to develop. 

Traditionally, course creation has focused on why organizations want their team to learn certain skills or information. But that can often lead to disengaged learners who speed through programs as fast as they can with little interest in the content.

Make sure you consider the pain points and motivations of the learner, too!

What problem within your organization is this going to solve?

As much as the motivations of the learner should be prioritized, we can’t forget about the objectives of their organization completely.

• Are you launching a new product or starting a new process?
• Are you introducing complex new programming software and need to train your technical employees on how to use it?
• Do you need to release interactive training on the appropriate procedures to follow in the event of a fire at your company?

Remember to think about the problem from multiple perspectives. Interview multiple people about how they would like best to tackle the problem so you can get more specific feedback.

Insights and Analytics: How will you measure success?

At the end of the day, you want to feel like providing your team with learning materials will be worth the time and effort that you’ve put into creating this course. Which metrics will you track to determine the success of your curriculum? 

Don’t make these metrics so restrictive that you don’t have room to grow as a company. The first integration of online learning courses can be really challenging for any company. If you don’t make your targets, it’s okay as long as your company sees a benefit from it. 

Your answers to these questions will help you determine how to format the course to optimize its effectiveness within your organization.

4 Levels of eLearning Courses

The different eLearning levels are based on the amount of interactivity your learners will have with the course. The more interactivity in the material, the more engaging it is to your learners and also the higher the course development cost. You can also expect an enhanced learning outcome from a more in-depth curriculum. However, with increased interactivity comes higher costs and a longer time for course creation. According to eLearning Industry and Christopher Pappas, these are the 4 levels of eLearning courses.

Level 1 – Passive eLearning

This level of online learning requires no interaction from the person taking the course, hence the term passive eLearning. Typically, this course is presented like a PowerPoint slide show that will include graphics, audio and video. The questions are usually multiple-choice or true/false. This level effectively delivers information about new products and policies within the business in a quick and easy fashion. Another perk is that they don’t require a ton of time or resources to make, so they are an affordable option if you have a small budget.

One of the benefits of passive eLearning is that employees have more control over pacing. They can start and stop the course when they have time. The problem is that this course can be easy to tune out, so it generally produces a lower understanding of the information. Very few people can learn a new skill this way.

Level 2 – Limited Participation eLearning

Limited participation eLearning requires more interaction from the course-taker than a passive course. For example, this type will usually use a drag-and-drop function and interactive media forms to increase engagement.

An example would be a course where you have to watch a video and answer quiz questions within it. This is an effective way to train employees on appropriate workplace conduct or safety policies and procedures.

Limited participation eLearning courses test employee knowledge and provide some metrics for gauging employee understanding. However, it is meant to test general knowledge and not really teach a new skill. These courses are perfect for communicating new procedures for the entire employee body or for specific teams.

Level 3 – Moderate Interaction eLearning

Moderate interaction eLearning provides a more personalized experience for course takers. That means that there will be simulations, detailed scenarios and more complex drag-and-drop functions. If your objective is to teach employees a new skill, level 3 is going to be the best choice.

When done well, employees tend to enjoy these courses because they are more engaging so they’ll actually develop marketable skills. These courses are also the ones that will show results for your company. Typically, companies will see an increase in productivity and efficiency from employees who complete these types of courses.

Level 4 – Full Immersion eLearning

Full immersion eLearning normally requires participants to constantly interact with the material in order to progress. This level often includes simulated job exercises, interactive games, branching stories based on their decisions, and other forms of multimedia. These are meant to feel like on-the-job training. 

Of course, because of the complexity of these courses, they are the most effective at teaching employees, but they are also the most expensive. It can take a lot of time to develop these courses and then even more time for their employees to take the course and practice the skills. However, if you want to produce a huge jump in results for your employees, this is the best course to develop. 

When considering which course to create, remember that as the level of interactivity with the course increases, so does the time it takes to create it and the cost associated with the development.

How AI is Changing Full Immersion Learning

When the use of AI tools like ChatGPT among learners first became widespread, many educators busied themselves worrying about how to detect this AI use.

But this is the wrong question.

Instead, they should be thinking: If it’s really so easy for AI to “cheat” the system on my course, was my course really doing the job that it’s supposed to?

Often, the answer is no.

Traditionally, online education platforms have relied on learners consuming content and then taking a short quiz to test their recall. Yet the information they “learn” is often forgotten shortly after, and the practical application of the knowledge never even enters the equation.

