Are there any hard, fast rules about how long an effective CBT module should be? We've been debating this at our office.

In the world of training and communication, the only hard and fast rule, that I can recall, is that there are few, if any, hard and fast rules!

I believe that most would agree that good training addresses one objective at a time. I also believe that, as a rule, one course element, (call it what you wish) should address a single objective.

Hope this brings you closer to the answer to your question.

Good rules of thumb would have logical quitting places about every 15 minutes or so depending upon the audience and the nature of the learning material.

Back in a prior life, in the very early days of CBT (I'm talking late 60s and early 70s) the company I worked for decided that no one should spend more than 4 hours a day engaged in CBT. As time passed, we discovered that if the CBT was well designed and had a lot of objective-oriented interaction, learners did not exhibit signs of fatigue even after eight hours of CBT. So by the time that the late eighties came around, learners might spend all day engaged in CBT. Of course in many cases, the CBT included watching video and computer interactions. And in some cases, the learner would even have a lab machine to work on as a part of the CBT. (All of our CBT courses addressed the maintenance and installation of equipment.)

As long as it takes to acheive the objective. If the course is more complex/longer- "milestones" every 20 mins or so are highly recommended.

I think it is all depend on subject, audience and very important design. If some one can design a very interesting and engaging content, as an audience I can survive 20 to 30 minutes.

Subject: Is this training required for everyone and do they have to finish in one session? Can this subject divided in chunks? Is this topic really engaging? Etc.

Audience: First how much time do they have from their real job to complete the training? Are they tech savvy? Have they used this type of training system before? Are they in a testing proof environment? Is this a group training or individual – when ever they want type of training?

My favorite topic, Design: Can we make this course chocolatee? How can we add interaction and tips to hit the user and not bore them to death? Can course be divided in 15 minutes chunks? What type of design tool I can use to make this course design remembered?

If you have 15 to 20 minutes courses your objectives should be no more than 10. The course objectives should be clear enough for user to understand the flow and what they need to achieve. Each chapter should take one objective and at the end of each objective a small review and some quiz to test the knowledge.

So I would say 20 to 30 minutes is the best and good standard in the industry. If content is really gamy, fun, interesting, engaging than I would say max to 45 minutes.

I hope this helps.

I suggest that you should first review the learner's interest in the subject material and their attention span. That should give you some perspective on the sizing of the course and sections.