Scenario Course Tips and Tricks

As the demand for Scenario Based courses increases, we are starting to find more effective and efficient techniques for using our current templates.

After completing my first scenario based course, I have found a few helpful shortcuts that make life a little easier.

When creating a normal course, filling in the lesson name and topic title automatically transfers to the "slide properties" on the articulate tab. When creating a scenario course, all of those text fields on the slides are not needed and therefore deleted, which then also carries onto slide properties (replaces the title with "Slide #"). This requires the designer to manually fill in the slide titles in the slide properties window.

To prevent this long and tedious step, instead of deleting those text fields, just move them up above the slide so they are not visible. This will allow the slide properties to continue to pull the title information, preventing the need for manual entry.

Another trick I have used is for text that appears to have been written on a white board or a notepad. The first thing I did was Google "handwriting fonts", and found one that I liked (I have posted this font on the content wiki). Our standard for animations in a regular course is to fade in/out, very fast. With a scenario course, there is much more leeway with animation options. For text written, I chose to wipe, from left, either fast, or very fast. This gives the appearance the text is being written onto the white board. There were a few instances I had arrows drawn on the whiteboard as well, and would use the wipe entry going in the direction of the arrow (down, up, left, right, and it works for diagonal too).

In addition to the above text trick, it is also important that each line of text have it's own text box, and the animation can either occur after previous, or on click. That way each line appears to write after the one before it, instead of all lines wiping from the left at the same time.

Another very important step is to create your cast of characters. Before you start building your people, make sure you read the transcript, and create a cast list. From there, create each character ahead of time so you can have them ready to insert into your course at the appropriate time. This will keep you consistent from the start.

The last tip I want to discuss today is using the background image. When I first began, I used the office backgrounds like another object on the slide, but I quickly realized that it is much easier to right click the slide to format the background fill, and select that picture from file. This will prevent any issues resizing, or having to constantly "send to back". You can also "Apply to all", preventing you from having to do that to each slide. You can customize certain slides as you go.

Despite the seemingly extra work that is required in a scenario based course, I prefer them over the conventional template. There is much more leeway, allowing the designer to be more creative, and use a variety of animations and tools to keep the audience engaged.