AI has the potential to create a truly immersive learning experience by:

• Providing interactive experiences tailored to a specific learner
• Using analytics to continuously track a user’s performance and continuously test them on weak areas
• Offering personalized resources or information 

For instance, Duolingo has introduced Duolingo Max, which allows users to apply their language knowledge through real-time conversations with AI. This is far more immersive than its previous fill-in-the-blank exercises.

Cost of Creating Your Online Course or Training Program

Now that you’ve determined your course objective and the level of interactivity. You can start looking at what it’s going to cost to make your eLearning dream a reality. If you don’t have an in-house team, you’ll need to look at hiring professionals outside of your business. Hiring contractors will be the path most businesses have to take, although it’s now possible to use AI to cut costs in some areas.

Hiring Talent

Creating an online course requires a full team of individuals to come up with ideas, create content, and develop the course. Two crucial positions on your team are your Instructional Designer and your Subject Matter Expert (SME). You cannot create a training course without these roles, which are vital to online course development costs. 

Instructional Designer (ID)

The ID is responsible for developing your course curriculum. They take the subject matter that you want to teach your employees and transform it into digestible content that your team can learn from effectively. 

The instructional designers will be the ones plotting the pacing of the course and developing it in such a way that makes it engaging for your team. They create the questions and help to determine which levels of interactivity will be most effective relative to your learning objectives. 

According to a recent Synthesia report, almost half of instructional designers use AI every day in their work, with 84% saying they have tried ChatGPT.

Note that these instructional designers are not necessarily domain or topic experts. Instead, they create the course format and activities that make the training interactive and effective. In order to create the course, they will need the appropriate learning material from your Subject Matter Expert (SME).

Subject Matter Expert (SME)

The SME is the person with a deep understanding of the material you’re trying to teach your employees. They need to be an expert in a process, software, function, or department. Their in-depth knowledge of a particular subject or technology will be necessary for creating a course that is relevant and accurate for your employees.

The subject matter expert also needs to communicate regularly with the instructional designer. Without each of these positions working together, the course cannot be designed. While the subject matter expert is responsible for writing the actual content, the instructional designer helps make it comprehensible to a new learner.

However, it should be noted that instructional designers don’t always closely collaborate. The aforementioned Synthesia report found that the largest group of respondents only collaborated with SMEs 38% of the time. This may vary depending on the organizational structure.

Overall eLearning Development Cost Calculation

The cost of these two individuals – SME and ID – will play a significant part in the cost of your course.

(Hourly Rate of Instructional Designer * Number of Hours) + (Hourly Rate of SME * Number of Hours) = Total Cost of Online Course or Training Program

According to Salary.com, as of March 2025, the average Instructional Designer salary in the US is $77,990 per year, which is about $38 an hour.

The pricing for a subject matter expert (SME)  is a little more complicated. Their cost depends entirely on the topic, years of experience, and area of expertise. According to ZipRecruiter, as of March 2025, the average salary for a SME in the US is 88,568 a year, or $43 an hour. This rate can definitely vary, though, and the general range is between $33 and $68. Recall that this rate also depends on the education, certifications, additional skills, and the number of years they have spent in their profession. For example, the cost of an SME in aerospace engineering or cardiology could be significantly higher than in other fields. This is simply because their skill sets are rare and difficult to obtain.

Of course, the cost and required hours will depend on their experience level and the project’s complexity.

You can, however, refer to this table as your baseline:

Cost Breakdown of Key Roles

In addition to the roles listed, you might need support from the below:

• Audio Editors
• Developers (for the more interactive content creation)
• Animators
• Voice Over Talent
• Software Developers (for custom implementations)
• LMS Specialists
• Slide Creators

All of the above positions depend on how complex and interactive your course is.

Use of AI

While the need for all these professionals may sound expensive, the good news is that AI tools can help to cut down costs in some cases.

With the emergence of Large Language Models (LLM) and tools like ChatGPT, Cohere, and Anthropic, AI in LMS software has transformed modern learning by automating administrative tasks, improving content creation, enhancing engagement, and improving learning outcomes.

For instance, LLMs can help out with scripting, therefore cutting down on the hours required from a copywriter. Or you may decide to apply voice cloning instead of using a voiceover artist.

However, just because you can, doesn’t always mean that you should. In some cases, obvious or excessive use of AI can disengage learners or make them perceive content as lower quality. Make sure you think through who your target audience is and where their preferences lie.

Some more potential areas to use AI include:

• Video generation
• Course editing
• Fact checking
• Digital avatar creation

Choosing a Learning Management System (LMS)

The next component of your course is to choose a Learning Management System (LMS), which is your content delivery mechanism. An LMS is software that your Instructional Designer will use to develop your eLearning course, and it’s used to deliver the training to your employees. Your LMS will track your employees’ progress in the course, issue certificates upon completion, and improve the overall learning experience. 

