I've been asked on several ocassions what my method is when teaching After Effects in a College. This is a very hard question to answer as I often vary my teaching styles just trying to find the best formula.

Alas I haven't found the perfect one yet...But I do have some ideas that you might be able to adapt to your needs.

Now every class I've ever taught has two objectives to complete...Lesson Work and Project Work. Lesson work is handled thru either hands on lessons where I instruct them or they follow written tutorials. Project work is done completly by the students and supervised by me. The project work varies as I allow the students to choose their own topics. What doesn't change are the procedures that they follow to complete their projects. The most important part of their personal project is the Design Brief.

Below is an example of a Design Brief the students will need to hand in before they are allowed to proceed with their animations. I've listed them in the order that they need to be turned in. Since the students are usually new to this process I do not force them to stick blindly to the first idea they have. In fact they are allowed to change their ideas up until it is time to animate. But if they do change the idea they still have to hand in a full Design Brief for the new project before they are allowed to proceed with their animations.

Week 1. Hand in a loosely plotted idea of the project.

CATAGORY: A 30 second television show promotion to be aired on a sports channel

TITLE: Fire Meets Ice...Fire and Ice