Choosing the right LMS is crucial to your training course’s success, especially now that the landscape has changed so much.

Forward-thinking LMS platforms are using AI-driven reinforcement systems to guide learning, delivering tailored information exactly when a specific user needs it (rather than taking every user through a generic learning journey). Many also provide additional AI tools to make the job of course creation easier.

Fortunately, almost all of the larger LMS companies have introduced some form of AI to their platforms in 2025. 

You can always start your research with our LMS Advisor AI-powered tool. You will get LMS recommendations with a single prompt.

Due to the incredible growth and innovation in the eLearning space, a lot of LMS options have entered the market for both enterprise and small business/individual settings. They can range from $100 to $2000 a month, depending on functionality and the number of licenses. Let’s look at the top LMS software on the market for 2025. These platforms are a big factor in course and training program development costs.

LearnWorlds

LearnWorlds stands out amongst course creation tools due to its emphasis on interactivity, customization and social learning. This LMS is an all-in-one platform that has a user-friendly interface as well as built-in sales and marketing tools such as interactive video editing. The drag-and-drop design for editing makes it easy to use even for those who aren’t tech savvy. Additionally, the platform integrates with trusted global and local online payment gateways, ensuring secure transactions.

The LMS also integrates with many popular platforms, so it’s great for existing infrastructure. They advertise as a tool for selling online courses, but it’s also great for businesses to create continuing training for employees due to the interactive nature.

LearnWorlds claims it is the “#1 AI-powered LMS built for course creators, ”with features like:

• Course Planner. A built-in tool that allows you to tailor your course outline process by selecting your preferred instructional model and learning outcomes. The final output is produced instantly.
• Content Editor. Similar to the capabilities of ChatGPT, you can elevate the content quality with AI-polished text, ensuring clarity and consistency throughout your scripts.
• Assessment Designer. An easy way to build contextual exams.
• Feedback Generator. Personalized feedback for learners.

LearnUpon

LearnUpon is a future-oriented LMS that uses AI to take education to the next level, replacing repetitive learning experiences with a tailored approach.

It has introduced instant assessment generation that goes through your content and suggests questions in different formats (eg. Multiple Correct, True/False, etc.). This can help you build highly relevant exams that truly assess your learners’ comprehension. 

Learners will also benefit from learning bots to coach them and the use of analytics to create a unique educational journey personalized to each individual.

Thinkific

Thinkific enables businesses and entrepreneurs to create, market, sell, and deliver their own online courses and training programs. The LMS has a mix of individual creators and corporate clients, who use the platform to create amazing micro-academies for their products. A notable client of theirs is Hootsuite with their Hootsuite Academy.  Thinkific is also the only platform that has an app marketplace for developers. In 2025, having an app complement to the LMS is another way to increase employee interaction and enjoyment.

It has introduced various AI features so far, including a course outline generator, a quiz generator, and AI-powered landing pages.

Nas.io

Nas.io is another LMS that’s excellent for businesses creating communities and courses for anyone due to its comprehensive features, user-friendly interface and focus on community building and monetization. We even created a comprehensive guide on this particular platform.

This LMS allows businesses to create and sell courses, manage memberships and host events. It also offers integrations with popular apps such as Zoom, Discord and WhatsApp. The platform’s analytics feature helps businesses track performance and make data-driven decisions. This is a lifesaver when it comes to improving courses especially if you’re just starting to implement them for employees.

Disco

Disco is one of the newest LMS options on the market. This LMS is great for small businesses looking to develop online courses, but may have a smaller budget. It’s a cost-effective solution that also has the customization options of higher tiered platforms. Disco also offers progress tracking so you can see how employees are doing with the courses to ensure they complete it on time. 

With Disco, you can also host events, create cohort-based courses as well as self-paced courses right in the platform. They also offer a multitude of popular integrations.

It uses AI to ensure that no user feels they have to learn alone, with bots to answer questions in real-time, nudge learners automatically, and provide prompts. There are also various features to help you create your course more efficiently.

Kajabi

Kajabi is an all-in-one business platform that helps you create and scale your knowledge business and training programs. The Kajabi LMS comes with a lot of integrations to make the learning experience of any student incredible. It has email automation and landing pages, as well as an advanced curriculum builder and landing page. A popular creator on the platform is Blaine Anderson with her Dating By Blaine coaching programs. 

It also offers an AI Content Assistant to help you create or upgrade a course within minutes. 

In general, Kajabi is just a really great all-around choice with a variety of customizations and an impressive range of optionality.

Docebo

Docebo leans on the academic and corporate side and has been in the market since 2005. The LMS is compatible with SCORM 1.2 and 2004 as well as Tin Can. The LMS has the ability to centralize and organize courses, distribute and manage online and instructor-led courses, track certifications, and measure results with dashboards and custom analytics. 

Although it’s an older LMS, Docebo has been quick to adapt to new technology. It automatically tags learning content using AI, making it easier for users to find.

Adobe Learning Manager

Adobe has produced a lot of eLearning and Design tools over the years, but their main LMS product is called Adobe Learning Manager (formerly Adobe Captivate Prime). The LMS gives you complete control to deliver personalized learning experiences to your employees, customers, and partners. You can also take advantage of AI-based recommendations to deliver a hyper-personalized learner homepage experience. If your business already uses a lot of Adobe, this is a great option because it is easy to integrate into your current workflow.

Start Your Project: Determine Your Course or Training Program Cost

We’re not going to skirt around the truth — getting online courses right in 2025 is not an easy job. Fundamental flaws in traditional methodologies have been exposed, there are tons of new tools to get your head around, and the costs of hiring the best talent and using the most effective platform can add up.

But thanks to this fresh technology, there’s also never been a better time to get things really right.

Since the last thing you want is to spend time and money on eLearning material that you don’t end up using, we recommend taking some time to make sure you understand contemporary challenges. Then, the next step is to accurately assess how much to charge for curriculum development. 

At SkildLabs, we offer a tailored one-stop-shop approach, so your course is designed with your business objectives in mind. We take the time to understand the outcomes you hope to achieve with your eLearning. Then, we work to develop a curriculum that is designed with the appropriate level of interactivity based on your needs and budget. We also make it our business to keep up with the latest technological shifts to ensure you can provide the most effective learning experience possible and remain on the cutting-edge.

From the first brainstorming session all the way to implementation, SkildLabs is there every step of the way. Our partnership doesn’t end after the implementation of your course either. We want to ensure that the program we’ve created delivers the outcome you expected. We’ll continue to fine-tune the material until the curriculum is perfect for your needs.

Creating an eLearning course doesn’t have to be complicated. There are a few ways SkildLabs can help, including:

• Learning Strategy
• Custom eLearning Development
• Instructor-Led Training

You can also book a consultation with us today to discuss your project.

The post How Much Does it Cost to Develop an Online Course in 2025? appeared first on SkildLabs.

What is microlearning?

Microlearning is a method of eLearning that delivers the material in condensed digestible chunks that make it easier to comprehend and absorb. It’s the ideal way to fill knowledge gaps effectively. For example, if you were to ask someone how to change a tire, it would be more helpful for them to offer a brief explanation instead of handing you an entire book on how to change your own tires. 

There aren’t any hard-and-fast rules when it comes to microlearning, but there are some basic strategies for it to be the most effective:

Length

You aren’t limited to just one minute, but the most effective length typically shouldn’t exceed 5 minutes. When it comes to microlearning, less is more.

Topics

You can use microlearning to educate your team on nearly any topic or procedure. Just make sure that what you want to convey can be condensed into 5 minutes or less. The user should be able to walk away from the training with a new understanding of the given topic. Keep videos relatively simple to teach specific skills without any unnecessary information. 

Format

While video is the most common, it’s not the only form of microlearning. You can also create quick learning materials through slideshow presentations, audio podcasts, and interactive games.  

Engagement

Microlearning needs to immediately capture the user’s attention and keep them engaged. If the content from an hour-long training video isn’t stimulating, splitting it up into 5-Minute chunks isn’t going to make it more interesting. 

Therefore, microlearning is not just about making your training shorter. It is in fact an innovative and condensed approach to learning specific information in a more hyperfocused manner. Only then, the the learning experience can result in increased learner engagement and improved knowledge retention. 

How is it different from traditional learning? 

Microlearning is very specific. Unlike traditional learning, a microlearning video will cover one single element of a particular topic or technology. 

Example: How To Use Excel would typically be an hour-long training video in a traditional learning environment. With microlearning, you’d be likely to get a 3-minute video on How To Create a Pivot Table.

It’s not recommended as a high-level teaching method and is more effective as a way of answering quick, specific questions. Employees that are self-motivated and seek out additional knowledge will have the most to gain from microlearning. It’s helpful to have a basic level of expertise so they can take what they learn from a microlearning training and immediately apply it to their work. 

What are the learning benefits?

Microlearning continues to gain traction as it appeals to the majority of adults joining the workforce and has been proven to be more efficient. According to a study in the Journal of Applied Psychology, learning in short, digestible pieces is 17% more efficient than traditional long-form learning. To help understand why we’ve provided the reasons below:

It’s easily accessible

Employees can learn the on-demand content at their own pace and have an easier time fitting it into their work schedule. In the average 8-9 hour workday, it can be challenging to set aside hours for learning. With microlearning, most employees can find 5 minutes between different tasks, creating a seamless way to incorporate learning into their workflow. As a result, this helps create a company culture that embraces learning and improves overall productivity. 

Retention is easier

Bite-sized lesson plans are more focused and contain less clutter. An employee can find a valuable piece of information at the beginning of an hour-long video but completely forget about it by the end because of the information overload. Short learning sessions make it easier to retain the information. The employee can immediately apply what they’ve learned, making the learning experience more worthwhile. 

It’s more engaging

In a survey done by Software Advice, 58% of employees would be more likely to use their company’s educational tools if the content was broken up in shorter sessions. Learning in 3-7 minute intervals matches the average human’s attention span and memory capacity. You’re more likely to capture the attention of learners for the entirety of a 5-minute video than you are to keep them engaged for even half of an hour-long video. 

The Top Microlearning Trends in 2021

While microlearning is among the top trending educational tools in 2021, it has become even more effective when paired with other learning technologies:

• Gaming and edutainment
• Mobile microlearning
• Simulation and real-life scenarios
• Augmented reality and virtual reality 
• AI-powered adaptive learning

If you’re unfamiliar with these trends, we’ll explain them in further detail below:

Microlearning Through Gaming

Learning via gaming systems works just as well for adults as it does for children. By nature, we like to feel like we’re “leveling up” and enjoy seeing our names on a leaderboard. Many Learning Management Systems give businesses the ability to create rewards systems for their training programs. Users can accrue points for taking daily trainings, acing tests, and completing modules. This creates an exciting incentive alongside microlearning that makes it feel more like a fun activity and less like a chore.

Mobile Microlearning

Most, if not all, employees have a cellphone, and if they’re not working, it’s likely in their hands. Top eLearning companies optimize their learning materials for mobile. In this way, users can watch the quick micro-learning videos on their devices when it suits them instead of always having to take them at their desks. This trend makes learning on the go more approachable and doesn’t feel as invasive in their work-life balance.

Simulation Microlearning

Creating timed real-life scenarios tests the learner’s ability to think on their feet and provides insight into their decision-making process. By pairing these with microlearning video content, you can effectively evaluate how each learner would react in a work-related scenarios. Simulations are a safe environment to test out new theory-backed skills without the risk of using them on customers or mission-critical tasks.

AR/VR Learning Solutions

Augmented reality learning solutions have become a popular training method for jobs that require biological and chemical experimentation. With the use of a mobile device or VR headset, the user can perform the task as if they were actually doing it in a lab. Practicing these duties in VR creates a safe environment for the users to experiment and learn without having to step foot in a laboratory. Combining AR and VR with microlearning makes these trainings more cost-effective for the organization without sacrificing the educational content quality.

Adaptive Microlearning

If you’re using a Learning Management System for your eLearning programs, then you likely have access to their analytics features. These allow you to track your user’s’ course progress, pass attempts, achievements, and the lessons they’re struggling with. The data from these analytics can be leveraged using AI to develop unique learning paths for your employees. New employees or those that are struggling can revisit content until they become comfortable with the material. On the other hand, your stronger learners will be able to skip content that they’ve already mastered so they can spend more time learning new skills and applying them to their workflow. AI-Adaptive learning enables you to create a learning experience tailored to the employee so every individual can learn exactly what they need at their own pace.

Summary

Microlearning isn’t new, but its rapid increase in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic has shown how effective this learning tool can be. Even as the workforce slowly starts to return to their offices, the benefits of microlearning can only mean that it’s here to stay. Microlearning has made employee upskilling more affordable. The on-demand bite-sized learning empowers employees to fill their knowledge gaps at their own pace and encourages them to incorporate their education into their daily workflow. Not only does it save time for employees, but your organization will also spend less time, money, and resources on providing long training videos or in-person seminars to your team. 

If you’re interested in designing microlearning lessons for your team or simply have questions about the process, connect with us. We’re a team of professionals with a focus on building businesses through the power of custom online education. We’d love to hear more about your organization and will be delighted to help you.

The post Microlearning: The Top Learning Trend for Business in 2021 appeared first on SkildLabs.